New clubs in the West of Scotland

[Dev]

Maybe some of these clubs will make the leap into the WoS in the next few seasons. It will be interesting to see what happens and whether or not some will merge with/into existing WoS clubs. Does anyone know of any clubs thinking of moving up in these ways?

[Pyramidic]

2 hours ago, Dev said:

Maybe some of these clubs will make the leap into the WoS in the next few seasons. It will be interesting to see what happens and whether or not some will merge with/into existing WoS clubs. Does anyone know of any clubs thinking of moving up in these ways?

It is the time of year when we can only speculate. But there must be a reasonable chance that Syngenta Juveniles FC will be looking west rather than east after having their hopes dashed by the EOSFL a couple of years ago.

https://syngentafc.com/club/

[FairWeatherFan]

4 minutes ago, Pyramidic said:

It is the time of year when we can only speculate. But there must be a reasonable chance that Syngenta Juveniles FC will be looking west rather than east after having their hopes dashed by the EOSFL a couple of years ago.

https://syngentafc.com/club/

Since the ground criteria seems to be lifted exactly from the EoSFL, they'd still be screwed if they haven't resolved that concern.

[jaggyness]

Since the ground criteria seems to be lifted exactly from the EoSFL, they'd still be screwed if they haven't resolved that concern.

I think at the time they applied they'd have been at their previous home. Think there was a fairly high profile falling out with the landlords a couple of seasons back and they moved to TFS.

[FairWeatherFan]

53 minutes ago, jaggyness said:

8 hours ago, FairWeatherFan said:

Since the ground criteria seems to be lifted exactly from the EoSFL, they'd still be screwed if they haven't resolved that concern.

I think at the time they applied they'd have been at their previous home. Think there was a fairly high profile falling out with the landlords a couple of seasons back and they moved to TFS.

I don't believe the situation at Little Kerse played a part in their being rejected. It wasn't fit for purpose anyway, which is what saw them scrambling for a ground with nothing firmly in place once it came to deciding applications. After losing Dunipace as their home field they still don't seem to have anything settled. This year they've used Grangemouth and the pitch they have at the Falkirk Stadium.

Both of which are meant to have problems. The pitch at TFS  likely not meeting the ground requirements, and Grangemouth due to athletics(?)

[Pyramidic]

Kilbride Thistle AFC on Facebook:

The club are delighted to announce via Scottish Amateur Football News that we will be applying to join the West of Scotland Football League this summer.

There has been a lot of work been going on at the club behind the scenes for a long time now to have the club up to the standards expected by the association both on and off the park. We are not taking anything for granted and there is still a lot of work to be done before we’re good to go.

We are also delighted to announce that this doesn’t mean the end to Kilbride Thistle in amateur football. We have loved being a part of The Ayrshire Amateur Football Association and will still have a team playing in the leagues next season.

Lastly but by no means least we’re very happy to announce that we will have an Under 20s team in our ranks this season who will be applying to join the Lowland Under 20’s Development League.

It’s been our clubs ambition for a long time to bring youth teams through and this is our first step in building a successful youth system at Kilbride Thistle with the plans to build on this every year.

Obviously with all the work going on and with the new teams under our banner it’s massively important we have a proper place to call home  for all teams in our club we are working with KA Leisure to do that at St Matthews Academy.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Pyramidic

[Pyramidic]

Kilbride Announce New-Team Expansion Plan

12 FEB 2021SCOTTISH AMATEUR FOOTBALL NEWS

Kilbride Thistle AFC will have a new team in their structure next season – with the current Saturday afternoon set to apply for membership of the West of Scotland Conference League set-up, writes Tom Scott.

Confirming details of both in an exclusive for Scottish Amateur Football News, Manager Sean Kenney told me: “As you know we have been speaking with Officials from another Ayrshire AFL club, and they have agreed to come in and will play under the name of Kilbride Thistle.”

“It is also common knowledge that we will be applying to join the West of Scotland League and take the squad we currently have through with us. There is no point in telling lies and saying it is just a rumour, but I want to stress bringing another team on board under the banner of Kilbride Thistle AFC means it is an expansion of our set-up.”

“In addition to the Saturday teams, we will also run an Under-20 squad plus the Sunday teams – giving us four in total.”

“That is another reason why we are pushing for our own home ground next to St Matthews Secondary, Saltcoats, which you also exclusively reported on last month.”

“The area photographed used to be called Jacks Park until the new School was built, but many refer to it as St Matthews. We still go with the name Jacks Park.”

Many thanks to Kilbride Thistle AFC Manager Mr Sean Kenney for the overhead photographic view of the ground.

https://scottishamateurfootballnews.com/2021/02/12/kilbride-announce-new-team-expansion-plan/

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by Pyramidic

[stanley]

Do Kilbride Thistle basically have Meadowbank Thistle's old badge?

[coach]

5 hours ago, Pyramidic said:

Kilbride Thistle AFC on Facebook:

The club are delighted to announce via Scottish Amateur Football News that we will be applying to join the West of Scotland Football League this summer.

There has been a lot of work been going on at the club behind the scenes for a long time now to have the club up to the standards expected by the association both on and off the park. We are not taking anything for granted and there is still a lot of work to be done before we’re good to go.

We are also delighted to announce that this doesn’t mean the end to Kilbride Thistle in amateur football. We have loved being a part of The Ayrshire Amateur Football Association and will still have a team playing in the leagues next season.

Lastly but by no means least we’re very happy to announce that we will have an Under 20s team in our ranks this season who will be applying to join the Lowland Under 20’s Development League.

It’s been our clubs ambition for a long time to bring youth teams through and this is our first step in building a successful youth system at Kilbride Thistle with the plans to build on this every year.

Obviously with all the work going on and with the new teams under our banner it’s massively important we have a proper place to call home  for all teams in our club we are working with KA Leisure to do that at St Matthews Academy.

Good Article @AmmyFitbaNews. Publish a lot of News from different clubs. Ideal every day. Keeps interest in the game going with no football.

[Sean Kenney]

Do Kilbride Thistle basically have Meadowbank Thistle's old badge?

Good eye Stanley! We have modified the badge over the last couple of years for a personal in-house reason but the original badge is a bit of a rip off you’re correct.

[FairWeatherFan]

Tiny little snippet in today's Sunday Mail:

West of Scotland League chiefs insist their door is open to new members - after clubs from the east lodged an interest. Kilwinning chief Colin Boyd has been talking to interested outfits on behalf of the Interim Management Group ahead of a special general meeting to elect the first WoSFL board. Sixty-seven clubs entered the new league last summer and IMG member Boyd said:

"Geography is a grey area as there are no official boundaries but it is something the WoSFL and EoSFL (East of Scotland Football League) are in discussions about and will continue after the meeting. Several teams are interested in joining the WoSFL, including some well-known amateur clubs from across the west as well as some east junior clubs. All clubs will be welcome as long as they meet the criteria and are a positive addition to the league. The IMG have come up with some plans but nothing will be set in stone until after the new board is elected and the member clubs have had a meeting to discuss this."

[Burnieman]

21 hours ago, FairWeatherFan said:

Tiny little snippet in today's Sunday Mail:

West of Scotland League chiefs insist their door is open to new members - after clubs from the east lodged an interest. Kilwinning chief Colin Boyd has been talking to interested outfits on behalf of the Interim Management Group ahead of a special general meeting to elect the first WoSFL board. Sixty-seven clubs entered the new league last summer and IMG member Boyd said:

"Geography is a grey area as there are no official boundaries but it is something the WoSFL and EoSFL (East of Scotland Football League) are in discussions about and will continue after the meeting. Several teams are interested in joining the WoSFL, including some well-known amateur clubs from across the west as well as some east junior clubs. All clubs will be welcome as long as they meet the criteria and are a positive addition to the league. The IMG have come up with some plans but nothing will be set in stone until after the new board is elected and the member clubs have had a meeting to discuss this."

 

It really shouldn't be a grey area at all.  Lanarkshire is west, West Lothian is east.  Hopefully common sense prevails.

[Arthurlie1981]

A serious question.

Should the IMG be holding these meetings with interested clubs? Should it not be held off until the management committee are put in place and rules around boundaries are agreed?

On a separate but related point when are the new management committee being elected?

[FairWeatherFan]

18 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

 

It really shouldn't be a grey area at all.  Lanarkshire is west, West Lothian is east.  Hopefully common sense prevails.

It's a grey area because it goes beyond what you think about a handful of East Juniors.

[Burnieman]

It's a grey area because it goes beyond what you think about a handful of East Juniors.

Do tell then since you seem to know.

[glensmad]

A serious question.

Should the IMG be holding these meetings with interested clubs? Should it not be held off until the management committee are put in place and rules around boundaries are agreed?

On a separate but related point when are the new management committee being elected?

The SGM to elect the WoSFL Board will be held on 1st March. The formal notification was sent to all of the clubs early this morning.

[FairWeatherFan]

19 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

29 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

It's a grey area because it goes beyond what you think about a handful of East Juniors.

Do tell then since you seem to know.

I know that that defining West of Scotland and East of Scotland goes beyond Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

[Burnieman]

I know that that defining West of Scotland and East of Scotland goes beyond Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

It does, but the current issue in hand between the two leagues is West Lothian. Tayside doesn't affect the WoS.

The only other area that I can see being affected is Stirlingshire but again, that would probably be considered east traditionally, although I can see where parts of it may be better suited to WoS if there's amateur clubs fancying the step up.

D&G is an issue for the SoS.

[Pyramidic]

An important meeting on 1st March:

 

February 15, 2021

Special General Meeting

West of Scotland Football League hereafter referred to as WoSFL.

Scottish Lowland Football League hereafter referred to as SLFL.

Special General Meeting hereafter referred to as SGM.

Interim Management Group hereafter referred to as IMG.

I have received an application signed by 10 clubs requesting a SGMin accordance with the current Constitution and Rules. 

6.6 Special General Meetings

6.6.1 Member Clubs shall have power to call a Special General Meeting. A Special General Meeting will be called on receipt of a requisition signed by ten Full Member Clubs within fourteen days after such requisition has been received. The requisition must state the business for which the meeting is called and this is the only business that can be concluded at the Special General Meeting concerned. Each Full Member Club whose subscription for the current season has been paid shall be entitled to send two representatives to all Special General Meetings.

That SGM will take place on Monday 1^st March 2021 at 7PM and will be by Zoom due to the Covid restrictions.

Business of the meeting.

1) Proposals to alter the Constitution and Rules of the WoSFL.

2) Election of Management Board to facilitate handover from SLFL.

3) Election of representatives to the Scottish FA Non Professional Game Board and the Scottish FA Congress.

History and purpose behind the 3 items on the agenda.

The WoSFL was set up by the SLFL in 2020 and the Constitution and Rules was set up to allow administration of the League. People from within the membership were co-opted onto a sub-committee of the SLFL to look after that administration. In line with the constitution, I was also co-opted as a neutral to take up the position of Secretary.

Dave McKenna was appointed as Chair and Andrew Waddell was appointed as Treasurer.

That sub-committee took up the name of Interim Management Group of the WoSFL.

4 Governance

4.1 The governance and business of the League will rest with the Board of the Scottish Lowland Football League until such time as the Board and Office Bearers are elected, no later than March 2021.

In accordance with the above Rule the SLFL are handing over Governance to the WoSFL membership and the SGM has been called to facilitate the handover. During their time of administration of the WoSFL the IMG have identified that certain rules within the Constitution and Rules would not suit the needs of the WoSFL and would hamper the progress of the League. We have 67 clubs in membership and that looks likely to increase. We believe that the WoSFL would be better served by 3 secretaries rather than just 1 and therefore propose that we should have a General Secretary, a Discipline Secretary and a Fixture Secretary. We also appreciate that finding the right people to fulfil the Office Bearer roles of the 3 Secretaries and a Treasurer that are not already connected to a member club and are unwilling to give up their role with their club would be nigh on impossible, so we are also proposing that these roles are open to anyone as long as they are proposed and seconded by member clubs. In all likelihood the people with the knowledge and experience required will be with a club so we need the Constitution and Rules altered to allow us to elect the right people for the roles.

The proposed changes have been attached to the message sent to the Club Secretaries and can also be found on the Club Admin Site.

The second item on the agenda will be to form the Management Board of the WoSFL.

Anyone interested in any of the positions on the Board (Chair, Vice-Chair, General Secretary, Discipline Secretary, Fixture Secretary, Treasurer or Club Representative) should fill in the form to be found on the website. It can be found here – West of Scotland Football League (wosfl.co.uk) under Join the WOSFL. 

Apply for the WOSFL Board (google.com)

The closing date and time for applications is Monday 22^nd February 2021 at 8PM.

The applications will then be processed and put forward for the SGM.

A full agenda with the proposals, candidates and procedure will be sent out with the invite to the meeting to all club secretaries prior to the meeting.

The third item will be to elect representatives from the new Board to the Scottish FA Non Professional Game Board and the Scottish FA Congress. 

The SGM will be closed following the election of the Board and a General Meeting will then take place to allow discussion on a few topics that need addressed.

Kennie Young

Secretary

IMG of PDM Buildbase WoSFL

[Arthurlie1981]

The SGM to elect the WoSFL Board will be held on 1st March. The formal notification was sent to all of the clubs early this morning.

Thanks