Marten

Scotland (245/2) v Italy (90 ao), Scotland win by 155 runs First time I post something other than football on here, but I've been following cricket for a long time. When I lived in England I was a member of Derbyshire CCC. As both sides had Derbyshire players and I wanted to attend a game in this tournament (ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier Europe) anyway, I picked this game as the Dutch aren't taking part (already qualified). Thankfully it stayed dry, lovely old main building at The Grange. Although I expected Scotland to win, I didn't expect it to be with this margin. Italy ran Ireland close & won more convincingly against Jersey than Scotland did. The Scottish batters were on fire though, especially Oli Hairs who was 126 not out as opening batsman. Brandon McMullen was close to a century himself, but he got out in the 19th over for 96. The high target resulted in Italy having to take risks, which they did. Those risks didn't pay off as wickets started falling pretty quickly, also due to the excellent bowling from Scotland. Convincing win by Scotland.

Been there for a charity game with some Dutch mates. Excellent facilities for that level & the club is run by a very friendly bunch of people.

Carnoustie started with a defeat at home to Kirrie in probably the biggest surprise of the day, although Kirrie were a good side last season too so can't be underestimated. Scone's big win against St. James is also remarkable. Montrose Roselea narrowly lost at Tayport in their return to the East region.

Lochee United 3-0 Dundee Violet Great start to the league campaign. Excellent performance, commanding throughout. Probably should have scored more but in fairness, the Violet goalkeeper was very good. Can't complain, 3 points and a performance that gives confidence.

Carnoustie are the only ones who have publicly spoken out they are going for a license, with the aim to have one at the end of the 2023/24 season. However, they are still quite far off I believe, so it will be quite a challenge for them. I'm not sure about other clubs.

We should definitely be able to challenge with our signings. Hopefully we can do it and actually gain promotion. But it won't be easy so just need to take it per game, starting at home to Violet tomorrow.

I wouldn't call over 20 years ago "very recently" (first season with 2 auto relegation spots was 2002/03).

Main thing for me isn't that they do this, but how they implement this. I've already seen that promoted clubs would get grace to get this sorted so it won't block promotion. I assume they just need a plan of how to do it. Having to take a doctor to every LL away game for example (as you'd have to take your own one if you're on bronze and the opponent isn't and don't have their own doctor) could be very expensive for clubs, but imo it's reasonable to ask them to have it sorted after promotion. Time will tell on that I suppose!

The Netherlands has no relegation at all from the 2nd tier.

Welcome!

Lochee United 6-1 Formartine United Excellent performance against last season's number 4 of the division above us. They played with 10 men for an hour due to a silly stamp on one of our players, but hats off to the lads. That gives confidence for the new season.

Scotland Women 3-0 Northern Ireland Women Scotland easily the better side, win was well deserved. Attendance 5,138 at Dens Park, decent for a women's friendly in holiday time.

I'd say 0%.

Sorry, you're right. I misread it. That's 4 players from Coupar Angus now.

Since you joined P&B you only ever posted about your sectarian bigotfests. Do you also intend to post about football some day or are you just here to spread your hatred & bile?

Just non-league, all leagues are now senior leagues and only the Midlands League and North Region still ultimately come under the SJFA (or more precisely ERJFA & NRJFA respectively). The term "juniors" doesn't really cover it anymore.

I haven't heard much about it since, but I believe smaller clubs weren't keen on it, especially in the North Region.

Another 3 new years players for us: Dom Blair, Lee Roeleveld and Stephen Tront (all Coupar Angus). Squad looking good now. Also more squad depth, which we lacked the last 2 seasons and came back to bite us when the inevitable injuries hit.

Heineken is like the Dutch version of Marmite, people either love it or hate it. It's quite obvious I'm in the "hate" camp. And I genuinely can't stand the stuff, I've been in a pub before that had only Heineken and I decided to go for a wine instead as I didn't want to have Heineken.

They want to get licensed and they can't do that at Old Shielfield as they can't get floodlights there. They will keep the ground for their youth teams though.

Strathmiglo United 3-3 Lochgelly Albert Tonight I went to the small but scenic village of Strathmiglo in Fife, a short drive across the Tay Road Bridge (which took longer than expected due to the works on the bridge though). The hosts play in the Kingdom of Fife AFA Premier Division. Early on in the game, the difference was clear as Lochgelly were clinical with their first 2 big chances and took a 2-0 lead. After the second goal, Strathmiglo got more into the game though. They scored the 2-1 later in the first half and were very much equal to their opponents for the rest of the game. In the second half they were close to equalising, but when Lochgelly scored their third it seemed like the game was decided. However, a wonderful goal straight from kick-off immediately reduced the defecit to 1 again. That goal was something special, the Lochgelly goalkeeper was slightly too far in front of his goal. The player taking the kick-off noticed that and immediately took a shot on goal, which was perfectly placed. It's very early in the season but this it will take some effort to beat this for "goal of the season". Late on, Strathmiglo got what they deserved for their hard work and managed to equalise. A nice evening out, thankfully it stayed dry after awful weather during the day. The ground is nice with a lovely backdrop.

I just named one example of a groundshare that works, one in this area that I'm familiar with. But it shows groundshares can work just fine so a blanket ban wouldn't be justified. Also, not every groundshare in the west is bad either.

Also, those situations are very much exceptions. I don't see anything wrong with say Montrose Roselea's long term groundshare at Links Park. They are a proper community club and of added value to the town, working well together with Montrose FC. And so there are many more examples of groundshares that work, which are way more common than the ones taking the piss like Broomhill. And obviously then there are various clubs that became homeless through no fault of their own. No need to kick them even further when they are just trying to survive in a difficult situation.

Would the same go for all clubs who rent their ground, for example from the council?

Then you'd end up getting the same mess as in the East with every year a bunch of clubs leaving. There, the first main move was in 2018, and only now you can argue that teams are generally at their level (with perhaps the odd exception). The whole point of a pyramid is that teams find their level. It's absolutely fine if clubs don't have the ambition to reach the LL or higher. In the end, of the 80 clubs in the WoSFL, there will only be a small minority who can hold themselves at a higher level. Some other clubs will want to go for licensing and again others just want to play their football at their level and nothing else, for those not that much changed really compared to the WRJFA.