Amateur Football Reconstruction

[iveajimmyboneon]

Been very quiet on this front.

Does anyone know how the meeting of the disgruntled Caley clubs panned out.

[Crazy Feet]

12 hours ago, iveajimmyboneon said:

Been very quiet on this front.

Does anyone know how the meeting of the disgruntled Caley clubs panned out.

 

Who cares?

I suspect any team that doesn't want to get on board with the new project will be left behind.

The clubs in Caley and Central who don't fancy it could possibly join in with the SAFL? They are desperate for new teams.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Crazy Feet

[Amateur Fan]

Was at the Central meeting last week and the clubs have gave the go ahead to continue talking with the cally after much debate

[Dev]

On 04/11/2022 at 09:47, Crazy Feet said:

 

Who cares?

I suspect any team that doesn't want to get on board with the new project will be left behind.

The clubs in Caley and Central who don't fancy it could possibly join in with the SAFL? They are desperate for new teams.

Presumably any non Caley or Central clubs can apply to join too?  If, even, e.g. a handful of SA clubs switched that could have a significant impact in itself by weakening that league. Once one goes then it can gain momentum very quickly and other clubs may apply e.g. Greater Glasgow Prem. We shall see but it would be so much better if all Saturday pm leagues got to together and sorted this out.

[Crazy Feet]

51 minutes ago, Dev said:

Presumably any non Caley or Central clubs can apply to join too?  If, even, e.g. a handful of SA clubs switched that could have a significant impact in itself by weakening that league. Once one goes then it can gain momentum very quickly and other clubs may apply e.g. Greater Glasgow Prem. We shall see but it would be so much better if all Saturday pm leagues got to together and sorted this out.

Merging the leagues doesn't solve the fundamental issue that a lot of boys don't want to give up their full Saturday afternoon every week now to play football (unless they are getting a wage for it).

[Dev]

3 hours ago, Crazy Feet said:

Merging the leagues doesn't solve the fundamental issue that a lot of boys don't want to give up their full Saturday afternoon every week now to play football (unless they are getting a wage for it).

Don't disagree at all. It's a question of dealing with those players, officials and clubs who remain. 

[Ginaro]

4 hours ago, Crazy Feet said:

Merging the leagues doesn't solve the fundamental issue that a lot of boys don't want to give up their full Saturday afternoon every week now to play football (unless they are getting a wage for it).

The amateur game in the east doesn't seem to be suffering as much (correct?) so what is it that is different in the west that is affecting things?

And if the Saturday afternoon decline isn't going to slow with the current setup, then surely it needs to be changed so there aren't five separate leagues covering the west central belt area?

[stanley]

2 hours ago, Ginaro said:

The amateur game in the east doesn't seem to be suffering as much (correct?) so what is it that is different in the west that is affecting things?

And if the Saturday afternoon decline isn't going to slow with the current setup, then surely it needs to be changed so there aren't five separate leagues covering the west central belt area?

I'd say they are all suffering significantly but the west is affected more simply because it has more clubs and more leagues. The simple fact is that the numbers are declining every single year and will continue to do so. It is logical to merge the leagues in the west as they are covering similar areas but the problems of clubs disappearing will continue regardless. Over 40% of clubs gone in the past eight years (and the decline will have gone on for years before that). Continue at the current rate and we'll lose another 200 clubs over the next 8 years and be down to just 300.

200 clubs in the east in 2014-15 in six leagues. 119 in 4 leagues now. 40% of clubs gone and the Churches League no longer part of the SAFA (the two Fife leagues also merged).

437 clubs in the west in 2014-15 in 13 leagues. 249 now in 8 leagues  43% of clubs gone and Glasgow & District Sat Morning, Paisley, Lanarkshire, West of Scotland, Dumfries leagues all gone.

116 clubs in the North of the Tay region in 2014-15 in three leagues. 65 now in the same three leagues. 43% of clubs gone.

85 clubs in the Aberdeenshire League in 2014-15. 59 now in the same league. 30% of clubs gone.

The stats are very similar for every region (Aberdeenshire lower but only one league covered). A few clubs have already folded this season and we're only in November.

Edited November 14, 2022 by stanley

[Ginaro]

36 minutes ago, stanley said:

200 clubs in the east in 2014-15 in six leagues. 119 in 4 leagues now. 40% of clubs gone and the Churches League no longer part of the SAFA (the two Fife leagues also merged).

I didn't go that far back, but looking at the EOS catchment area from 2017-18 when Fife merged they've went from 38->35 (it was 40 before merger), LEAFA has gone from 60->49 and Borders 30->28 so not too bad.

Bit worse for Midlands going from 28->14 and Perthshire 29->21 but even worse for Stirling & District 44->11. Scottish AFL also gone from 41->16.

[stanley]

2 hours ago, Ginaro said:

I didn't go that far back, but looking at the EOS catchment area from 2017-18 when Fife merged they've went from 38->35 (it was 40 before merger), LEAFA has gone from 60->49 and Borders 30->28 so not too bad.

Bit worse for Midlands going from 28->14 and Perthshire 29->21 but even worse for Stirling & District 44->11. Scottish AFL also gone from 41->16.

Stirling & District would count as an EoS League (Dunipace, Sauchie, Camelon, Syngenta all in the EoS). The majority of the league would be EoS if they turned senior.

 

Biggest losses from 2014 - 2022 (numbers are the latest I found a few weeks ago, already a few clubs folded during the season)

Midlands: 53 - 12

Scottish AFL: 52 - 15

Stirling: 45 - 11

Lothians: 73 - 46

Aberdeenshire: 85 - 59

Ayrshire: 57 - 37

Strathclyde Churches: 40 - 21

 

Glasgow & District Saturday Morning: 31 - 0 (although some will have joined the Saturday Morning League which is the only league to have expanded over the past few years)

Paisley: 28 - 0

West of Scotland: 20 - 0

Lanarkshire: 20 - 0

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by stanley

[Crazy Feet]

11 hours ago, stanley said:

I'd say they are all suffering significantly but the west is affected more simply because it has more clubs and more leagues. The simple fact is that the numbers are declining every single year and will continue to do so. It is logical to merge the leagues in the west as they are covering similar areas but the problems of clubs disappearing will continue regardless. Over 40% of clubs gone in the past eight years (and the decline will have gone on for years before that). Continue at the current rate and we'll lose another 200 clubs over the next 8 years and be down to just 300.

200 clubs in the east in 2014-15 in six leagues. 119 in 4 leagues now. 40% of clubs gone and the Churches League no longer part of the SAFA (the two Fife leagues also merged).

437 clubs in the west in 2014-15 in 13 leagues. 249 now in 8 leagues  43% of clubs gone and Glasgow & District Sat Morning, Paisley, Lanarkshire, West of Scotland, Dumfries leagues all gone.

116 clubs in the North of the Tay region in 2014-15 in three leagues. 65 now in the same three leagues. 43% of clubs gone.

85 clubs in the Aberdeenshire League in 2014-15. 59 now in the same league. 30% of clubs gone.

The stats are very similar for every region (Aberdeenshire lower but only one league covered). A few clubs have already folded this season and we're only in November.

Great post.

The numbers are decreasing across the board but the Saturday Morning League in The West is thriving. The issue and answer is staring everyone right in the face.

There needs to be more flexibility around kick off times and even days if these leagues want to be viable going forward.

[Amateur Fan]

On 14/11/2022 at 22:45, stanley said:

Stirling & District would count as an EoS League (Dunipace, Sauchie, Camelon, Syngenta all in the EoS). The majority of the league would be EoS if they turned senior.

 

Biggest losses from 2014 - 2022 (numbers are the latest I found a few weeks ago, already a few clubs folded during the season)

Midlands: 53 - 12

Scottish AFL: 52 - 15

Stirling: 45 - 11

Lothians: 73 - 46

Aberdeenshire: 85 - 59

Ayrshire: 57 - 37

Strathclyde Churches: 40 - 21

 

Glasgow & District Saturday Morning: 31 - 0 (although some will have joined the Saturday Morning League which is the only league to have expanded over the past few years)

Paisley: 28 - 0

West of Scotland: 20 - 0

Lanarkshire: 20 - 0

 

 

 

I see you forgot to mention 2 other Leagues The Cally from 38 to 22 And our League Central from 40 to 22 and I heard a rumour Goldenhill have folded so that would make it 21

[Brad Bobley]

Goldenhill have folded and Clydebank haven’t played a game since late September so I imagine they’re on the road out as well.

[Brad Bobley]

Amalgamation plans now binned. Perhaps discussions in the future when it gets even worse/too late.

[Antonine united]

On 01/12/2022 at 14:02, Brad Bobley said:

Goldenhill have folded and Clydebank haven’t played a game since late September so I imagine they’re on the road out as well.

Central Clydebank have joined forces with the greater Glasgow clydebank and are playing in the greater Glasgow league now

[stanley]

3 hours ago, Brad Bobley said:

Amalgamation plans now binned. Perhaps discussions in the future when it gets even worse/too late.

Do it now through choice and with some control over it or wait until the numbers dwindle and leagues fold forcing clubs to move to other leagues. The Scottish AFL will go next in the west and the Central Scottish/Caley might take on some of their clubs to support their gradually reducing numbers of clubs.

[Amateur Fan]

On 03/12/2022 at 17:49, Brad Bobley said:

Amalgamation plans now binned. Perhaps discussions in the future when it gets even worse/too late.

My understanding is the plans are not binned at our meeting a fortnight ago we were told that the talks will now continue with other leagues as the cally were not playing ball 

[pleslie99]

Hearing tonight after the collapse of the central/cale merger that the central and safl will be joining forces. Is there anyone realistically in the safl thats likely to bother the big guns in the central? Unlikely. Seems like the central just wanting to boost numbers.

[iveajimmyboneon]

52 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

Hearing tonight after the collapse of the central/cale merger that the central and safl will be joining forces. Is there anyone realistically in the safl thats likely to bother the big guns in the central? Unlikely. Seems like the central just wanting to boost numbers.

Neilston put Bannockburn out of the Scottish last weekend.

[Beetlejucie]

After hearing the rumours over the weekend about the amalgamation idea for a few amateur leagues I needed to find out more! BECAUSE IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN . So I've had a read throughout this thread and see there's people happy, people not happy so on... 

 

The reality is clubs are folding every season at a rapid rate, clubs give it ago and fold during the season as we've all seen. Someone said it on here which was spot on, covid has changed attitudes and priorities which i don't have a problem with we need to be able to adopt to change. Also the price of playing amateur football now must be at a record high surely?? Councils charging a fortune now for parks/facilities also kills clubs as the overall cost per person rises (club numbers dependant) 

 

We need to move on collectively and get some sort of amalgamation for next season sorted if possible. 

 

Surely Central/Caley/Safl and Stirling (if they are interested) can sit down and form a plan? Or put forward a couple of purposels for every club in each league to vote on.