FairWeatherFan

The east will be down one cup already as can't exactly have a Fife & Lothian Cup without any Fife teams. If they were thinking long-term. Which doesn't really exist in the East Region, as they're having to adjust season to season. But they're still clinging on to being Junior, I thought they might keep the F&L Cup going as winnable trophy. They've only got 24 league games to worry about in the South, which will be 22 games with Livingston United one foot out the door.

I'm pretty sure the East / North Juniors & SJFA will want a 2020-21 Junior Cup, the clubs will be eyeing those guarantees. They don't usually have their first round until September and they've just lost a round through the number of clubs that have left. I think they also scrapped replays as part of the changes so that minimises disruption as well. The East will have lost a round from some of their cup competitions with the departures on top of that. Plus they've the option of not having one of their cups for the year as well. Other than the East Region Champion play-off, league wise there isn't that great a concern of finishing at a certain time.

But the problem previously in the juniors was that things were decided last minute. For example fixtures wouldn't get released until a few days before they were due to be played which was frustrating. I think we absolutely should be deciding how the season will finish so clubs know what is happening. Joining the pyramid I feel requires a bit more professionalism and setting out the rules of the competition helps with that The WoSFL should hopefully get something like this http://slfl.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/The-Scottish-Lowland-Football-League-Season-2019-20-Fixture-List.pdf Since that's the format that the Lowland League and EoSFL get there's in. Typically breaks down the various cups, then the specific dates, and holds a certain number of fixtures and dates in reserve. The typical scenario being that the TBC fixtures can be slotted in around cup runs/exits to try and minimise teams being idle and the reserve dates being used to slot in postponed games in Saturdays.

That's because the pyramid system is just a short hand and not something that actually has to be replicated when turned into a graphic. I think the only league system that is even attempting such a thing is down in England where the FA has referred to the "perfect pyramid" of Steps 1-5 going 1-2-4-8-16. Which fails to take into account that the National League System goes down to a Step 16. Otherwise the focus is on balancing competitive and geographic concerns.

Doubt it will change. It happens with the SPFL and non-league all time. And at this point I don't think anyone cares about the junior/senior thing. All the West is senior now. There's a couple of teams in the North that would be decent in the Highland (assuming Tayside never joins). Then from what was the East, the vast majority of the strength and depth has been senior for years now. Of the 26 clubs in the East Juniors from 2018 most of them were typical bottom tier clubs. The first structure wasn't particular sensible to me which is why is why I pointed out the EoS would be forming a single division at Tier 7. The second format may well happen if there ever was a situation where the remaining East Juniors were successful in joining the EoSFL. Although you might find a preference for seeding of Conferences to form a Second Division and then have North/South Divisions below. There's a reason why the East Region moved away from the North/Cental/South Divisions and there hasn't been much in the way of travel complaints within the EoSFL.

They've probably got other sources of funding or members of the committee that will be providing free labour or at cost. A lot of these crowdfunding pages only seem to be for a percentage rather than the whole thing. Just because it came to mind I looked up Irvine Meadow's gofundme for floodlights as an example. The target is set for £10k. All together i'm sure it will cost more than that.

The way the SJC has been framed is no different to the Fife FA's Cup or the EOS Qualifying Cup and Southern Counties Cup in the LL. They're additional competitions and personal club commitments. They're secondary to the SFA and LL competitions and a personal club commitment. Little different to how clubs can organise friendlies whenever they like, its just this time there's a cup to go with it. So its the same case of the SJC in the WoSFL. League fixtures, SCC, Scottish Cup and eventually WoSFL Cup(s) will take priority. Which is why people question the continued participation of WoSFL clubs in the SJC. Its one thing squeezing in local cup competitions into free midweeks on occasion. Its another thing trying to compete in a national cup competition that would want Saturday dates in the calendar to work.

In terms of finishing up the 2019-20 SJC. 5/6 are all in the same division now. So there is perhaps some shuffling they can get away with. Auchinleck and Darvel looking likely for floodlights helps with that.

We'll see how that goes. Certainly the SJFA have to put some plan in place the sooner the better. Once there's a start date to officially work towards league fixtures are going to eat up most of the calendar. The Lowland area leagues are also trying to finish the 2019-20 SCC, which is down to the semi final stage. That's certainly a lot easier to organise as they can ensure a bye in the first round of the 2020-21 SCC to play the semis and then slot the final in where possible. All 4 clubs also have floodlights so they could even try and squeeze the semis in midweek early on. Then have the final on the Sunday of the 1st Round weekend of the 2020-21 SCC. It's easier to see how the 2019-20 SCC gets wrapped up as there isn't the same knock-on effects on the 2020-21 edition and doesn't have the same reverence making it easier to move around for convenience. The 2019-20 SJC needs 3 rounds and would ideally want weekend games to maximise attendances.

Between the whole of October and June you've got 39 weekends. It won't run until the end of June though. As they'd want to get back to some normality for 2021-22 and they'd want to at least set out with the intention of having the Champion in the Lowland League play-off. Right now there's only the South Challenge Cup to compete in. Auchinleck Talbot also has the additional commitment of the Scottish Cup. Can it be done? On paper you can get away with it. It's largely dependent on midweek games from the outset and the unknown factor is how postponements will push things past the breaking point.

I don't think they would do anything that requires a split during the season. Look at the difference in fixtures played when the season stopped in the middle of March. As the majority of the EoS Premier has lights. I think they'll try and go ahead with a 34 game season and just cancel some of the cups. The WoSFL doing Option C or D would then allow the two leagues to finish at a similar time for the potential Lowland League playoff. Personally, I would go for Option D as everyone gets to play each other.

The problem with that is that we won't know whether one, two, three or none of the champions will be licensed. So it's pointless making a draw and setting fixtures when there are so many unknown factors. The dates for the Lowland League playoff already get set at the start of the season. It's just instead of having it titled as Lowland League Playoff: EoSFL/SoSFL/WoSFL Champion v. EoSFL/SoSFL/WoSFL Champion it could have EoSFL v. SoSFL, WoSFL v. EoSFL, SoSFL v. WoSFL as an example. Looking back on the the EoS Championship round robin they did they random draw in February to give potential winners time to plan.

If I remember right from the EoS Championship. The round robin draw for Conference champions was done a decent bit in advance. Its entirely possible they could do the random draw for the LL playoff at the start of the season. That way they know which league champions would be playing midweek which gives a little bit of notice to plan for it, if its even required.

As its likely to be set aside for the middle of May (in a usual year). It probably will be Sat-Wed-Sat. All the leagues will have finished. Weather should be hopefully be decent. Should be enough casual interest to keep the numbers high even though its a midweek. That way they only have to set aside the same dates for a two legged playoff between just two licenced champions.

EoSFL and WoSFL have set their stalls out for 2021-22. WoS Premier, First, Second and Third. EoS Premier, First and Second. Anyone new is joining at the bottom of those structures. As for the North joining the pyramid. If Rothie Rovers were accepted by the North Region it sounds like the Region has had their AGM. No news has filtered out about the pyramid. Looks like another year sitting outside.

It takes a bit of getting used to, all these same questions were asked back in 2018 when the EoSFL saw its increase in membership. Some obvious new wrinkles this year due to COVID19. If this had been a normal year the fixture lists and cup draws would all be out by now making it easier to navigate.

The Lowland League play-off is for automatic promotion. It only involves the licenced champions of the WoSFL, EoSFL, and SoSFL.

I'm not sure that there is a time limit, to be honest. As long as it ties in with the finish of the other two leagues, which I'm sure Kenny McLean will make sure happens. They changed the SFA Licencing Committee schedule so there's now just a meeting in February and then its the SFA AGM in May/June. This only happened this year. Which basically meant you had to pass the February committee meeting and be forwarded for approval to the SFA Board ahead of the following season. February is now seen as the deadline to get your licence ready. No idea how COVID19 will impact things.

They're likely going to want to finish in advance of Euro 2020 kicking off. Especially as Scotland does take on a hosting role. Which also means the SFA AGM is likely to be just before the Euros as well and most leagues try to have their AGMs done before the SFA one. So you're looking at mid-June at the latest. The SPFL, Highland and Lowland Leagues will all be finishing around the usual time. Regular season end of April/early May. With a couple of weeks of playoffs taking it to the middle of May. That's based on the SPFL Premiership's final weekend of games being on the May 15th weekend. The lower leagues will have finished a couple of weeks before then due to the way the formats work making all the leagues interlinked. Fortunately that doesn't include the WoSFL, EoSFL, and SoSFL. As the Lowland League playoff is independent of that. Just you've got to time things for a similar finish between a 38 game season (WoSFL), 34 game season (EoSFL), and 26 game season (SoSFL).

The 3 Conference set up is only for this season. From 2021-22 there will be a Premier Division, First Division, Second Division and Third Division. So there's likely to be 3 automatic promotion spots to the Top 3 in the First Division.

Those two games being the 3-2 loss to Kelty and a 1-1 draw at home to CSS. Which were the first points they'd dropped since September. It's hardly this massive drop off in form.

Best wait until nearer the time when it comes to drawing up plans. After 2018 everyone was expecting another wave of applications from the East Region. Syngenta announced their intentions basically a year in advance. Even hiring a coaching staff for their first and u20 teams. With Glenrothes Strollers coming in nearer the deadline. 2 clubs came in, none of those named. This year it was known for months that almost all of the Fife Juniors were leaving for the EoS. With that much notice the rest of the East Juniors had to consider their options? Not really, other than Livingston United's late attempt. Until Feb/March 2021 rolls around its all just a fantasy.

The EoS will be forming a single division below the Premier. They aren't going to split that by 3.

Considering how quickly a lot of similar recruitments took place I imagine it will get filled pretty soon.

The SPFL Reserve League is on hold in 2020-21 I believe. It was gutted by so many of the top teams withdrawing anyway. If you look at SPFL Reserve League 2 there's maybe a couple of candidates for next season's Development League. EDIT: When East Fife joined there was the rumour that Alloa Athletic had also been looking into it for instance.