LongTimeLurker

There really is no obvious need for an SJFA as a national body if integration into the pyramid happens and that means there is no need for Tom Johnston's post because each region could more easily represent itself at that point the same way the EoSFA and SoSFA do given they would be interacting with different tier 5 feeders. Tom Johnston is desperately scrambling to keep his job, basically.

Why would he even send that out if he only has to wait until Monday to make contact with the Interim CEO? If the moratorium bit applies to junior clubs only all it basically means is that junior clubs won't be able to get licensed until integration with the pyramid actually happens which means nothing changes for now in terms of having to join either the EoS or SoS in order to get licensed.

The Lowland League's catchment area has a population in excess of 3 million in total, so the significance of that should be obvious. If the east and west superleagues are going to be at tier 6 in 2019/20 their winners would probably playoff against the EoSL and SoSL winners for one of the two promotion spots. Until there is a west division involved it makes sense to enable as many of the large junior clubs that are moving to the EoS a chance at promotion given most SoSL clubs for the most part want to stay where they are, if the goal behind adding a second promotion spot is to boost the quality and prestige of the Lowland League.

Because almost all of its teams are in a catchment area with a population of only 150,000.

There were posts on here from somebody involved with that club that hinted they are on board, but I've yet to see anything definitive.

An interesting snippet is that: http://www.camelonjuniors.co.uk/chairmans-update/ 2) Will attendance be affected? Currently the average attendance for this season is 95 so it’s hard to imagine how crowds could possible be smaller with several Junior Clubs moving over too. There are an estimated 14 Junior Clubs moving over – 4 of them we already play against and they have come to Carmuirs Park in good numbers this season. If the 4 they already play against implies superleague teams, Bonnyrigg, HoB and Dundonald are the other superleague teams that are usually listed as applicants in this regard, so this suggests there is another superleague club that have applied? Also worth noting the expectation of more applications for the following season from teams close to Falkirk: 5) Will we not have any local derby matches? I gather that some local Junior clubs have applied and also that others who didn’t apply for next season are submitting applications for the following season. We will have 2 competitions to compete in next season in which we can draw East Stirlingshire too. The first bit fits Dunipace being the club from the west, but who else would be described as local by somebody in Falkirk? I guess Bathgate and Blackburn more or less fit on that, but Sauchie would probably be a better fit for being viewed as local and a fourth superleague team that they already play against.

From the EoS subforum:

There was this a few pages back: and there is finally something to point to Bathgate being a possible applicant: so if there is a question mark over any team now I think it would be Haddington.

It is according to the traditional county boundaries.

Bo'ness is in West Lothian, so there have been two and that would have been up to 1939, so it will be 79 years.

Bathgate is the most questionable one on that as some seem to think it is Haddington. The other I would question somewhat is Hill of Beath. Have seen strong indications online that either officially state or heavily hint that all the others are happening one way or another, but nothing from anyone associated with them.

They also could leave a team in the amateurs as their reserves in which case there is no need for notice.

I suspect the way out of this predicament from an SFA standpoint is to mandate that all tier 6 clubs below the LL have to be licensed by the start of 2019-20 and in that way effectively control who gains access and how it gets operated thereafter rather than handing over the keys to an affiliated association with let's phrase this diplomatically a questionable track record in organizational terms. That would mean the EoS in the east continuing to do a "we are the Borg" where the east region juniors is concerned, and a new WoS being launched that the licensed SoS clubs, Glasgow Uni and Girvan would be expected to join along with whoever is ready for licensing from the west region juniors. Time will tell basically.

Bo'ness United could claim that history, but use 1945 as their founding date rather than claiming that of either Bo'ness or Bo'ness Cadora as their starting point. Think the Penicuik Athletic of today are a separate entity from the earlier team that eventually went defunct after being in both the EoS and the juniors at various points and there is no unbroken continuity there unlike in Bo'ness. Most pro-pyramid entry clubs especially in the west appear to be willing to give Tom Johnston a chance on securing tier 6 entry for an intact junior grade, but they'll soon change their tune if as I suspect is highly likely that can't be delivered, because the SFA are only interested in a smaller subset of clubs that will go through licensing.

...which is Bonnyrigg?

The Inverkeithing team have announced on their website that they have applied, so that's one of the ones that is 100% confirmed.

Think it would make more sense to try to be geographical on the divisions. There might be a bit of an imbalance with something like this, but it wouldn't be drastic. Section A Blackburn Utd, Burntisland, Camelon, Crossgates Primrose, Dundonald Bluebell, Dunipace, Edinburgh Utd, Hill of Beath, Inverkeithing HS, Leith Ath, LTHV, St.Bernards, Tynecastle, Stirling Uni Res Section B Bonnyrigg Rose, Coldstream, Dalkeith Th, Easthouses Lily, Eyemouth Utd, Hawick RA, Herriot Watt, Haddington Ath, Musselburgh Ath, Ormiston, Peebles Rovers, Preston Ath, Tranent, Tweedmouth Rangers

Is there any evidence that's a dialogue rather than a monologue from Tom Johnston aimed at heading off EoS defections at the pass? If the EoS were talking about starting a west division if there was sufficient interest I suspect they would have checked it was OK to do so with the SFA first and only junior clubs that are actively in the process of getting licensed and move to one of the LL's feeders as part of that process are welcome in the SFA's pyramid. Things will be a lot clearer in a few months.

All the SJFA does in concrete terms is run the junior cup and a semi-pro level national team. There are associations of senior clubs within the SFA to run things like the Fife Cup or Arberdeenshire Shield. It's not completely impossible that the SJFA could continue in a similar sort of way in other words, but somewhat unlikely unless there is a major revamp to how the junior cup operates given it is one of the major contributing factors to fixture backlogs and tier 5 and 6 leagues are expected to wrap up by April.

St Bernards is the other name getting mentioned a lot.

Potential bad news for Sauchie. People tend to forget Clackmannanshire is a separate entity from Stirlingshire.

Being in the old Central League setup would have made sense back in the 1970s when it was viewed as the strongest of the junior regions, but why would they want to miss out on things like their natural local derby with Camelon nowadays? Think the only surprise is that it has taken this long for them to look east (assuming the info is correct).

15 junior applicants fits what's in the Edinburgh News if two amateur clubs have also applied and the possibility of two being relegated from the LL is factored: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/lower-leagues/substantial-number-of-teams-apply-for-eos-league-1-4717330 ...While admitting his committee have quite a process in establishing a new EoS set-up for next term, a shake-up that could see the number of clubs in the league rise from its current 13 to 32, Greenhorn says he has been blown away by the level of interest shown...

Tynieness is on the Bo'ness committee and has stated they didn't: