garrellburn

Albion Rovers, but their name implies that at least they are free to rove and play anywhere they like.

For a club that played in front of one man and two dugs for many years it is not bad considering Motherwell were playing in a semi final today. Hopefully a god few will follow them through to Hurlford next week as with only one goal in it they must still have a good chance.

Time to kill this thread, Burnieman. Its degenerated into the usual mud slinging and gone way off topic. Start a new one when we do have some indication of what the future is actually going to be for Junior football.

Pools money was a significant part of clubs income back in the days when Littlewoods, Vernons and several other companys were around and millions did them every week. I don't imagine it is anywhere near that level now. The fixtures are copyright and that is what they were paying for. The big money now is television rights and there will be nothing for the lower tiers of a Scottish pyramid other than a minimal share of what the SFA receives.

How will you know whether or not its a reliable forecast until after the event?

Just been handed three photographs this afternoon dating from the early 1920's. One is a team photo with officials of an SJFA select v Ayrshire at Meadow Park, Irvine, dated 9th Feb 1924. All are named (no forename initial) with their clubs. The second is of a Scottish Junior League Football Association team but no date or player names. On the back is a list of 15 games with dates, opposition and venues. The opposition teams are variously, Scottish, English and both Senior clubs and selects. The third has no details but shows a team photo with officials and a ball boy. Just guessing but it looks very like the Kilsyth hills in the background. They came with a note saying they were found when the sender was clearing a relatives house. If these are of any interest to you, PM me and I will have them copied to send to you.

A couple =2. At the very least implies more than 6. Have i (and loads of others) missed something?

It won't be anywhere near 160, my guess would be about a quarter of existing clubs at most. Many might revert to amateur status which is what they effectively are anyway.

Actually makes sense now you have your looking into the future text feature turned off!

Please switch off your predictive text, or else read it through before sending.

Well my post seems to have provoked some reaction and that is what is wanted, people coming out and nailing their colours to the mast. My view is that many junior clubs have had enough of being sent to the farthest points of the country to play a Scottish tie with no hope of receiving anything like their expenses to make the trip. It is probably just as unfair to the home club who have to shell out a guarantee well in excess of what actually comes in as gate money, never mind the hospitality costs. Some will say they get the chance to progress, and that is true, but again they themselves might get a similar long trip to another minnow and again suffer a big financial hit. We need properly funded clubs that can stand on their own two feet, and again, dare I say it, a ground with something more than the most basic facilities. It's going to be an interesting SJFA agm this year I feel, if the hierarchy don't come up with some real proposals for progress then the shit will really hit the fan.

May as well contribute my tuppence worth to this debate. A lot of talk about what makes a club a big player in the junior grade. Many HAVE been big names over a fairly short period of time, Armadale were a fairly successfull club during the late 1940's , early 50's , likewise Broxburn and a few others. In the west Lugar and Annbank had short periods with great teams, Central League had Petershill, Ashfield , even Clydebank enjoying a lot of success. The common factor was a location in areas with thriving industrial and mining bases which have now gone into decline or disappeared altogether. No junior club has enjoyed almost unbroken success over their entire history in the way that the old firm have in the Senior grade. For me, that is what makes the juniors so fascinating, a new club can emerge and very quickly become a major force. Witness Johnstone Burgh in the early 1960's, Tayport in the 90's, and I suppose Kelty today. The hard part is sustaining it beyond the time when the founding group of people are no longer around. Clubs rise and fall, and no harm in looking back to a time when your own club ruled the roost, my own club, Kilsyth Rangers, were arguably the most successful club over a fifteen year period from the mid 1950's till the late 60's and I was very fortunate to be around to enjoy that success. Since then we have had some good periods, aznd some not so good but we are still around and competing and ever hopeful of winning a major trophy once again. Change is coming, no doubt about it, the setup in the lower regions of Scottish football will be unrecognisable in five years time from what it is at present. It may be forced from above, or the current administration may accept change, but it does need a major shift in thinking, many smaller clubs will have to admit they cannot continue in their present form and revert to local amateur leagues. The more ambitious clubs will look upwards, as Kelty have done, and decide to find their level within a new unified organisation. Dare I say it, along the lines of what happens down South?

Is this coming via the club? It seems to be an initiative from BSC Glasgow who have sent out a round robin email to West region clubs asking for expressions of interest.

They have them everywhere, Mexico, Sudan has more than Egypt, Las Vegas even has one. But no junior football in any of them.

As in have already stated, there is no way of knowing for sure. The Yoker committee could have voted one way and the delegate another when it came to the bit. Not suggesting this was the case but the way the vote was conducted it is certainly possible.

What is the money from SFA for appearing in 3rd round?

A vote of no confidence at the AGM in his management would be a start, but I don't think its very likely. He's too nice a guy to sack!

Learn to punctuate your sentences and they might begin to make sense.

Not sure of the exact reasons but Kenny had canvassed clubs in person and assurances he had been given should have seen him home and dry. Obviously some either changed their mind or had lied to him in the first instance. Having been present at the vote it was not carried out in a way thar assured everyone it was beyond reproach. Two clubs out of 64 were not represented at the meeting, one had not paid its membership dues and was not allowed to vote. So far, so good. Voting slips were handed out but were not identifiable to a club in any way. They were collected and counted by two non voting persons, a West Region committee man and TJ. The result was announced as SR 32, KY 29, therefore the current incumbent was re-elected. What happened to the papers thereafter I don't know. No one raised an objection or asked for a recount with a voting member confirming the result, perhaps in the light of doubts that have since been raised a voting member should have been allowed to count the papers. My own view is that the count was accurate but that some clubs did not vote the way they had previously indicated. Can't name them with any certainty but rumours of some big influential clubs in the Glasgow area I believe to be not far off the mark. It remains to be seen whether anyone will challenge him this time, or he will stand down at last. As usual weather will result in a lot of postponements and the usual end of season fixture chaos will result and he will get the blame. However he seems impervious to personal criticism and will probably soldier on.

Don't remember any move to oust Tom Johnston, could you be confusing this with the recent vote to replace Scott Robertson as West Region secretary which failed rather regretably. He has been in the job even longer than Johnston, it seems to be the thing in junior football that you almost have to die in the job.

Joe Black was SJFA Secretary for season 1997-98 with Tom Johnston as his assistant. They had swapped positions for 98-99 so he has been top man for 19 years. The committee consists of President and vice president, secretary and assistant and treasurer. No idea how often they get together, only at the AGM I suspect.

It's Scotland your in, we only have grey sky thinking.

I can't actually be sure that both photos were taken at the same match, nothing on them to indicate venue or date taken.No luck in finding out if Mr Cassidys archive still exists. A local historian did try to find out some years ago without success, so looks like they might be lost, a real shame but unfortunately its only in comparitively recent years that we have begun to value that siort of stuff.

Just as an afterthought I tried google to see if anything came up for George Cassidy, photographer. Did find one but he is from USA and his work does include many sports photographs, but no junior football I'm afraid. I'll continue my investigations locally and see if I can turn up anything.