mcruic
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Posts posted by mcruic
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I think regionalisation at Tier 7 would be a good idea, as it would create lots of derby interest (West Lothian and Borders in particular) - this year, we had 4 Border clubs in the same conference, but there's no guarantee this will happen next year. In terms of playing level, the South of Scotland League should really be a Tier 7 league as well.
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2 hours ago, Robert James said:
Sorry to point this out, but you have referred to Camelon twice on all 3 of your Tier 6 examples.
Also, it is probable that two (not one) EoSL clubs will be promoted to the Lowland League for 2019/20, as there will be TWO vacancies, to be filled, to replace Whitehill Welfare (if relegated as you state above), and Selkirk (who folded).
Unless of course, Cove Rangers defeat Berwick Rangers in the Club 42 play-off, as the latter would fill the 2nd LL vacancy
Yes, sorry - I did it in a rush - the 2nd Camelon should be Tranent in all examples - corrected now. I believe Cove are more than good enough to beat Berwick.
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The way I see it, there are 3 options for a structure with a 16-team Top Division and 40 teams in total. The last option, in my opinion, is the least likely. I'd also like to see another team come in instead of Stirling University Reserves - I don't like seeing reserve teams in senior divisions. Or possibly Stirling University could just create a 2nd independent club and rename it.
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10 hours ago, Robert James said:
Season 2019/20
probably 2 EoSL clubs promoted to the Lowland League, 39 -2 = 37 clubs
1 club (Whitehill) relegated from the Lowland to the EoSL, 37 + 1 club = 38 clubs
1 new club (Glenrothes) elected into EoSL from the Juniors, 38 + 1 = 39 clubs
new structure : Premier Division of 16 clubs at Tier 6, plus two "conferences" of 12 & 11 clubs respectively, both at Tier 7. A total of 16 + 12 + 11 clubs = 39 clubs overall
Just a slight modification of this, as it doesn't look like East Kilbride will get out of the LL this year after their defeat at home to Cove Rangers in the Play-off 1st Leg.
Season 2019/20
probably 1 EoSL club promoted to the Lowland League, 39-1 = 38 clubs
1 club (Whitehill) relegated from the LL to the EoSL, 38+1 = 39 clubs
1 new club (Glenrothes) elected into EoSL from Juniors, 39+1 = 40 clubs
new structure: Premier Division of 16 clubs at Tier 6, plus 2 conferences of 12 clubs each at Tier 7. Total of 16+12+12 clubs = 40 clubs overall.This would mean one of the 6th placed teams in this years's conferences would get into the EoSL Premier for next season - will it just be the team with the most points (Sauchie) or will there be some kind of play-off with the other teams (Leith, Preston)?
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Some questions are pertinent at this juncture.
1) What do ERSJFA (south of Tay) teams get out of staying in a rump league devoid of many of its erstwhile leading teams, and having to undertake more trips north of the Tay?
2) What is the point of running a sports club that doesn't want to play at a higher level? The whole point of sport is to compete (and win). Otherwise its not sport. Taking part is all very well, but the objective of a sports team is not (solely) to provide an outlet for people to play sports - it's surely also to allow them to (eventually) play competitively - which means winning, getting promoted, etc. How many clubs would be formed with the initial objective of staying in the same league and playing the same teams forever?
3) What are "diehard" junior fans hanging on to when they say they would hate to see the "death" of the junior game? They would still be watching the same clubs, but with some sense of belonging to the main scheme of things rather than playing in a closed shop year after year with no prospects of advancement. For those who prescribe to the "big fish in little pond" idea, big junior teams could still be big fish in whatever pond they found themselves in (Lowland League, League 2, whatever). Inverness and Ross County were both big fish in the Highland League - now look at them. Surely it's better to be a big fish in the Championship than in the Highland League...
4) Perhaps most importantly - how come every other country in Europe can have a proper pyramid system and not Scotland? Clubs can still "opt out" of the pyramid by choosing not to accept promotion within the pyramid system. So I don't really understand this staying out of the pyramid because they don't want to play at a higher level with teams from outside their own wee local area. The whole point of a pyramid is that it is gradually more and more localised the further you go down. In effect, the juniors is a pyramid itself, without a top level. All the regions were regionalised at the bottom level until recently also (the East still is).
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2 hours ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:
I did read up about this some time ago.
It's nothing to do with southern England at all.
It's either from the old word for white as you say, referring to snowy landscapes, or REALLY old, i.e. from a pre Indo-European root alb- meaning hilly. An example is "The Alps" and "Albania".
The Latinised version of "Alba" (Gaelic for Scotland) is Albania. Apparently, the word Lebanon is also related to the same root as Albania and Alba.
Never did I imagine a discussion on junior football names would lead here...
On the subject of the 2 dubious Athletics:
Royal Albert badge says simply "RAFC" which suggests no Athletic
Bonnyrigg Rose has no Athletic on their badge either, but seems to call itself Athletic on the website.
But their youth team has Bonnyrigg Rose 'A' on their badge:
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Hi Junior experts:
A few questions about club names that have always bugged me - can anyone clarify?
IRVINE MEADOW
With the team variously mentioned as "Irvine Meadow", "Irvine Meadow XI" and "Irvine Meadow X1" on their official website and Twitter pages, what exactly is the name of the club? What is the function of the "XI" or "X1" given that all football teams have 11 players, and that "XI" is usually used to designate a scratch team put together for a special event?EAST CRAIGIE / DOWNFIELD
As far as I'm aware, East Craigie and Downfield are the full names of the teams, but I regularly see Dundee Downfield and Dundee East Craigie, even in reports in the Tayside region.EAST END
On Wikipedia, they are "Aberdeen East End", but is Aberdeen part of the official name of the club? The club crest says simply "East End".
NEWMAINS UNITED
Newmains United or Newmains United Community? Is "Community Football Club" considered an unnecessary suffix (like FC, which could be applied to all football clubs), or is Community considered a part of the club name? Others (Bathgate Thistle Community Football Club, for example) seem to omit the "Community" part.KIRKCALDY YM
The club crest says YMCA, but I usually see the name written as YM (in league tables, match reports, etc.)KIRRIEMUIR THISTLE
The club crest says Kirrie Thistle. Kirrie is what locals call Kirriemuir (similar to Blair for Blairgowrie) - but "Blair Juniors" (locally) are officially called Blairgowrie. Are Kirrie Thistle officially Kirriemuir Thistle, or Kirrie Thistle?THORNTON HIBS
Is Hibs the official moniker, or is it Thornton Hibernian?JUNIORS SUFFIX
Also, some clubs seem to always have the word "juniors" in the name of the club (Greenock, Wishaw, Beith, Lesmahagow, Muirkirk, Neilston, Port Glasgow, Maybole, Darvel, Cumnock, Newburgh, Pumpherston, Stoneyburn, Whitburn, Dyce, etc.) - these all seem to be lacking a name otherwise (i.e. it's just the name of the town). Is this "Juniors" officially part of the club name? (again all junior football clubs could take the suffix JFC). Or does it distinguish between teams in a town where the local junior and amateur teams would otherwise have the same name (Beith Juniors, Beith Amateurs?). Note, however, Coupar Angus are referred to simply as Coupar Angus, despite an amateur team of the same name existing in the same town.3 -
Analysis of the differences for the 4 Ayrshire teams:
14 away matches per season instead of 10.
TOTAL TRAVEL IN MILES (2017-18 SEASON IN BRACKETS)
MUIRKIRK: 451 (283)
SALTCOATS VICTORIA: 562 (183)
ARDEER THISTLE: 553 (177)
ANNBANK UNITED: 535 (167)AVERAGE TRAVEL PER MATCH IN MILES (2017-18 SEASON IN BRACKETS)
MUIRKIRK: 32 (28)
SALTCOATS VICTORIA: 40 (18)
ARDEER THISTLE: 39 (18)
ANNBANK UNITED: 38 (17)LONGEST TRIP IN MILES (2017-18 SEASON IN BRACKETS)
MUIRKIRK: 58 v Vale of Leven (39 v Dalry)
SALTCOATS VICTORIA: 66 v Forth (35 v Muirkirk)
ARDEER THISTLE: 65 v Forth (34 v Muirkirk)
ANNBANK UNITED: 56 v Carluke (23 v Dalry)So it does add significantly to travel costs for all 4 teams, but with Muirkirk seeming to suffer less. Muirkirk will have a 60% increase in total travel, while the other 3 clubs all have at least a 200% increase in travel (i.e. 3 seasons of normal travel in 1 season). Likewise, the average trip will increase by over 200% for these 3 teams, while Muirkirk's average trip will only increase by around 15%.
In the new league as a whole, Saltcoats, Ardeer and Annbank are the top 3 highest travellers, with Muirkirk actually sitting 6th (behind Vale of Leven and Forth). Vale of Clyde travel the least (320 miles).
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New clubs in the East of Scotland
in East of Scotland Football League
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I think ultimately regionalisation would make sense at this level though, especially if more Junior sides come on board in future. Not sure the likes of Tweedmouth and Eyemouth will relish continued travelling to Fife, Stirling, etc.