FairWeatherFan

To be a member of the league yes, to apply no. There's nothing to stop a club applying without being a Full Member of the SFA. Look at how the Lowland League waited to deal with the promotion/relegation issue until Bonnyrigg had their SFA license confirmed. Or how the Fife FA accepted Hill of Beath and Dundonald on the preliminary basis of them getting their SFA membership. Also no Tier 6 league requires licensing and the NRJFA said they don't want to be in the pyramid. So which 3 of the 30+ junior teams for the last 5 years have wanted to in the pyramid but were scared off by licensing? With Montrose Roselea moving to Links Park many threw them in as a candidate to go down the licensing route. Which was shot down by a poster either on the committee or close to the club saying that's not something they are planning for. Part of their reasoning being that they were a small committee, the Highland League would cause them the same issues they had being in the East Region and Montrose is already a small town with a Senior team. Which, apart from the travel, is probably a similar sentiment shared by about a third of the North Juniors. Buckie Thistle/Buckie Rovers Elgin City/New Elgin Forres Mechanics/Forres Thistle Fraserburgh/Fraserburgh United Inveurie Loco Works/Colony Park Keith/Islavale Montrose/Montrose Roselea Nairn County/Nairn St Ninian Peterhead/Buchanhaven Hearts Honourable Mention Deveronvale/Deveronside 3 miles apart Strathspey Thistle/Spey Valley United 8 miles apart

Formartine applied in August/September and spent the time until the decision actively campaigning to get in. Turriff applied in September/October and were pretty active. Strathspey were a spanner in the works as the won those that wanted to try and balance Highland/Grampian. It was also TEN years ago. The Highland League and NRJFA sat down together back in November(?). With the NRJFA saying they aren't interested in the pyramid. The Tayside clubs are still having the SJFA represent their interests with trying to get in the Lowland League area. The Highland League has also kept the NCL in the loop around the pyramid. Last year sending a representative to the NCL AGM and supposedly there has been at least one further SFA/HFL/NCL type meeting this past season. It has been known publicly that the Highland League would create a 2nd Division if they get more than 20 members for years now. They've also engaged with all other existing leagues that would be considered Tier 6 if they signed up to the pyramid.

What exactly are the Highland league supposed to be doing if no one's applying? They even invited Banks o'Dee.

Yeah, it's not like they've hosted meetings with the NRJFA only to be told not interested. Kept the NCL in the loop and have publicly stated and voted on creating a 2nd division if they exceed 20 members. As for the floodlights issue it's tied into licensing now so it's no longer a case of the HFL having a say in it. They needed it before then due to the 34 game season, each club competing in at least 3 cups and finishing in time for the SPFL playoff.

You're saying the dominance became more pronounced since the dawn of the CL era. Celtic never played in the CL until 1999 by which point i'd say the OF had already jumped ahead of everyone else with Murray's overdraft and the Parkhead rebuild.

The last year that a non-OF team won the title Aberdeen had an average attendance of 16,152 and the highest average in Scotland was Rangers with 20,963. They were also the last team to win the title without a shirt sponsor. OF getting 30,000+ ticket sales, sponsorships and the rise of pay TV from the 90s has had a greater impact than CL money.

Just tried googling Caledonian Braves to see if the name change was official. One of the first results that pops up is https://ourfootballclub.com/members-area/forums/topic/caledonian-braves-fc-est-2019/ Is this trying wipe away the history of the Edusport Academy years? Also brings up the companies house docs for Caledonian Braves Ltd. Which for the time being only has the one Director and one Shareholder on the incorporation docs. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC635380/filing-history

Cobbled together from Wikipedia and the odd club website. 1989 Deveronside 1990 1991 1992 Tayport 1993 1994 1995 Tayport 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Tayport 2001 Dundee North End 2002 Tayport 2003 Tayport 2004 Tayport 2005 Tayport 2006 Lochee United 2007 2008 Montrose Roselea 2009 Sunnybank 2010 Sunnybank 2011 Dundee North End 2012 Jeanfield Swifts 2013 Jeanfield Swifts 2014 Lochee United 2015 Tayport 2016 Lochee United 2017 Broughty Athletic 2018 Carnoustie Panmure 2019 Broughty Athletic

What was said?

With the Caledonian Braves name determined and to be confirmed next week I believe. What's the status of new club badge, colours and kit? Has that all been agreed or is the team starting the season as Edusport Academy? I'd imagine those are things that the ourfootballclub people would have a vote on. And it's getting close to have a vote and everything in place for the start of the season.

Was it not said in another thread the Premier South fixtures are out now?

There was a point raised I hadn't quite considered till now. The Angus SPFL clubs might actually be happy in the Highland League now as the Lowland League has continued to strengthen over the years. You'd certainly consider them challengers to the Highland League title which wouldn't be the case necessarily in the Lowland.

Tayport are a club that falls into the Lowland League catchment area so its not the best example for what you're going for. As for the Highland League being a closed shop, did you not see them hand out invites this summer?

There was a discussion of all time top scorer. Think it was little more than guesswork. Think the LL has the scoring charts for last couple of seasons archived.

It's not a complaint about b teams. Nobody cared much about Edusport reserves going into the SoS. It's if Edusport Academy in the SoS becomes a separate licensed club to Caledonian Braves in the Lowland League. If the SoS team takes on the Caledonian Braves reserves tag I don't mind.

I'm not so much concerned over Edusport Academy SoS getting promoted. More it spinning off to be the original set up that Edusport had being an avenue for French students playing football and learning English. Then being able to get licensed again as a separate entity to Caledonian Braves. From that they can get Scottish Cup entry, SFA payments and access to grants which could help subsidise Caledonian Braves just by virtue of sharing the same facilities and being able to split costs.

Last year's draw took place on 16th July. So probably a couple of weeks to go. Haven't seen anything announced as yet.

Right now it's one or two games. There are only 2 preliminary rounds. It's not the LL that is disadvantaged. Its the EoS/SoS club that used to be a LL side that is.

Now that there's going to be a more noticeable difference between Caledonian Braves/Ourfootballclub and the Edusport education business, Does anyone know who exactly owns Caledonian Braves and has the tenancy agreement on Alliance Park? Just wondering as isn't it conceivable the likes of the new SoS reserve could actually become Edusport Academy all over again?

It's a format, not a literal pyramid. It has to end somewhere. The North stops at tier 5 just now. The West stops at tier 6 with the SoS The East stops at tier 7.

They voted in favour of the pyramid back at their 2018 agm just like the juniors. They'll be up to 10 teams again this season, so I don't see any harm in it.

The SFA have updated their list of licensed clubs for July. Got all the new faces in.

Forgot about them Until this season there were only 14? Members outwith Tier 5 + qualifiers. The difference wasn't that extreme. That's why there might be some reformatting to come. Now and then I still don't have a problem with Tier 5 clubs being treated as equal to each other regardless of geography.

Only Golspie and Banks O'dee will enter the preliminary rounds for North of Tay Bridge boundary. NCL champions should have an entry like the SOS and EOS non-licensed champions do. As far as I'm concerned.

17 HFL, 10 NCL, 32 NRJFA, 16 North NRJFA. 16 LL, 40 EOS, 16 SOS, 63 WRJFA, 20 South ERJFA. A 3 way split at Tier 5 would be pretty decent.