Amateur Football Reconstruction

[List_of_Jericho]

Central/SAFL merger announced on Twitter now, positive move imo

[mcruic]

13 hours 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.

Based on my ScotScores rankings - if the combined league (34 clubs currently) was to go to a 10-12-12 set up for 2023/24, there would be no SAFL teams in the Top division, 5 in the middle division, and 10 in the bottom division. Neilston's win over Bannockburn was a bit of a shock result.

Not sure how they'll merge the leagues - fairest would possibly be 5 from each league in top division, 6 from each league in middle division, and the rest (8 CSAFL, 4 SAFL) in the bottom division.

Current SAFL clubs in BLUE

TIER 1
St. Patrick's FP
Lesmahagow Amateurs
Castlemilk Dynamo
Bannockburn
Drumchapel
Gartcosh United
Wishaw High School FP
Castlemilk Old Boys Club
Harestanes
Oban Saints

TIER 2
Steins Thistle
Chryston
Campsie Minerva
Arthurlie Amateurs
Greenock High School FP
Inverclyde
Glynhill Moorcroft
Neilston Amateurs
Dunipace Amateurs
Lochgilphead Red Star
Port Glasgow Amateurs
Third Lanark

TIER 3
Garrowhill Thistle
Dunoon
Baljaffray
Parkhall
Rutherglen
Busby
Hillington
Kings Park Rangers
Holytown Colts
Glenvale Carlton
Cardross
Port Glasgow Old Boys Union

Edited January 20, 2023 by mcruic

[stanley]

Good news. Scottish AFL only has 14 clubs. One less league in the west as well can only be a good thing. Just need a merger with Caley and Greater Glasgow at some point in the future as the numbers decline further.

Edited January 20, 2023 by stanley

[Beetlejucie]

7 hours ago, mcruic said:

Based on my ScotScores rankings - if the combined league (34 clubs currently) was to go to a 10-12-12 set up for 2023/24, there would be no SAFL teams in the Top division, 5 in the middle division, and 10 in the bottom division. Neilston's win over Bannockburn was a bit of a shock result.

Not sure how they'll merge the leagues - fairest would possibly be 5 from each league in top division, 6 from each league in middle division, and the rest (8 CSAFL, 4 SAFL) in the bottom division.

Current SAFL clubs in BLUE

TIER 1
St. Patrick's FP
Lesmahagow Amateurs
Castlemilk Dynamo
Bannockburn
Drumchapel
Gartcosh United
Wishaw High School FP
Castlemilk Old Boys Club
Harestanes
Oban Saints

TIER 2
Steins Thistle
Chryston
Campsie Minerva
Arthurlie Amateurs
Greenock High School FP
Inverclyde
Glynhill Moorcroft
Neilston Amateurs
Dunipace Amateurs
Lochgilphead Red Star
Port Glasgow Amateurs
Third Lanark

TIER 3
Garrowhill Thistle
Dunoon
Baljaffray
Parkhall
Rutherglen
Busby
Hillington
Kings Park Rangers
Holytown Colts
Glenvale Carlton
Cardross
Port Glasgow Old Boys Union

It won't happen like that excatly according to the proposals. 

[Amateur Fan]

20 hours ago, Beetlejucie said:

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. 

 

 

 

That would be the sensible solution but we were told the other 3 Leagues were not up for it for reasons unknown,considering the idea was to form a pyramid system for the central belt saturday afternoon football it surely would have good for all and form a pathway to the west of scotland  seniors if a club wishes to head in that direction

the paper that was present at our meeting last night was 11 clubs from central and 3 from safl would form the premier next season with the others creating a championship of 10 teams each section

the following season premier down to 12 teams then championship of 12 and a division one of 10 teams

[HibeeJibee]

Moving toward a single Strathclyde league - even if not in 1 leap - is welcome.

However if Stirling league faces collapse wouldn't certain clubs be better joining Lothians or Fife than going west?

[Ginaro]

1 hour ago, HibeeJibee said:

Moving toward a single Strathclyde league - even if not in 1 leap - is welcome.

However if Stirling league faces collapse wouldn't certain clubs be better joining Lothians or Fife than going west?

Maybe if the 10 clubs in the Stirling/Falkirk council areas currently playing in the west played in the Stirling & District league it might help save it?

For anyone wondering about the geography of the Central + Scottish* AFL clubs, here's a map - purple is SAFL.

* hopefully the merger gets rid of this silly name for a league

[Crazy Feet]

I'm not sure how this helps the SAFL clubs at all. The vast majority of them will not be competitive in the Central League and this is likely to cause teams to struggle to retain players even more.

 

It's no surprise the Greater Glasgow League is the afternoon league that is thriving the most at the moment in terms of numbers (it's because it's a competitive league).

SAFL would have been better looking to merge in with The Caley and/or Greater Glasgow imo.

[Dev]

Interesting to see that there are 9 different amateur leagues represented in the last 16 of this season's Amateur Cup. last year was dominated by the Central Scottish.

[Spyro]

This is something I've been playing with using the rankings on ScotScores to place everyone. It's getting it from where we are now to there that will be the issue (i.e. not a hope in hell!) 

 

Amateurs - Levels.pdf

[Spyro]

2 minutes ago, Dev said:

Interesting to see that there are 9 different amateur leagues represented in the last 16 of this season's Amateur Cup. last year was dominated by the Central Scottish.

Do you think the influx of WoS teams has levelled the playing field a bit? There must be 7-8 new 'junior' or league clubs in the area now compared to 2 years ago while the East and North seem more settled with only Rothie and Edinburgh South appearing 

[Beetlejucie]

18 hours ago, Crazy Feet said:

I'm not sure how this helps the SAFL clubs at all. The vast majority of them will not be competitive in the Central League and this is likely to cause teams to struggle to retain players even more.

 

It's no surprise the Greater Glasgow League is the afternoon league that is thriving the most at the moment in terms of numbers (it's because it's a competitive league).

SAFL would have been better looking to merge in with The Caley and/or Greater Glasgow imo.

You'll be shocked but the top 3/4 teams in SAFL will hold their own in the Premier division of this new set up. Regarding the rest of the safl teams it will be competitive for them playing the lower level clubs in the central league. I've watched both over the last 5 months and the gap isn't big. 

 

Plans for new set up shown below. 

[Crazy Feet]

50 minutes ago, Beetlejucie said:

You'll be shocked but the top 3/4 teams in SAFL will hold their own in the Premier division of this new set up. Regarding the rest of the safl teams it will be competitive for them playing the lower level clubs in the central league. I've watched both over the last 5 months and the gap isn't big. 

 

Plans for new set up shown below. 

Time will tell. It's ok competing in one off games (like Neilston v Bannockburn) to competing every week. Look at Goldenhill they were top SAFL team for years and folded after struggling to make the cut in the Central.

[Beetlejucie]

[pleslie99]

20 hours ago, Dev said:

Interesting to see that there are 9 different amateur leagues represented in the last 16 of this season's Amateur Cup. last year was dominated by the Central Scottish.

The central lost 6 of its premier league clubs this season before a ball had been kicked, including both of last seasons Scottish cup finalists. Think that's to play a bigger part than any tbh. Only 1 of those 6 left to become a wos team. Central is struggling and no surprise they are merging. Outside the top 3/4 clubs the standard isn't as high as it traditionally has been.

[mcruic]

On 20/01/2023 at 22:28, Beetlejucie said:

It won't happen like that excatly according to the proposals. 

I realise that - I was just giving an indication of current strength of the leagues.  SAFL teams would struggle in the top division (at present).  Of course, if they join a better league, this will probably attract better players which will mean they will be competitive.

[mcruic]

On 23/01/2023 at 11:36, pleslie99 said:

The central lost 6 of its premier league clubs this season before a ball had been kicked, including both of last seasons Scottish cup finalists. Think that's to play a bigger part than any tbh. Only 1 of those 6 left to become a wos team. Central is struggling and no surprise they are merging. Outside the top 3/4 clubs the standard isn't as high as it traditionally has been.

In saying that, 6 of the 20 teams left in the competition are central teams (Ayrshire has 4 and nobody else has more than 2).

[mcruic]

On 23/01/2023 at 00:53, Beetlejucie said:

 

Not sure why proposals seem to always have a conference system at Tier 2 leading into a vertical league system the following season.

Why not just start with a 12-12-12 (8th and 9th in CSAFL start at Tier 2).  No need for an extra season of conferences to "sort teams out" - the current season should be used for that.

Edited January 24, 2023 by mcruic

[mcruic]

On 21/01/2023 at 05:03, Ginaro said:

Maybe if the 10 clubs in the Stirling/Falkirk council areas currently playing in the west played in the Stirling & District league it might help save it?

For anyone wondering about the geography of the Central + Scottish* AFL clubs, here's a map - purple is SAFL.

* hopefully the merger gets rid of this silly name for a league

I think the Stirling League needs the Stirling/Falkirk teams in the Central/Caledonian leagues, as apart from Alva, they don't really have any top sides.  There's also the Forth & Endrick Welfare league - the top teams from that wouldn't be any worse than what the SDAFA have at the moment (if they could be persuaded to 'change grade').

Edited January 24, 2023 by mcruic

[LoveFitbaw]

On 24/01/2023 at 20:17, mcruic said:

I think the Stirling League needs the Stirling/Falkirk teams in the Central/Caledonian leagues, as apart from Alva, they don't really have any top sides.  There's also the Forth & Endrick Welfare league - the top teams from that wouldn't be any worse than what the SDAFA have at the moment (if they could be persuaded to 'change grade').

Forth & Endrick is a summer league. A lot of players play for Stirling teams already or even some junior teams. Vast majority play the summer then get released for their other teams season starting even if the summer league isn’t finished. Can’t see those teams being an option.