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Northboy

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Can't see beyond Brora at present. Consistency the key for a number of the other top-six candidates, & if one or more of Broch, Formartine, Locos, Forres can find that across the whole season, then maybe Brora will have a challenger or two

Edited by Highland ITFC
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1 hour ago, Highland ITFC said:

Can't see beyond Brora at present. Consistency the key for a number of the other top-six candidates, & if one or more of Broch, Formartine, Locos, Forres can find that cross the whole season, then maybe Brora will have a challenger or two

But would Brora want to win the play offs and get promotion?

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2 hours ago, Whitburn Vale said:

Aye looking like Brora for the title next season.

Looking forward to next season without Cove being there!!

Would be happy with Vale finishing in the top 10.

Hope you are right with Vale... for some reason, before I’d set foot in the Highlands, I remember watching Scottish Cup highlights of a 0-0 draw at PRP. The keeper had a spectacular night, can’t even remember who they were playing, but the ground, the commitment, the atmosphere, the darkness, and being a young keeper myself, I’ve had a soft spot for them ever since... 

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37 minutes ago, Spyro said:

Hope you are right with Vale... for some reason, before I’d set foot in the Highlands, I remember watching Scottish Cup highlights of a 0-0 draw at PRP. The keeper had a spectacular night, can’t even remember who they were playing, but the ground, the commitment, the atmosphere, the darkness, and being a young keeper myself, I’ve had a soft spot for them ever since... 

I would often go on holiday to nearby Whitehills as a lad and was often in Banff/Macduff.

Took to Vale back then and pop up a few times a seasons to see them spyro.

When they're doing well they get a half decent sized crowd following them.

Fond memories of victory's in the Scottish cup vs Elgin,Stirling and Linlithgow.

Edited by Whitburn Vale
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52 minutes ago, Whitburn Vale said:

I would often go on holiday to nearby Whitehills as a lad and was often in Banff/Macduff.

Took to Vale back then and pop up a few times a seasons to see them spyro.

When they're doing well they get a half decent sized crowd following them.

Fond memories of victory's in the Scottish cup vs Elgin,Stirling and Linlithgow.

Lovely ground too, used to love driving past if I was working around there.

Think it was the Stirling Albion game I remember, took them to a replay...around 1993-94ish, baldy keeper

 

EDIT: Must have been the Keith game in 1995... that’ll explain the big crowd, 0-0 going on 0-5 of it wasn’t for the keeper, from my very dodgy memory!

Edited by Spyro
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Re Brora, you'd have to think they might as well go for it. What use is pissing away all their money just to win this league? The benefits of promotion - money, mainly - were well know five years ago but they bottled it as a club. Now they've seen what Cove are up to, surely they've had a look about the SHFL and realised that even if it's going to be a stretch being in SPFLLT, it's got to be better than knocking about with Fort and Buckie and that. The Journey that Big Ben promised everyone has been reduced to the odd North of Scotland Cup, and that's of no interest to anyone. The tournament hasn't even got a sponsor. Win the league, go up, enjoy a season of new grounds, get relegated. 

SHFL teams are running out of time to get into the SPFL anyway. Cove recognised that a couple of years back, people on here seem to understand that, but I don't think the rest of the SHFL have really taken it on yet. 

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On 18/06/2019 at 17:14, Jimmy Shaker said:

Re Brora, you'd have to think they might as well go for it. What use is pissing away all their money just to win this league? The benefits of promotion - money, mainly - were well know five years ago but they bottled it as a club. Now they've seen what Cove are up to, surely they've had a look about the SHFL and realised that even if it's going to be a stretch being in SPFLLT, it's got to be better than knocking about with Fort and Buckie and that. The Journey that Big Ben promised everyone has been reduced to the odd North of Scotland Cup, and that's of no interest to anyone. The tournament hasn't even got a sponsor. Win the league, go up, enjoy a season of new grounds, get relegated. 

SHFL teams are running out of time to get into the SPFL anyway. Cove recognised that a couple of years back, people on here seem to understand that, but I don't think the rest of the SHFL have really taken it on yet. 

With  the West Juniors apparently likely to enter the pyramid in 2020/21, and the Lowland League being strengthened by Kelty and Bonnyrigg, with other ex-Juniors in the EoSL obtaining licences and seeking promotion, it will become more difficult for other Highland clubs to follow Cove into the SPFL.

Fraserburgh will push Brora for the championship next season, in my view, and either could win the Highland/Lowland play-off. But I agree that Highland clubs are "running out of time" to do so. In truth, how many other HFL clubs actually want promotion ? 

As an aside, juniors Banks O'Dee's disinterest in joining the Highland League, shows a shocking lack of ambition from the best North Juniors club. It speaks volumes for the rest of the juniors. I am also amazed that their supporters don't want them to progress as a club.

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On 23/06/2019 at 12:18, Robert James said:

As an aside, juniors Banks O'Dee's disinterest in joining the Highland League, shows a shocking lack of ambition from the best North Juniors club. It speaks volumes for the rest of the juniors. I am also amazed that their supporters don't want them to progress as a club.

To all intents and purposes the North Juniors don't have any supporters. So...y'know...

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18 minutes ago, EdTheDuck said:

To all intents and purposes the North Juniors don't have any supporters. So...y'know...

I thought BoD had a good level of support, compared with all the other north juniors. What is their average attendance ?

18 minutes ago, EdTheDuck said:

To all intents and purposes the North Juniors don't have any supporters. So...y'know...

Serious question Ed

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1 hour ago, Robert James said:

I thought BoD had a good level of support, compared with all the other north juniors. What is their average attendance ?

Serious question Ed

Hardly any of the North Juniors will get more than 20-30 unless its a big game. Even then it's a struggle to break three figures. Most of them are essentially amateur clubs.

Edited by Cyclizine
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11 minutes ago, Snafu said:

Around how many supporters turn up for matches in the Aberdeen amateurs?

Not having a dig, the Inverness District amateurs are entertaining, plenty of goals, but the best players get picked by Junior clubs. One would assume the best players in the Aberdeen area would also end up at local Junior teams, given the Juniors would be of a higher standard and that the Juniors are the natural home for that level of player of a standard between the amateurs and the semi pro Highland League.

There's a few decent players in the North Juniors, who for whatever reason can't or won't commit to the more onerous Highland League schedule. You're right about the attendances; on the whole, breaking 20 is a feat for many of the clubs. Some of the rural sides can pull a reasonable crowd on a summer evening, Dufftown spring to mind, but the city clubs are poorly attended. Amateur crowds are non-existent on the whole.

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I actually know nothing about the Aberdeen amateurs. I just see a few match programmes popping up from teams in that league so gathered that something must be going right there, as even the more established junior teams from the east or west don’t bother producing them anymore and as we’ve already said, the supporter base in the North Juniors is pretty much nonexistent. I can’t believe teams like Westhill Amateurs are producing matchday  programmes if no one is there to buy them...

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8 hours ago, Spyro said:

I actually know nothing about the Aberdeen amateurs. I just see a few match programmes popping up from teams in that league so gathered that something must be going right there, as even the more established junior teams from the east or west don’t bother producing them anymore and as we’ve already said, the supporter base in the North Juniors is pretty much nonexistent. I can’t believe teams like Westhill Amateurs are producing matchday  programmes if no one is there to buy them...

I know nothing about matchday programmes but Westhill Amateurs are no more - folded at end of 2017/8 season I think.

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire amateurs generally don't get what we would call crowds. Mostly it's just team officials, subs, non playing squad members, hangers on and a few family and friends. If you throw in a couple of dog walkers and passers by then 40-50 people might be about the maximum (maybe more for key matches).

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I dunno what kind of crowds y'all get in the deep south - except at Talbot, who attract millions to each game - but it sounds like it would be a real eye-opener for a few folk to cart their arses up to the Shire and see how many folk attend NRJFA matches, and consider once again why so many have zero interest in the pyramid. 

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On 24/06/2019 at 18:33, Robert James said:

I thought BoD had a good level of support, compared with all the other north juniors. What is their average attendance ?

Serious question Ed

Others have answered  pretty much perfectly.

Part of the problem is the North Juniors seem to be run entirely for the benefit of the North Juniors. Big league games, cup semi-finals and finals come and go and Joe Soap is blissfully ignorant of it. They seem to make no effort whatsoever to engage with the public. Doesn't help of course that local media make no effort to publicize games or league positions or anything else but then again the impression is that the North Juniors don't really care if they get coverage or not. Their social media seems to be utterly abysmal too.

A someone said further up, the reason for their reticence regarding the pyramid is there for all to see and it's because they're in a bubble and have no interest in looking beyond it. It's a pity because Dyce, Bridge of Don, Banks o Dee, Sunnybank, Ellon, Stonehaven and a couple others have the potential to enhance the SHFL.

 

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Many of the Junior clubs in the North that had the potential to step up to the Highland League successfully have already done so. @Snafu has summed up the North Juniors pretty well, it's a different setup to the West (and the old East), a platform for playing at a level not too much above amateur for the bigger clubs, but essentially amateur for the lower division ones.

With only a fifth of Scotland's population spread across such a large area, the standard tapers off rapidly. It's why any pyramid needs to take this into account.

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