LongTimeLurker

Bit early to throw in the towel. If you beat Gala and Dalbeattie over the next week, the league position could be looking considerably healthier.

Think you guys really need to listen when people from the north try to explain to you that this is amateur level football that isn't comparable to the juniors in the central belt and is struggling to stay afloat because most players in that part of the country prefer to play in summer leagues. There is basically zero chance that any of the current NCL clubs could sustain HL football without some sugar daddy pumping lots of money in Brora Rangers style. You need to look to the Aberdeen and Dundee areas for clubs that might be able to do that sort of thing but there is no huge enthusiasm from the likes of Banks o' Dee and Lochee United where playing away games in Wick is concerned so there are no easy answers on this.

The SFA envisages tier 6 leagues as having 16 clubs and 30 game seasons. Currently the NCL has 9 clubs and a 16 game season with a revolving door on membership because the clubs in the area are finding it difficult to even sustain that sort of setup on an amateur basis. You are taking the NCL much more seriously than it deserves to be taken. A year from now they will probably have lost their only SFA full member if Golspie Sutherland can't get floodlights installed.

All true but when there was a meeting to discuss the pyramid in the north last year it was the SFA, HL and NRSJFA that were there and the NCL never seemed to rate a mention. It's an amateur league after all that has been tottering on the brink of winding up for lack of teams in recent times and plays a relatively short season because summer amateur and welfare leagues tend to dominate in that part of the country.

Having to accomodate a relegated Fort William is probably not a prospect that fills the NRSJFA with feelings of joy, so although it's easy enough to do what Marten outlines it's understandable enough that the leagues concerned are in no huge rush to do it. The Sandy Stables 10-10 split for the HL plan would have been the sensible way to approach having a non-licensed tier 6 and building a pyramid out from there but turkeys don't vote for an early Christmas.

Do we know for sure that the SoS would be willing to have more than 16 teams?

Bo'ness have lights now as well.

So when people on here say that they would be happy to see only the west region enter alone, what they are effectively really saying is that they prefer the west not to be on board any time soon to having two east feeders. All the indications have been that the top SFA officeholders prefer having the west on board ASAP and have no problem with having two east feeders and don't see the Tay boundary as being significant on that. Something has to give at the next PWG meeting or the whole process will collapse.

Do you seriously think Tom Johnston is going to agree to only the WRSJFA going in? It remains to be seen if the SFA would actually sanction a breakaway WoSFL if/when that doesn't happen and whether enough clubs would even be willing to attempt it in the first place.

The PWG minutes are what provided that impression. It remains to be seen what the SFA will want to do next where the Tay boundary is concerned.

Only with some fairly substantial compromises from people with no obvious track record of doing that sort of thing.

Is the part that doesn't seemed to have dawned on a lot of people yet. Saying that tier 8 entry is the only option on the table south of the Tay would be taking the p i s s, just as expecting the ERSFA's current north-south split structure to enter at tier 6 was and would be.

We'll soon have a much clearer picture of the way things are going to go after there has been another PWG meeting.

Top SFA officeholders were backing their tier 6 entry at PWG meetings last season, so it's not at all clear that the EoS could get away with that posture. There may still need to be some kind of merger.

You've completely missed the point I was making but whatever, I'm not going to waste time arguing with you. It's the future and how this mess gets fixed that matters at this point.

We'll see what happens over the next few months basically. I seriously doubt that this is a top priority for Petrie and Maxwell, so my gut instinct on this is that they'll probably not do anything too radical. If change will only happen through consensus there are plenty of vested interests that could see this drag on for a few years going nowhere fast. Hope I'm wrong.

Anyone who read the minutes for PWG meetings that circulated on here last season should have noticed that the SFA were siding with the SJFA's posture and not with the EoS. It is not safe to assume that the SFA will do any of that.

The problem is jump to where? The SFA need to agree to any change to the LL entry playoff and would have to sanction any new WoSFA. It's not clear that they will do that. It was easier to do in the east because the EoS already had all those approvals and the ability to accept new member as they see fit. An opportunity was missed at the SJFA and WRSJFA AGMs, because that's where clubs needed to get the issues related to the PWG negotiations sorted out.

I couldn't give a flying one who is to blame what matters now in late 2019 is how this absurd mess gets resolved.

The top SFA officeholders didn't care about having two east feeders or about the Tay boundary and wanted SJFA entry for this season in line with the SJFA's wishes. The EoS and LL were able to block it based on having the right of veto to changes made to the LL entry playoff.

^^^circlejerk is an American expression that comes to mind. Ponder this. If you are all so wonderful, why were you not able to convince people on here that the Juniors were not in at tier 6 for 2019-20?

Orkney vs Wigtown & Bladnoch would be interesting to watch unfold in logistical terms.

Bear in mind that top SFA officeholders had to have the Tay bridge boundary explained to them during a meeting with EoS/LL clubs a few months ago. Now new member clubs below tier 5 have no voting rights there will probably be less pressure from SPFL clubs to limit the number of clubs getting licensed.

Can't think of any other examples, so probably quite unusual. Maybe Kilbowie was what made having seating with no cover seem normal in that part of the world? Today's scoreline should be a morale boost for your club because the amateur cup champions are usually alleged to be quite strong. Suspect there may be some SFA officeholders questioning if their entry is worth the hassle over registered grounds, because they have yet to make much of an impact on the early rounds.

That remains to be seen and is not as clear cut as it used to be given the SJFA is now officially committed to pyramid entry. Does anyone know if Cumnock and Petershill had their applications accepted by the SFA board and passed onto the licensing committee?