cmontheloknow Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 https://wosfl.co.uk/update-9th-october-2020/?fbclid=IwAR119sWWiPw5ohBZay4fE-NaTXn2yo-wxbhxX9KOrenC57CzzJY5BtqPGFQ From Dave McKenna, Chairperson of the West of Scotland Football League Following the welcome news yesterday, we now await the result of the vote on the season start date. That will let us know the direction clubs wish the league to take going forward. As we have come to realise, our situation can change almost from day to day! As of now, we are still required to satisfy the protocols in place before the most recent announcement from the Scottish Government. With that in mind please remember the guidance in the infographic posted below. We take these health and hygiene guidelines seriously, and they are an absolute must if we are to push for any further easing of restrictions. The one major change from before is the Lowland League Board decided to impose the suspension of Development team football from tomorrow to midnight on Sunday 25th October. This was done on the grounds of safety. Please note that clubs are not allowed to inflate their normal first team squad as a result, even though all the players are Scottish FA registered. Another matter still under discussion is the use of dressing rooms. We must produce a robust plan to satisfy the Scottish FA that this can be done safely. This will entail sight of individual operational plans and perhaps site visits to ensure compliance. The Scottish FA has confirmed dressing rooms will continue to be out of bounds until clubs are given the green light to start using them again. This is a major undertaking given the size of our league and the different type of facilities involved. We’ll have more on this in the next few days. Lastly, we have been asked to keep any further friendly games as local as possible, even though we are exempt from the travel restrictions just announced. This is simply a matter of risk minimisation where we are in control of giving permission for games. League and Cup fixtures are of course a different matter. Let’s focus on having a safe day at any games tomorrow, at least the forecast isn’t too bad, unlike last weekend! Dave McKenna Chairperson West of Scotland Football League 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmontheloknow Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 4 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said: If people couldn't read the SFA announcement properly yesterday where the Lowland Development League was concerned, why should we assume they were able to get this straight? My guess is that they heard that there was no relegation to accomodate the possibility of clubs opting out then they added 2 and 2 and got five where there also being no promotion to the LL was concerned. Not as 100% confident on the conferences on that as expanding beyond 20 for the premiership next year could be an issue, but where there's a will there's probably a way. The LL themselves banned u20 teams, not the SFA. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthurlie1981 Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Who announced it then ?The organisers did apparently after consultation with the LL board. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, cmontheloknow said: The LL themselves banned u20 teams, not the SFA. It wasn't on the list of exempted competitions in the announcement by the SFA. It was never given the green light in the first place. If people couldn't get that straight, I'll wait for something official on pro-rel. https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scottish-fa-statement-on-new-government-guidelines/?rid=13929&fbclid=IwAR1GLW90Jz3u8FN6c9jzU5gFW5D7Pgrry5kZCSDV-iclTVLDFm4tgDicGRA Please note, Scottish Government have advised of an exemption for professional sport. This covers teams who take part in the following competitions - Scottish Professional Football League, Highland League, Lowland League, SWF PL 1 & 2, West of Scotland Leagues, East of Scotland Leagues, South of Scotland League, North Caledonian League and SJFA Leagues. These competitions can continue in line with relevant guidance and protocols. This exemption also covers Scotland National Team fixtures at Men’s A, SWNT and Under-21 level. Edited October 9, 2020 by LongTimeLurker 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmontheloknow Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 14 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said: It wasn't on the list of exempted competitions in the announcement by the SFA. It was never given the green light in the first place. If people couldn't get that straight, I'll wait for something official on pro-rel. "The one major change from before is the Lowland League Board decided to impose the suspension of Development team football from tomorrow to midnight on Sunday 25th October. This was done on the grounds of safety. " 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 (edited) They are trying to save face with that. Somebody appears to have told teams they were OK to go when they weren't. This is a youth league with many teams only having a tenuous link to the senior club they are affiliated with in this context. Edited October 9, 2020 by LongTimeLurker 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 It looks like the people organising the LDL thought the exemption for the Lowland League covered the Development League side of things. The SFA seemingly had to do some convincing what was classed Professional Sport as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbaxters Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 5 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said: It looks like the people organising the LDL thought the exemption for the Lowland League covered the Development League side of things. The SFA seemingly had to do some convincing what was classed Professional Sport as well. Have to say I'm surprised the exemptions reach so far down. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmontheloknow Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 2 hours ago, jimbaxters said: Have to say I'm surprised the exemptions reach so far down. It's a bit of a joke - there's not a single professional player in the North Caledonian League. It's a good outocme for our clubs but a bit laughable. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 10 hours ago, jimbaxters said: Have to say I'm surprised the exemptions reach so far down. Looks from twitter activity on the subject like the EoS and possibly also some WoS premier clubs (Kilwinning Rangers are prime suspects) successfully kicked up a fuss behind the scenes because LL linked sources were definitely pushing the idea that it would be tier 5 and up only. Looking at it in legal terms the decision is the sensible one because the definition of professional ultimately revolves around player registration status. All the competitions listed have the ability to sign players to the same professional registration form that Rangers and Celtic players use, so it would be very difficult to justify any other dividing line if a club or league took legal action over it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 1 hour ago, LongTimeLurker said: Looks from twitter activity on the subject like the EoS and possibly also some WoS premier clubs (Kilwinning Rangers are prime suspects) successfully kicked up a fuss behind the scenes because LL linked sources were definitely pushing the idea that it would be tier 5 and up only. Making public what they had been told behind the scenes doesn't count as pushing the idea. Especially when it looks like the original SG announcement was meant to be something similar. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthurlie1981 Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Interestingly the WOSFL have now tweeted that some clubs have intimated that they wish to withdraw and have until tomorrow at 5 to do so. Maybe reading too much into this update but maybe that would suggest the vote was for the season to start without the club that wish to withdraw. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 18 hours ago, Arthurlie1981 said: Well have the East Clubs have worked out the magic formula for paying players without crowds or are they hoping for the best that fans will be back sooner rather than later.... They've started but this isn't Mastermind so Magnus Magnusson won't be saying "...so you'll finish" where the season is concerned: My understanding is clubs will be able to drop out without penalty in December if fans are not back by then. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 4 minutes ago, Yogi said: https://wosfl.co.uk/club-ballot-results/ Question 1 Under the current restrictions, does your club wish to commence playing on 24th October? Yes, we want to start on Saturday 24th October – 36 No, we do not wish to start on Saturday 24th October – 31 Question 2 Irrelevant due to result of Question 1 (related to a continued pause of season) Question 3 If the result of the ballot on Question 1 is that we should commence playing on 24th October, does your club wish to withdraw from this season’s league competition? Yes, we wish to withdraw – 14 No, we will compete in the league – 53 The IMG will now request written confirmation from the 14 Clubs who indicated that they do not wish to participate in this season’s league competition. If we do not hear anything from them by 5PM on Sunday 11th October 2020 we will accept that they have withdrawn 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Juggling the interests of 67 clubs was always going to be the hardest thing to do. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerty Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 4 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said: Juggling the interests of 67 clubs was always going to be the hardest thing to do. What about the fans? Obviously the clubs that voted to start without the fans don't give a fk about their fans, 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshmallo Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Every club needs to look after their own interests, but it seems strange to me that every team in the East is good to go while a quarter of the teams in the West are intimating they'll sit it out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmontheloknow Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 9 minutes ago, Marshmallo said: Every club needs to look after their own interests, but it seems strange to me that every team in the East is good to go while a quarter of the teams in the West are intimating they'll sit it out. If I jump off a bridge, must you follow? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweep Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 This means that the West teams will be playing game that are more or less friendlies as there will be no promotion or relegation 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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