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Junior football, what is the future?


Burnie_man

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11 minutes ago, superbigal said:

Why do the border amateurs not compete in the safa national cup.
Or if they do, I assume they do not do very well.
Never noticed a team from that neck of the woods in later stages.

A few of them choose to compete. I don't think any have ever got particularly far. 

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25 minutes ago, Robert James said:

The borders have not been renowned for having Junior clubs, and whilst it would be interesting to bolt on all the main amateur leagues to the bottom end of the pyramid (as another poster has suggested), it is unlikely to be a viable proposition for Scottish football at the present time.

The thought of bolting on Amateur Leagues at the bottom of the pyramid is a very interesting concept.  If a club finishes in first place in their respective Amateur Leagues, pressures will undoubtedly arise for that club to move up the Pyramid that previously would not have existed.

Do we know if any discussions have yet taken place to progress Amateur Feeder League links to the Junior / Senior Leagues?  

If the ERJFA are to remain as a meaningful entity in the East it would be interesting to speculate whether they or the EoSL are willing or have the capacity or desire to develop Feeder Links with the local Amateur Leagues?

Edited by Pyramidic
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31 minutes ago, Pyramidic said:

The thought of bolting on Amateur Leagues at the bottom of the pyramid is a very interesting concept.  If a club finishes in first place in their respective Amateur Leagues, pressures will undoubtedly arise for that club to move up the Pyramid that previously would not have existed.

Do we know if any discussions have yet taken place to progress Amateur Feeder League links to the Junior / Senior Leagues?  

If the ERJFA are to remain as a meaningful entity in the East it would be interesting to speculate whether they or the EoSL are willing or have the capacity or desire to develop Feeder Links with the local Amateur Leagues?

i think they are sort of bolted onto the pyramid because they are welcome to apply to the eos and the eos had a good record of acepting applications so they have access to the pyramid without any pressure to take promotion

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39 minutes ago, Pyramidic said:

The thought of bolting on Amateur Leagues at the bottom of the pyramid is a very interesting concept.  If a club finishes in first place in their respective Amateur Leagues, pressures will undoubtedly arise for that club to move up the Pyramid that previously would not have existed.

Do we know if any discussions have yet taken place to progress Amateur Feeder League links to the Junior / Senior Leagues?  

If the ERJFA are to remain as a meaningful entity in the East it would be interesting to speculate whether they or the EoSL are willing or have the capacity or desire to develop Feeder Links with the local Amateur Leagues?

It would make sense for both the ERJFA and the WRJFA to at least explore this option to replace the clubs who will undoubtedly leave for pastures new at some stage if no agreement is reached within the PWG.

Only problem would be the current ground criteria restrictions which would stop most Amateur clubs from being accepted into the SJFA.

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41 minutes ago, Wee Smiler said:

i think they are sort of bolted onto the pyramid because they are welcome to apply to the eos and the eos had a good record of acepting applications so they have access to the pyramid without any pressure to take promotion

I think that there needs to be official feeder links sorted out pretty quickly given the changing dynamics of Scottish Non League Football:


East of Scotland Football League

Border Amateur Football League
Kingdom of Fife Amateur Football Association **
Lothian & Edinburgh Amateur Football Association **
Stirling & District Amateur Football Association **

ERJFA / East / Tayside

Dundee Saturday Morning Amateur Football League **
Kingdom of Fife Amateur Football Association **
Lothian & Edinburgh Amateur Football Association **
Midlands Amateur Football Association **
Stirling & District Amateur Football Association **

WRJFA / West

Ayrshire Amateur Football Association
Caledonian Amateur Football League
Central Scottish Amateur Football League
Glasgow Colleges Amateur Football Association
Greater Glasgow Premier Amateur Football League
Scottish Amateur Football League
Strathclyde Evangelical Churches Football League
Strathclyde Saturday Morning Amateur Football League

NRJFA / North / Tayside

Aberdeenshire Amateur Football Association
Dundee Saturday Morning Amateur Football League **
Midlands Amateur Football Association **
Perthshire Amateur Football Association

South of Scotland Football League

None


**  Overlaps need to be sorted out.


Sunday Amateur Leagues and Summer Amateur Leagues not included.

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3 hours ago, superbigal said:

Why do the border amateurs not compete in the safa national cup.
Or if they do, I assume they do not do very well.
Never noticed a team from that neck of the woods in later stages.

Seven entered this season, four (including one bye) made it through to round 2 where they were all eliminated.

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11 minutes ago, Ginaro said:

Seven entered this season, four (including one bye) made it through to round 2 where they were all eliminated.

So they are baisically very poor in ability.

Hence stepping into EOS means becoming or playing for whipping boys anyway.

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2 hours ago, Pyramidic said:

I think that there needs to be official feeder links sorted out pretty quickly given the changing dynamics of Scottish Non League Football:


East of Scotland Football League

Border Amateur Football League
Kingdom of Fife Amateur Football Association **
Lothian & Edinburgh Amateur Football Association **
Stirling & District Amateur Football Association **

ERJFA / East / Tayside

Dundee Saturday Morning Amateur Football League **
Kingdom of Fife Amateur Football Association **
Lothian & Edinburgh Amateur Football Association **
Midlands Amateur Football Association **
Stirling & District Amateur Football Association **

WRJFA / West

Ayrshire Amateur Football Association
Caledonian Amateur Football League
Central Scottish Amateur Football League
Glasgow Colleges Amateur Football Association
Greater Glasgow Premier Amateur Football League
Scottish Amateur Football League
Strathclyde Evangelical Churches Football League
Strathclyde Saturday Morning Amateur Football League

NRJFA / North / Tayside

Aberdeenshire Amateur Football Association
Dundee Saturday Morning Amateur Football League **
Midlands Amateur Football Association **
Perthshire Amateur Football Association

South of Scotland Football League

None


**  Overlaps need to be sorted out.


Sunday Amateur Leagues and Summer Amateur Leagues not included.

I don't think there is any appetite to link amateur leagues into the Pyramid structure, we can't even get the semi-pro games linked up!

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4 hours ago, santheman said:

It would make sense for both the ERJFA and the WRJFA to at least explore this option to replace the clubs who will undoubtedly leave for pastures new at some stage if no agreement is reached within the PWG.

Only problem would be the current ground criteria restrictions which would stop most Amateur clubs from being accepted into the SJFA.

That's the killer right there. Perhaps the position's different in other parts of the country, but certainly in the West the majority of even the amateur teams don't have "home" grounds as such, but rather play on municipal/public parks or schools/sports centres, normally flitting between several nominated pitches depending on weather and availability.

I've seen posts on other forums with English groundhoppers wanting to catch a game at say Cathkin Park unable to process the fact the scheduled game they had travelled to watch had been switched to a 3G on the other side of the city at a couple of hours' notice...essentially, none of the West of Scotland leagues mentioned above are set up with spectators in mind, 

It's unlikely many would be able to get agreement or indeed would have the resources to turn any of these into enclosed grounds which would be necessary to enter into semi-professional football - certainly none of the sports centres or schools used would entertain them.

There's a reason the amateur cup winners have had to play their home games at various Junior grounds since they qualified to enter the Scottish Cup.

Edited by Hillonearth
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39 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:

I don't think there is any appetite to link amateur leagues into the Pyramid structure, we can't even get the semi-pro games linked up!

I take your point. Perhaps there needs to be a very small beginning to "get the ball rolling" - with say the EoSL and Lothian & Edinburgh Amateur Football Association agreeing a formal link.

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2 minutes ago, Hillonearth said:

That's the killer right there. Perhaps the position's different in other parts of the country, but certainly in the West the majority of even the amateur teams don't have "home" grounds as such, but rather play on municipal/public parks or schools/sports centres, normally flitting between several nominated pitches depending on weather and availability.

I've seen posts on other forums with English groundhoppers wanting to catch a game at say Cathkin Park unable to process the fact the scheduled game they had travelled to watch had been switched to a 3G on the other side of the city at a couple of hours' notice...essentially, none of the West of Scotland leagues mentioned above are set up with spectators in mind, 

It's unlikely many would be able to get agreement or indeed would have the resources to turn any of these into enclosed grounds which would be necessary to enter into semi-professional football - certainly none of the sports centres or schools used would entertain them.

There's a reason the amateur cup winners have had to play their home games at various Junior grounds since they qualified to enter the Scottish Cup.Insert other media

I'm not sure this is necessarily the case. For example, Kilwinning Rangers are about to move from Abbey Park to Kilwinning Sports Club, where the existing "show park" will be converted into an enclosed ground. If there is money in it for the sports club in question (even more so in the case where the amateur team is already a member of the sports club), then I'm sure several of them would explore the possibility.

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I take your point. Perhaps there needs to be a very small beginning to "get the ball rolling" - with say the EoSL and Lothian & Edinburgh Amateur Football Association agreeing a formal link.
The point is, there isn't a demand for it and any club wanting to join the EoS can do so if they have the facilities.
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9 minutes ago, Burnie_man said:
17 minutes ago, Pyramidic said:
I take your point. Perhaps there needs to be a very small beginning to "get the ball rolling" - with say the EoSL and Lothian & Edinburgh Amateur Football Association agreeing a formal link.

The point is, there isn't a demand for it and any club wanting to join the EoS can do so if they have the facilities.

I still feel that there might be some merit in creating "family League groupings" in which the EoSL would encourage the progession of leading Amateur clubs perhaps making use of suitable 3G pitches or available ground sharing opportunities.  It is just my view.

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I still feel that there might be some merit in creating "family League groupings" in which the EoSL would encourage the progession of leading Amateur clubs perhaps making use of suitable 3G pitches or available ground sharing opportunities.  It is just my view.
That may evolve through time, but at the moment we don't even have a settled structure, that is the focus and as I said, clubs who meet the requirements can apply at the moment anyway.
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20 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

I'm not sure this is necessarily the case. For example, Kilwinning Rangers are about to move from Abbey Park to Kilwinning Sports Club, where the existing "show park" will be converted into an enclosed ground. If there is money in it for the sports club in question (even more so in the case where the amateur team is already a member of the sports club), then I'm sure several of them would explore the possibility.

I understand there are long-standing close links between the Buffs -  a well-established and successful club with a sizeable support in the town - and KSC, so that's less of a stretch. The likes of Glasgow Club would be far less likely to turn over one of their facilities for development to an amateur team, I'd have thought. 

We're in danger of running before we can walk here - once the semi-pro game's in order it's maybe time to look at a pathway from the amateur ranks, but we're not even close to that far yet.

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