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Scottish Women's Premier League 2019


GordonS

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The big kick off tomorrow:

SWPL1

Celtic v Forfar

Motherwell v Stirling Uni

Rangers v Glasgow City

Spartans v Hibernian 

SWPL2

Dundee Utd v St Johnstone

Glasgow Girls v Partick Thistle

Hamilton Accies v Hearts

Hutchie Vale v Kilmarnock (postponed due to the usual Saughton quagmire).

A few changes for this season...

Motherwell have moved to Ravenscraig - I don't know if they'll be indoor or outdoor, but I doubt anything outdoor meets the new ground requirements from SWPL1. On Sunday they'll be using one of their four permitted slots to move games to an alternative ground, and they're playing at Fir Park. Motherwell have also dropped "Ladies" from their name and they've merged their twitter account into the Motherwell FC account, with a message that they're one club. Very impressive, one of many things to like about they way the club is run these days.

Rangers are still at Benburb's ground, New Tinto Park, but until it's brought up to SWPL1 standards it will count as their alternate ground, as these only have to meet SWPL2 conditions. They can do this for four games, and they say the ground will be ready after that. I think all they'll need to do is cover 200 seats.  

Stirling Uni have moved from the Gannochy to Ochilview.

In SWPL2, Hearts have moved from Dalkeith to Oriam (not sure which pitch); Glasgow Girls have moved in beside Glasgow City at Petershill; Edinburgh Uni Hutchie Vale appear to have separated, and Hutchie Vale has the slot, with games moved from Peffermill to Saughton; and Thistle Weir, newly promoted into the league, appear to have changed their name to Partick Thistle and have also moved in at Petershill. 

Central Girls Football Academy, who dropped out of SWPL2 last season, seem to have vanished. 

And lastly,  there will be no relegation this season from SWPL 2 as they're expanding to 10 teams for 2020. Promotion to SWPL 2 will remain the same with one team from SWFL Division One North and South each gaining a place in the league.

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Scores today, Hibs surprisingly held by Spartans in the Ainslie Park derby (maybe losing your best players doesn't help), decent win for Motherwell in their first match at this level and a good win for big-talking Celtic. In SWPL2 Hearts beat newly relegated Accies. 

But events entirely overshadowed by the death of Glasgow City legend Kat Lindner at just 39 years old. She was also the partner of the club's co-founder.

 

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I wouldn't say the Spartans-Hibs result was a particular surprise; there's been some close games between the two Edinburgh sides over the years and the wind at Ainslie Park played a part. There's a good game in prospect next week as Hibs take on Celtic.

I was lucky enough to see Kat Lindner play for Glasgow City on a few occasions. She was a great player- good ball skills and tricky on the wing and it was with sadness that I heard of her passing today. 

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Hibs dropping points has been coming, losing their best players was always going to hurt and with a 3rd team (Celtic going FT) to compete with to sign the best players from elsewhere, this season was not going to be as straight forward as the past few. Last year was their biggest chance to win the league.

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35 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

I was lucky enough to see Kat Lindner play for Glasgow City on a few occasions. She was a great player- good ball skills and tricky on the wing and it was with sadness that I heard of her passing today. 

Found out tonight that a friend of mine played against her. She said she was a great person as well as a very capable player. I can only recall seeing her twice, but she was a stand-out. 

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Rangers are still at Benburb's ground, New Tinto Park, but until it's brought up to SWPL1 standards it will count as their alternate ground, as these only have to meet SWPL2 conditions. They can do this for four games, and they say the ground will be ready after that. I think all they'll need to do is cover 200 seats.

Apologies, I couldn't get this section to quote in the app. Does this mean that Rangers/Benburb are finally covering the seats at New Tinto? That will be a fantastic addition to that ground

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On 2/10/2019 at 01:56, GordonS said:

I don't know if they'll be indoor or outdoor, but I doubt anything outdoor meets the new ground requirements from SWPL1

We'll be indoor, though some games are scheduled for Dalziel Park during the summer months too. 

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On 11/02/2019 at 21:22, Craig the Hunter said:

Rangers are still at Benburb's ground, New Tinto Park, but until it's brought up to SWPL1 standards it will count as their alternate ground, as these only have to meet SWPL2 conditions. They can do this for four games, and they say the ground will be ready after that. I think all they'll need to do is cover 200 seats.

Apologies, I couldn't get this section to quote in the app. Does this mean that Rangers/Benburb are finally covering the seats at New Tinto? That will be a fantastic addition to that ground

I don't know, so I spent an interesting half hour on the Glasgow planning portal.

Turns out, when Benburb moved into Craigton park, site of New Tinto Park, they laid out a 3G pitch and built a pavilion without planning permission! In 2014 they applied for permission to build a covered stand where the present stand is, and in 2016 this was refused. In 2014 they also applied for permission to build a pavilion and move the pitch closer to that end of the ground, which was granted in February 2015. But on this plan there is no sign of any stand. I wonder if the stand maybe counts as a temporary structure?

There are no more recent planning applications at the site, so nothing about a covered stand. Hmm.

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13 hours ago, AndyRoss said:

We'll be indoor, though some games are scheduled for Dalziel Park during the summer months too. 

Thanks. I think that might make Motherwell the first adult team in Scottish football to have an indoor pitch as their main ground, though I'm not sure which pitch Hearts are using at Oriam.

Are you allowed to use three grounds in a season? And if you've used Fir Park for one game, does that mean you can only use Dalziel Park a maximum of three times? 

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Thanks. I think that might make Motherwell the first adult team in Scottish football to have an indoor pitch as their main ground, though I'm not sure which pitch Hearts are using at Oriam.
Are you allowed to use three grounds in a season? And if you've used Fir Park for one game, does that mean you can only use Dalziel Park a maximum of three times? 

Hearts will be using the indoor pitch.
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22 hours ago, GordonS said:

I don't know, so I spent an interesting half hour on the Glasgow planning portal.

Turns out, when Benburb moved into Craigton park, site of New Tinto Park, they laid out a 3G pitch and built a pavilion without planning permission! In 2014 they applied for permission to build a covered stand where the present stand is, and in 2016 this was refused. In 2014 they also applied for permission to build a pavilion and move the pitch closer to that end of the ground, which was granted in February 2015. But on this plan there is no sign of any stand. I wonder if the stand maybe counts as a temporary structure?

There are no more recent planning applications at the site, so nothing about a covered stand. Hmm.

How can they not get planning permission for a covered stand? The seats are next to a f*cking motorway! Sounds like Glasgow City Council's planning department are about as batshit as Edinburgh's.. 

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3 hours ago, tamthebam said:

How can they not get planning permission for a covered stand? The seats are next to a f*cking motorway! Sounds like Glasgow City Council's planning department are about as batshit as Edinburgh's.. 

It's worth a laugh if you the time to read it. Some of the major issues are about green space and biodiversity, yet when you're sitting in that stand you're nearer the middle of the M8 than the far corner flags.

I suspect that they got a booting because they'd just built the thing without any planning permission, which to an extent would be fair enough. But I don't know any of the back story and over here in the EoS forum we're unlikely to get any passing Benburb fans to explain it. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Some interesting fixtures tomorrow. Motherwell will get another barometer of where they stand, and this new Hibs side trying to replace its stars should get a stern test in Motherwell's first game in their new indoor home. Spartans v Celtic is probably match of the day. Glasgow City shouldn't be troubled at home by Stirling Uni and Rangers will be looking to beat Forfar, though they won't find it easy.

 

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Went along to Motherwell v Hibs, the away side won 4-0. A harsh result for Motherwell who played very well until the first goal knocked the wind out of them a bit, coming a minute before half time. A not-too-great clearance to the edge of the box and a howler from the keeper slightly handed goals to Hibs, and in between those there was a pretty special goal straight from a corner. 

A few stand-outs on both sides but the player with the most quality was Napier on the left for Hibs. She was a bit wasted there, she's right-footed and would cut inside, but without an overlapping full-back or a dangerous shot, I'm not a fan of wide players on the 'wrong' sides. On the right she'd have skinned the full-back repeatedly and delivered good balls into the box. 

On a foul, cold, pishy day like today watching football indoors is a blessing. The seats are alongside the pitch at ground level so don't offer a good view (unlike Toryglen and Oriam, where the seating is elevated), but I watched from the balcony behind the goals, where you're practically on top of the crossbar. I think the hall must be a little heated, it was certainly warmer than outside and felt warmer than Oriam usually does. They've just laid a new pitch and it's exceptionally good, much better than at Livingston and on a par with the best artificial surfaces I've seen. The only downside to the venue was the music leaching from the dance studios, and the net hung behind the goal across the balcony that was slightly annoying to look through. They should just tie that back for games, it's not like the ball could get stuck there.

Just shy of 100 watching from the seats, and another 10-20 on the balcony (though some seemed to be dads who occasionally had to head into the hall behind to watch their wee one in some gymnastics thing. 

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