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Junior football, what is the future?


Burnie_man

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1 hour ago, Ginaro said:

Vale of Leven might be another club for the U20s as they currently have an Under 21s team.

According to this article which quotes Colin Boyd, they are https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/spfl-pyramid-masterplan-agreed-juniors-21753119

Kilwinning: Why we won't keep SJFA membership

Kilwinning Rangers had already applied for the new league before this week’s breakthrough and are set to relinquish their membership of the SJFA in pursuit of a bright future.

Chairman Colin Boyd said: “Not much has changed. We won’t be keeping our membership of the SJFA.

“We are probably going into a 16 or 18 team league. There will be the South Challenge Cup, the Alex Jack Cup and we will need to create a West League Cup. That gives us three cups and adding a fourth in the Junior Cup I just don’t see possible.

“We are not losing any of our history. The Buffs have left the Juniors before and have come back into it.

“We have never considered ourselves overly a Junior club - we are a football club. The only change for us is the guys that run the league.

“We will still play the same teams and have the same friendships and rivalries.

“We moved ground two years ago and the whole purpose of that was based on entry criteria to the SFA. There was really no option for us but to continue down the path to the pyramid.

“We had to look after ourselves after investing heavily in moving ground. We wholeheartedly go into the new set-up and look forward rather than looking back.”

@parkcircus

Won't have to worry about the Alex Jack Cup as that's a EoS competition. I do think it should be discussed about opening up the Alba Cup though. If my sums are right now they'd only have 9 SoS unlicenced clubs entering it next year with Dumfries YMCA folding.

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It seems there is no future for west Region teams outside of the pyramid.

i get a feeling West Lothian clubs (and anyone else who clings on) are going to be like the Japanese  soldiers who spent 20 years in hiding and came out convinced the war was still going on and not realized everyone else has moved on. 

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26 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

It seems there is no future for west Region teams outside of the pyramid.

i get a feeling West Lothian clubs (and anyone else who clings on) are going to be like the Japanese  soldiers who spent 20 years in hiding and came out convinced the war was still going on and not realized everyone else has moved on. 

 

Myself and most of the pro-pyramid posters on here, made it clear that (1)  joining the senior EoSL or (2) staying with the juniors, was something that each club should/could/would decide for themselves, rather than have their future decided en bloc, by the SJFA/ERJFA .   

So, why are we now 'hounding' the West Lothian Juniors into joining the pyramid ? 

I suggest that we leave them to decide what they want to do.   It's their future.

Edited by Robert James
typo error
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What do the ERJFA West Lothian clubs now want? What on earth are they aiming to achieve?
Do they have a “Gordon Ronney” ? Someone who can negotiate on their behalf?
Or are they still relying on TJ to conjure up some magic beans.
It all seems so sad and unnecessary.
Genuinely dont think they are waiting on anyone or anything.
This will all pass them by and they are quite content to be in the west Lothian junior league.
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2 minutes ago, Robert James said:

 

Myself and most of the pro-pyramid posters on here, made it clear that (1)  joining the senior WoSFL or (2) staying with the juniors, was something that each club should/could/would decide for themselves, rather than have their future decided en bloc, by the SJFA/WJFA .   

So, why are we now 'hounding' the West Lothian Juniors into joining the pyramid ? 

I suggest that we leave them to decide what they want to do.   It's their future.

 I don’t consider it hounding.

they are welcome to make their own decisions, and I highly doubt anyone is making their decisions based on what some bams on the internet have to say.  But that doesn’t mean any decision in whatever direction won’t be questioned(again just by some fools online). 

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2 minutes ago, cmontheloknow said:

Would I would say is that there are over 200 clubs in the non-league scene and this band of clubs in West Lothian seem to be the only ones who don't want to play with the rest. Very odd.

Just because they don't want to turn Senior you describe them as "very odd", They are Junior Football Clubs and apparently they want to stay that way, who said they don't want to play with the rest? I reckon if one (or two) of the clubs  towards the east of the WRJFA  eg. Shotts, Forth, Carluke, Wishaw, etc said they wanted to remain Junior outside the Pyramid and there was nowhere for them to go, the West Lothian clubs would happily welcome them in. Have any of them said otherwise?

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8 minutes ago, cmontheloknow said:

Would I would say is that there are over 200 clubs in the non-league scene and this band of clubs in West Lothian seem to be the only ones who don't want to play with the rest. Very odd.

Staying put may improve our chances of winning the Junior Cup again?

Rather more seriously, I rather feel all the West Lothian clubs will come into the body o' the kirk eventually.

Perhaps just not in this sweep.

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9 minutes ago, cmontheloknow said:

Would I would say is that there are over 200 clubs in the non-league scene and this band of clubs in West Lothian seem to be the only ones who don't want to play with the rest. Very odd.

Even if all the West Region all moves into the WOSFL, there looks like there will be enough teams to keep the Junior Cup going with East, West & North teams. 

They've also created their own variety by splitting North/South so I suppose they'll see it as having a nice enough mix for their level.

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My apologies. I thought I had seen an interview with their chairman saying they were leaving. 
Have they confirmed they are staying in?
That's the article I saw. I knew I wasn't going crazy[emoji849]
I didn't see that article sorry. Kilwinning's Facebook page had an official post which sort of implied it was still to be decided:-

Latest from the Pyramid Working Group

We have already applied but as of yet haven’t offered our resignation to the SJFA, we had planned to have a supporters meeting once the details of the new league came out but due to the circumstances we don’t see this happening soon.

We will setup a facebook live Q & A this week.
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Just to bring this up to tonight.  

Interesting that two-thirds are from the Championship and League One. League Two clubs are still the quietest.

Pollok moving may help others to decide to go public after-all. Who knows?

29 Clubs which have Applied so far/have said that they will be applying:    
Premiership (5) Championship (11) League One (8) League Two (4) Others (1)
Clydebank Arthurlie Bellshill Athletic Ashfield Drumchapel Utd PYM
Kilwinning Rangers Blantyre Victoria Glasgow Perthshire Newmains United  
Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Cambuslang Rangers Greenock Juniors Vale of Clyde  
Pollok Cumbernauld United Kello Rovers Vale of Leven  
Rutherglen Glencairn Darvel Larkhall Thistle    
  Gartcairn Juniors Maryhill    
  Kilsyth Rangers Port Glasgow Juniors    
  Neilston Juniors Royal Albert    
  Petershill      
  Renfrew      
  Whitletts Victoria      
         
Not known to have applied so far:      
Auchinleck Talbot Craigmark Burntonians Ardrossan Winton Rovers Annbank United  
Beith Juniors Dalry Thistle Carluke Rovers Ardeer Thistle  
Benburb Irvine Victoria East Kilbride Thistle Forth Wanderers  
Cumnock Juniors Shotts Bon Accord Girvan Johnstone Burgh  
Glenafton Athletic St Roch's Lanark United Lugar Boswell Thistle  
Hurlford United   Lesmahagow Juniors Maybole Juniors   
Irvine Meadow XI   Shettleston Muirkirk Juniors  
Kilbirnie Ladeside   Wishaw Juniors Saltcoats Victoria  
Largs Thistle     St Anthony's  
Rossvale     Thorniewood United  
Troon     Yoker Athletic  
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1 hour ago, Ian38018 said:

Staying put may improve our chances of winning the Junior Cup again?

Rather more seriously, I rather feel all the West Lothian clubs will come into the body o' the kirk eventually.

Perhaps just not in this sweep.

Yes. I think these clubs are big enough to make up their own minds on their individual futures.

Perhaps a place at Tier 7 and retaining SJFA membership/entry into the Junior Cup may be the right package for one or two of them but it's up to them? Their time limit is 31st March so now they know which way the wind is blowing in the west that could be an influence too.

They're proud people and will decide for themselves.

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8 hours ago, Pyramidic said:

I suppose some clubs are delaying their response to avoid any unhelpful negativity from a (small) portion of their support base. From my regular perusal of P&B there now appears very little negativity towards the emerging WoSFL.

In contrast I continue to find it very difficult to understand the blinkered position of the West Lothian Junior clubs. Given the rapid changes in the position of the WRJFA clubs, the position of the ERJFA West Lothian clubs now appears completely out of sync and bordering on the futile and bloody-minded. There must be a better word to describe their position.

Asinine

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8 hours ago, Ian38018 said:

Staying put may improve our chances of winning the Junior Cup again?

Rather more seriously, I rather feel all the West Lothian clubs will come into the body o' the kirk eventually.

Perhaps just not in this sweep.

I hope they do - there are a number of historically big names there who it would be a real shame to see wither away into irrelevance.

It remains their choice to make whether it turns out to be a right or wrong one, based on what they see as the best way forward for their clubs.

In terms of hounding, I don't think there has been any...more just reaction to some barely literate hostile tweets from a "saviour of the grade" type holed up in a coal bunker in Armadale.

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4 minutes ago, Hillonearth said:

I hope they do - there are a number of historically big names there who it would be a real shame to see wither away into irrelevance.

It remains their choice to make whether it turns out to be a right or wrong one, based on what they see as the best way forward for their clubs.

In terms of hounding, I don't think there has been any...more just reaction to some barely literate hostile tweets from a "saviour of the grade" type holed up in a coal bunker in Armadale.

 

Fair comment......and as you say, "it remains their choice"

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Jeezo....unreal.
What an embarrassment for an official club Twitter account to come out with that pish.
Would be quite funny if the EOSFL bar them from entering when this reaches it's natural conclusion. Unlike the Junior dinosaurs however, George Fraser and his ilk would never be as petty or self serving as TAJ or SR have been all these years
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I do appreciate Junior football has a long and (at times) illustrious history.  And that tradition is an important thing.

But we should remember we are not talking about some Rugby Union/Rugby League schism here. 

For the vast majority of us, we will still be going along to watch the same teams facing (by and large) the same opponents - in matches played by the same set of blokes too young/old/lazy/untalented to perform at Scottish League level.

The sport will remain unchanged.  

 

 

 

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