Marten Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Just now, AsimButtHitsASix said: It's entirely wishful thinking from misty eyed romantics dreaming of away days in Campbeltown, Lochgilphead, Oban, Rothesay and Dunoon. Those places have well run amateur teams and grounds that could handle WoSFL but I don't think anyone has heard a peep from anyone at those clubs have they? Shame. I'm a misty eyed romantic dreaming of an away day in Argyll and Bute I'd love to see clubs in those areas apply, but it's up to those clubs and they will have to take plenty of factors into consideration when deciding whether or not to do that. Maybe when the WoSFL is split in tiers after conference some clubs might feel tempted to join the lowest tier, but time will tell. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 3 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said: It's entirely wishful thinking from misty eyed romantics dreaming of away days in Campbeltown, Lochgilphead, Oban, Rothesay and Dunoon. Those places have well run amateur teams and grounds that could handle WoSFL but I don't think anyone has heard a peep from anyone at those clubs have they? Shame. I'm a misty eyed romantic dreaming of an away day in Argyll and Bute I'm hoping this will be the last year of mass speculation. It won't have the same drive behind the chat caused by the Junior leagues, and will literally just be gossip and speculation. In the same way the EoSFL thread pre-Juniors was "maybe Kelso or Duns will come back" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 8 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said: It's entirely wishful thinking from misty eyed romantics dreaming of away days in Campbeltown, Lochgilphead, Oban, Rothesay and Dunoon. Those places have well run amateur teams and grounds that could handle WoSFL but I don't think anyone has heard a peep from anyone at those clubs have they? Shame. I'm a misty eyed romantic dreaming of an away day in Argyll and Bute That's it exactly - a name gets spitballed on here and the prospect of them joining gains traction solely due to that : "I heard so-and so were interested...." Nope - someone just brought their name up five or six pages earlier in this thread! As for Harmony Row, they were exactly the kind of club I was wondering if they would be interested...they've got a good setup with the only thing missing as things stand being spectator facilities...we played a friendly over at theirs a while back and as it was pishing the only realistic place to watch the game from was through the windows of the wee building at one end. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsimButtHitsASix Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 13 minutes ago, Marten said: I'd love to see clubs in those areas apply, but it's up to those clubs and they will have to take plenty of factors into consideration when deciding whether or not to do that. Maybe when the WoSFL is split in tiers after conference some clubs might feel tempted to join the lowest tier, but time will tell. I'm not entirely sure what's stopping them tbh. The amount of travelling they need to do is already more than most semi-pro teams, they usually have good set ups and decent community support. I've never ran a football club so I'm speaking from a fair level of ignorance as usual but it doesn't seem a huge jump for them and the pros seem to outweigh the cons. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 (edited) Think the more distant Argyll clubs can only realistically compete in a league with a relatively limited fixture list that is Saturday only. 6:30 pm midweek kickoffs in Campbelltown or Oban to clear a fixture backlog are clearly not happening. They are no more likely to join the pyramid than teams from Shetland or the Western Isles are in other words because travel logistics makes it a non-starter unless they can organise a league of their own that operates in a similar manner to what the North Caledonian League does with the Orkney team they have on board. Working on the principle that youth clubs that have active plans to upgrade facilities and probably feel a need to become part of the U20 setup to stay relevant in pathway terms are the ones most likely to apply, the speculation for who are part of the five beyond Harmony Row, Harthill and Kilbride Thistle should probably revolve around East Kilbride United (?), Baillieston Thistle and Easterhouse Football Academy based on what has been posted on here in recent weeks. Edited March 25, 2021 by LongTimeLurker 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 22 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said: I'm not entirely sure what's stopping them tbh. The amount of travelling they need to do is already more than most semi-pro teams, they usually have good set ups and decent community support. I've never ran a football club so I'm speaking from a fair level of ignorance as usual but it doesn't seem a huge jump for them and the pros seem to outweigh the cons. I'd imagine some of the things that semi-pro teams find encouraging could be a disadvantage for amateur teams travelling long distances. Larger leagues with a proper fixture list. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginaro Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 South Lochaber Thistle (Kinlochleven) and Oban Saints (who also have their second team lower down) already play in the top division of Glasgow based amateur leagues. Suppose the best way to entice them would be to have a regional split at the bottom of the WOS so they don't need to go to Ayrshire to begin with, and a 12-14 team league instead of 16+. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 1 hour ago, Ginaro said: South Lochaber Thistle (Kinlochleven) Highland League forum for this pish... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthurlie1981 Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Think the more distant Argyll clubs can only realistically compete in a league with a relatively limited fixture list that is Saturday only. 6:30 pm midweek kickoffs in Campbelltown or Oban to clear a fixture backlog are clearly not happening. They are no more likely to join the pyramid than teams from Shetland or the Western Isles are in other words because travel logistics makes it a non-starter unless they can organise a league of their own that operates in a similar manner to what the North Caledonian League does with the Orkney team they have on board. Working on the principle that youth clubs that have active plans to upgrade facilities and probably feel a need to become part of the U20 setup to stay relevant in pathway terms are the ones most likely to apply, the speculation for who are part of the five beyond Harmony Row, Harthill and Kilbride Thistle should probably revolve around East Kilbride United (?), Baillieston Thistle and Easterhouse Football Academy based on what has been posted on here in recent weeks. I’ve heard another one is a youth football team. If it’s true that makes 4. Edited to add: they are not from Argyll and Bute [emoji23] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyramidic Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 (edited) 21 hours ago, Arthurlie1981 said: I’ve heard another one is a youth football team. If it’s true that makes 4. Edited to add: they are not from Argyll and Bute Your info would suggest that the big youth set-ups are better equipped to make submissions to join the WOSFL than the top Amateur clubs in the region. It is a shame that the gap between the best Amateur clubs and the WOSFL is so wide in terms of playing facilities as some of their leading clubs would breeze into the semi-professional league in terms of their general playing standard. If a Development Division can be started by the WOSFL for the 2022/23 season at tier 10 it would make a huge difference. Edited March 26, 2021 by Pyramidic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthurlie1981 Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Your info would suggest that the big youth set-ups are better equipped to make submissions to join the WOSFL than the top Amateur clubs in the region. It is a shame that the gap between the best Amateur clubs and the WOSFL is so wide in terms of playing facilities as some of their leading clubs would breeze into the semi-professional league in terms of their general playing standard. If a Development Division can be started by the WOSFL for the 2022/23 season at tier 10 it would make a huge difference.I’m not sure some of the big youth clubs are that much better off tbh. The ones who own there own ground have an easier chance of making improvements, although Kilbride seem to making a good go of it. If you have a compliant council/partner who will support you make improvements to the facility then all clubs could and should be encouraged to join. I personally believe clubs shouldn’t be given a grace period. It was a mistake the SJFA made with certain clubs and once those deadlines are missed (mostly not of the clubs own making) you can’t throw them out. There should be a strict ground criteria (not too onerous) to allow supporters to have a proper view of the game and to encourage fans to come along. If not then clubs shouldn’t be allowed promotion until their ground is to a certain standard. Not having a go at clubs whose committees work extremely hard but we need to turn the WOS into the haves and have nots. It will make a mockery of it for me. Could you imagine harmony row facing Pollok in a cup tie at he Sir Alex Ferguson! It would be bedlam. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy groundhopper Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Similar to down here in England, every league has a date when ground improvements need to be done, in order for promotion. Ground grading visits are done regularly, especially when going from amateurs to step 7. Always found that many youth clubs who run from say under 9 up to 16 don't really want to move to adult football, is that the same in Scotland ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairWeatherFan Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) Applications are up to 11. So the standalone league below the Conferences might be on the cards. Also what i'm taking as a strong hint that one might be an Argyll & Bute applicant. Edited March 28, 2021 by FairWeatherFan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmontheloknow Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Oban Saints would be the obvious one, though facilities are limited unless they want to use Mossfield Stadium, which is as bad as the Fort for watching football on (or even worse, the 4g cage at the high school). If they could redevleop Glencruitten Park somehow it'd be a great facility. Then again, Cambeltown has a history of Junior football too... South Lochaber Thistle are in Highland territory I think, despite their current amateur forays. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GNU_Linux Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 16 minutes ago, cmontheloknow said: Oban Saints would be the obvious one, though facilities are limited unless they want to use Mossfield Stadium, which is as bad as the Fort for watching football on (or even worse, the 4g cage at the high school). If they could redevleop Glencruitten Park somehow it'd be a great facility. Then again, Cambeltown has a history of Junior football too... South Lochaber Thistle are in Highland territory I think, despite their current amateur forays. Scottish football needs a strong Campbeltown Unemployed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnieman Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 23 minutes ago, cmontheloknow said: Oban Saints would be the obvious one, though facilities are limited unless they want to use Mossfield Stadium, which is as bad as the Fort for watching football on (or even worse, the 4g cage at the high school). If they could redevleop Glencruitten Park somehow it'd be a great facility. Then again, Cambeltown has a history of Junior football too... South Lochaber Thistle are in Highland territory I think, despite their current amateur forays. Mossfield is perfect for football, I've been to a couple of Oban Saints tournaments and it's been fine. A wee refurb of the dressing rooms and it would be perfect. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Magoo Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 As mentioned Oban have the stadium but they might have issues due to the shinty I think that use the park too, whilst their season is on, Glencruitten would need some work done to bring it up to standard, and might be a bit tight? Lochgilphead could use the ropework but not sure it would be suitable because one side is along the road? I’m not 100% sure on the ground regs for the league. Dunoon have the stadium too which would be suitable for them, and Campbeltown have Kintyre Park which was used for junior cup games back in the day and is fully enclosed. But I know they are fundraising for new changing rooms so may not be the right time for them. It was mentioned earlier in the thread about midweek games, when I played we did have midweek games scheduled, although not often, and it was mostly between 2 Argyll teams but we did have to travel to Glasgow on occasion too. If we were playing catch up at the end of the season it was also games on Saturday+Sunday until we caught up so I think it could be done if any of the teams apply. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongTimeLurker Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) 47 minutes ago, cmontheloknow said: Oban Saints would be the obvious one, ... Lochgilphead Red Star might be a possibility in facility terms given they have a 3G cage with floodlights? streetview Edited March 28, 2021 by LongTimeLurker 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmontheloknow Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 2 hours ago, Burnieman said: Mossfield is perfect for football, I've been to a couple of Oban Saints tournaments and it's been fine. A wee refurb of the dressing rooms and it would be perfect. Was thinking more the ends rather than sides. Even Fort is fine from one touchline. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnieman Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 14 minutes ago, cmontheloknow said: Was thinking more the ends rather than sides. Even Fort is fine from one touchline. Aye the ends would be a bit distant but plenty room down both sides, and a nice big grass bank opposite the stand for sunny days with a carry oot! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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