Brad Bobley

He was with Finnart when Finnart played in the Caley. He was also a lot younger (that would’ve been roughly 2019-ish?). He had a stint at Pollok, though, and I don’t think that worked out.

I could hazard a guess as to which players that would be. Their squad is big enough to maintain a good standard, even if they lose their two or three best players. I do wonder if part of the decision making of going to WoS teams is to do with the weakness of the league they’ll be playing in next year.

Kirktonholme has been dug up for a new astro installation. I think it’s expected to be completed by the start of the new season. EKYM a bit homeless in the interim.

I'm surprised they never applied for the Caley, and I'm surprised Steins and Greenock never followed either.

St Joe's 2-0 up after ten mins, with EKYM scoring on the stroke of half time, then again with 5 mins to go. Both teams were very poor, but the surface was absolutely atrocious. Giffnock still to play EKYM and St Joe's and Wishaw still to play St Joe's certainly makes it exciting. I think it'll go right down to the wire.

SPAFA confirmed teams for next season (15): Castlemilk OBC Steins Thistle Greenock HSFP Oban Saints Chryston Arthurlie Harestanes Pather Port Glasgow Inverclyde Baljaffray Kings Park Rangers Glenvale Carlton Port Glasgow OBU BSC Glasgow - Caley confirmed teams: Premier Wishaw Wycombe Wanderers St Joseph's East Kilbride YM Saint Mungo Doune Castle Giffnock North Dunipace Dumbarton Academy FP Glasgow Harp Strathclyde University/Milton Drumchapel/Westerlands Eaglesham First Westerlands/Drumchapel Milton/Strathclyde University Alva Stenhousemuir Community Rhu Glasgow University Rothesay Brandanes Riverside Stirling University Cambusbarron Rovers Cambria Callander Thistle St Patrick's FP Bannockburn Gartcosh Utd Campsie Minerva

Strathaven Dynamo the latest to call it a day within SMAFA. I’d guess, with the way it’s going, that SPAFA will have a maximum of 14 teams next year. Joe Noon, who is on their committee and was involved with Busby, was very vocal about a 19s and 21s league about six weeks ago, with the notion of announcements coming, but things seem to have dried up a bit. I hope the 19s thing works out and it wasn’t just a ploy to entice other teams to a competitive league.

I was under the impression that ex-Pros weren’t allowed to play with the SAFA Select. An excellent player, of course, but recall two boys going to Bosnia last year (?) and finding out they were ineligible when they arrived. Have also watched some of St Pat’s highlights of late and they look to be a shadow of what they formerly were, for whatever reason. Castlemilk, in comparison, are a top, top team.

St Joe's start tonight with EKYM (A), then Dumbarton (H) on Saturday (which I would expect they'll win). I reckon the first team to 39/40 points will win the league. St Joe's also to face Wishaw (H)and Giffnock (A). EKYM got an equally tough run in with St Joe's (H), Doune (A), Giffnock (A) and Glasgow Harp (A). Wishaw have Milton (H), Strathy Uni (H), Doune (H) and St Joe's (A). Giffnock have Doune (H), EKYM (H), St Joe's (H), St Mungo (H) and Eaglesham (A). A lot of scope for drama, but I think if St Joe's win two of their last four, they'll have it wrapped up.

Yeah, a strange one. Not great but it is what it is. A lot of Women's and Men's Senior games coming up throughout mid-end of May so probably one of the only slots available.

Dunipace have been crowned champions of the Caley 1st, with Westerlands and Drumchapel fighting for the second spot. Looking like Milton will be relegated, with a possibility of Strathclyde Uni, results dependent over the next few weeks. Caley Prem is as open as it’s been for years with St Joe’s and EKYM still battling away, the former probably being strong favourites. Both teams go head to head on Tuesday and I expect, if St Joe’s win, that’ll be it wrapped up. They’ll then only need four points from their last three games to have it secured. If St Joe’s somehow collapse in their last four games, Wishaw, Giffnock, Doune and St Mungo can still be in contention but I really, really doubt that becoming a possibility. St Joe’s, however, in their last four games, have still to play Wishaw, Giffnock, Dumbarton and EKYM.

Scottish Cup Final confirmed: Garrowhill Thistle vs Cupar Hearts Thursday 16th of May @ Hampden Park

Whatever the outcome, I don’t fancy trying to gain promotion for the Caley 1st next season: Drum/Westerlands, St Pat’s, Gartcosh, Campsie Minerva and Bannockburn all fighting for two promotion spots with honourable mentions to Alva, Stenhousemuir, Glasgow Uni and (likely) Milton, the latter four would normally expect to be involved in a title race but will probably find themselves struggling to get out of the division for a few years. Regarding the Drum, their league position probably isn’t reflective of their actual abilities due to the fixture backlog and playing a bit of catch up. Apart from surprise defeats to Alva and Glasgow Uni, they’ve still had quite a strong season and performed relatively well in the National and District comps. Apologies for further derailing the thread.

I would expect your algorithm would take the Caledonian First Division up to the top three divisions next season?

The Caley have 25 (I think) going into next season; SPAFA roughly 15; GGP have 30. In the region of 70 West Central afternoon teams. I don't think the leagues will ever merge. SPAFA and Caley certainly won't ever merge (though I'm happy to be wrong). I can see GGP merging with one or the other, though - likely SPAFA, given their current predicament against the Caley's strength going into 2024-2025. You're probably right. I'd prefer to see the "separate league associations covering the same geographical area" idea notion binned and move towards something similar to the WoS. I think Ayrshire would need to be involved in the full thing, even though there will be some travelling constraints, or else it'll end up like the old Juniors setup with Ayrshire in one bowl and everybody else in another. I don't know if any other teams have aspirations or the appropriate facilities. Steins, though, would fall into the EoS bracket, I imagine. I'd imagine EKYM will be heading along the WoS route given their new astro development, clubhouse and overall standard of facility, but that's probably a season or two away. Looking at other clubs with good facilities and decent playing standards, I don't think the Drum would entertain WoS; Annbank have decent enough facilities. There are more than enough teams who are good enough in a technical playing sense, with a good structure behind them, but the main stumbling block will be the facilities. Though, having said that, some WoS teams are playing their games at primary school astro pitches; and some don't even have a home at all.

Hope you manage to get a sponsor sorted that you were looking for on Twitter. Incredible amount of work to be doing for no incentive.

The only difficult I can foresee with that is how the team to be promoted to the WoS would be nominated. Winner of all Premier Leagues in the geographical region play a semi and a final? SPAFA GGP Caley Ayrshire? Runs into some problems if the winner of SPAFA or the Caley is one of the Stirlingshire region teams but solutions could be found.

Definitely one division then. That’s 15 teams, with a few yet to confirm (BSC & Harestanes).

I think it has to be just one division, unfortunately. A lot of games, yes, but having a maximum of 18 teams isn't particularly conducive to allowing two divisions.

Oh, dear. Well done to Garrowhill. A fantastic achievement.

Parkhall resigning at the end of the season. Another gone from SPAFA.

I might be wrong, but did Josh from Rossvale not have involvement with AS Airdrie previously? I could be miles off with that. Bailey Hanlon transitioning Kilsyth to the WoS another one of note.

The Lesmahagow > Lanark & Royal Albert suited perfectly geographically, and came at the right time for all involved. I don't know if there's many top amateur sides now who would find themselves in as convenient a position. As you say, the top amateur teams could and would dismantle a lot of teams in the Third Division and Fourth Division. I've said it lots of times before, but the actual gap in quality isn't that vast.

Sad to see but the gulf in quality from the top two or three to the bottom of SPAFA next year doesn't make for a very productive or meaningful setup, in comparison with the likes of the Caley, where, for example, this season, there's still five teams who can win the league. I'm just glad they'll be able to build for the future with the 19s and 21s teams they've got on board, and hope that this is only a speed bump in a longer road to recovery. 19 confirmed for next season (with the asterisk denoting rumblings of calling it a day, but only rumours): Castlemilk OBC Steins Thistle Greenock HSFP Pather Oban Saints Chryston Arthurlie Harestanes* Port Glasgow Inverclyde Parkhall* Neilston* Baljaffray Kings Park Rangers Glenvale Carlton Eddlewood Cardross Port Glasgow OBU BSC Glasgow* --- Best case scenario is a league of 10 and a league of 9, maybe? Massive risk with such a small league that one or two resigning means you'll end up with an extremely short season.

Semi finals: Sandys vs Garrowhill Thistle 22nd April - 8pm - New Douglas Park & Steins Thistle vs Cupar Hearts 26th April - 7:30pm - Falkirk Stadium A large 'luck of the draw' element, but the only West team left from the GGP. No West Caley teams, no West SPAFA teams, no Ayrshire teams. A big turn up for the books, that is. Another season where the four semi finalists are from four different league associations.