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North Caledonian League Expansion


Robert James

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17 hours ago, Cyclizine said:

Aviemore is an odd place population-wise, massive number of second homes and holiday homes. There'd be the ground issue as well, I'd imagine a lot of call offs with weather in winter (when everyone's skiing anyway). There's an astro park behind the GP surgery next to the new school, but it's just a generic 3G cage. I think the welfare teams used to play in Carrbridge though.

That basic 3G cage by the new school/library is where Aviemore Thistle play, in the Strathspey & Badenoch Welfare summer league. A league which is down to just 4 member clubs nowadays.

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4 hours ago, TheScarf said:

I built an extension in Aviemore last year and i think in the wee cul-de-sac its was the only house owned by someone who lived there permanently.  Don't think there was cars in the drives of any of the other properties.

I think pretty much all the houses they built at the High Burnside development ended up as holiday homes. Locals are completely priced out.

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11 hours ago, cmontheloknow said:

Pricy covid tests for amateur kickabouts? Really?

Kickabouts probably unlikely..

However, the North Caley League has published its fixtures in order to c0mplete the current season. Matches will start on 29th May, and conclude on 26th June. Good news.

The 2021/22 season is unlikely to start before mid September (yet to be confirmed).. It will be interesting to see if Bunillidh Thistle will rejoin the NCL, after a year out.

 

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17 minutes ago, come on shire said:

Due to the NCL joining the pyramid, will teams be able to take part in qualifying for the Scottish Cup? 

Not unless they are licensed. 

Golspie Sutherland is the only NCL club which has an SFA licence at present, and they already enter the Scottish Cup each season.  Pyramid status in 2021/22, will give encouragement to a couple of current NCL clubs, who are understood to be ambitious.

Similarly there is only one club in the North Juniors, which holds an SFA licence, namely Banks O'Dee, who also enter the big 'Scottish' each season. By comparison, if a "Midland League" (East Juniors north of Tayside) joins the pyramid, none of its clubs are currently licensed. 

 

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15 minutes ago, Robert James said:

Not unless they are licensed. 

Golspie Sutherland is the only NCL club which has an SFA licence at present, and they already enter the Scottish Cup each season.  Pyramid status in 2021/22, will give encouragement to a couple of current NCL clubs, who are understood to be ambitious.

Similarly there is only one club in the North Juniors, which holds an SFA licence, namely Banks O'Dee, who also enter the big 'Scottish' each season. By comparison, if a "Midland League" (East Juniors north of Tayside) joins the pyramid, none of its clubs are currently licensed. 

 

But as @FairWeatherFan  says, an unlicensed club will qualify via the champions' route when NCL and Midland become recognised tier 6 leagues. North Juniors already have this in place. There may also be a route via a competition similar to the South & East of Scotland Cup, to keep the qualifying chances even between Highland and Lowland regions.

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42 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

All this talk of licensing - how difficult is it for a club to get a license?

There's a couple of threads on licencing in the EoSFL and WoSFL fora and the criteria are available here: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish-fa/football-governance/club-licensing/. Most of the criteria apart from groundworks including floodlights aren't particularly onerous, but clubs' individual circumstances will vary. In terms of the NCL, Golspie are already licenced. The rest would have to do significant work to their grounds.

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Chuck this licensing pish in the bin and get all pyramid clubs in the Scottish Cup. Alternatively, chuck everyone outside of the top flight into two regional halves of the Challenge Cup at the first round without seeding and keep firing through the rounds until you get a national last 16. 

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11 hours ago, Cyclizine said:

There's a couple of threads on licencing in the EoSFL and WoSFL fora and the criteria are available here: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish-fa/football-governance/club-licensing/. Most of the criteria apart from groundworks including floodlights aren't particularly onerous, but clubs' individual circumstances will vary. In terms of the NCL, Golspie are already licenced. The rest would have to do significant work to their grounds.

 

There has been some serious damage at Bunillidh's Couper Park clubhouse, which may mean that the club will not return to the NCL for 2021/22.

However,  subject to pandemic controls being lifted, it is anticipated that one new club will join the NCL for next season.  

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10 hours ago, virginton said:

Chuck this licensing pish in the bin and get all pyramid clubs in the Scottish Cup. Alternatively, chuck everyone outside of the top flight into two regional halves of the Challenge Cup at the first round without seeding and keep firing through the rounds until you get a national last 16. 

Won't happen.

However Tier 6 will encourage some of the leading NCL clubs, to consider SFA licensing.  Similarly, several clubs in the proposed North/Midland League, will look to follow the same route,  when it obtains senior/pyramid status.    

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On 06/04/2021 at 20:47, Cyclizine said:

Aviemore is an odd place population-wise, massive number of second homes and holiday homes. There'd be the ground issue as well, I'd imagine a lot of call offs with weather in winter (when everyone's skiing anyway). There's an astro park behind the GP surgery next to the new school, but it's just a generic 3G cage. I think the welfare teams used to play in Carrbridge though.

Weren't Aviemore the British ice hockey champions years ago?  Can't imagine they'd need that big a crowd to survive.

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16 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

Weren't Aviemore the British ice hockey champions years ago?  Can't imagine they'd need that big a crowd to survive.

Won the 3rd tier of the now defunct British Hockey League in 86-87 before folding after the following season where they pulled a Fort William losing all 28 games.

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8 minutes ago, GNU_Linux said:

Won the 3rd tier of the now defunct British Hockey League in 86-87 before folding after the following season where they pulled a Fort William losing all 28 games.

Pulling down the ice rink probably didn't help things either.

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