Spyro
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Posts posted by Spyro
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If it meant getting the Highland clubs involved and making a proper “non-league” Scottish Cup, I actually wouldn’t mind them regionalising Round 1 and 2 long-term.
They've already split the SCC into groups of 40ish this season, so with 81 teams north of the line it works out quite nicely tbh
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Maybe in the short-term yes your right. But there’s a high school and youth teams in Ullapool (Loch Broom) full of potential players that could’ve sustained the long term future of a North-West club. Maybe they could’ve changed the flow of players going (more than an hour each way) east to play at that level.
It all seemed a bit haphazard, KLB and Durness hasn’t exactly been a hotbed for football recently going by their amateur results. Fair play to them for trying, like I said I really wanted them to pull it off, and the first few seasons were always going to be tough. Some of the score lines and eventually having to scratch a game at that level due to a lack of players isn’t a good look though
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22 minutes ago, MarkPockets said:
Why? Saves an hour of driving each way for the KLB ones you're on about by being in Scourie instead. And the team has still had players from Lochinver, Gairloch and Ullapool. Being based in Ullapool would just mean more travel for most players for "home" games
Bigger pool of players further south. I’m sure the KLB boys would’ve came down to play if they were good enough. Let’s face it, the KLB ammys were hardly world beaters so a collaboration between Lochinver and any Ullapool players playing somewhere easier for the majority to play would’ve meant the chances of having to scratch a game due to lack of players would’ve been greatly reduced.
I really wanted it to work for them but I had my doubts right from the start tbh
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2 hours ago, MarkPockets said:
That is pretty much what the Scourie team is
Basing the new club in Ullapool rather than Scourie might have helped though
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11 hours ago, Honestman1954 said:
In saying all that about the OF, Stranraer have a similar team in the SOS and Nairn County have one in the NCL. Maybe teams like Ayr United and Kilmarnock should have their is the WOSL and so on.
Stranraer Reserves actually won the SoS league but were unable to be promoted to the Lowland League ON MERIT because the rules state that no 2nd team is allowed into tier 5.
Oh, and the next eligible club were denied the right to a playoff with the EoS champions as only the champion clubs are allowed in the playoffs...
Precedent set! Good luck to the Lowland Leagues “3rd place” team getting into the SPFL playoff next season. Good job Mr Fraser and the rest of the sellouts
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45 minutes ago, I Zingari said:
At the point at which the pyramid was brought in, after intense media pressure, it was clear that there were not sufficient sides available in the Lowland area of a suitable standard to form a division below SPFL2. The SFA should have waited until more clubs with proper grounds, and some supporters, could be brought on board.
Which would’ve made it even more stupid to have a team from as far north as Brechin in a “lowland league”
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They don’t make it easy for themselves
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12 minutes ago, Ginaro said:
Given one of the new WOS clubs are sharing with Renfrew then I highly doubt that's the case!
I can’t pull the quote by parkcirus from the West of Scotland forum but it’s there under the New Clubs in the WoS thread about no more groundshares...
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10 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:
Dalgety Bay and Inverkeithing near enough meet, and Hillfield is actually a part of Dalgety Bay.
I think AuldHeid needs to draw a distinction between clubs careening around the countryside trying to find a new home every few years... a criticism that can be levelled at BSCG (Ashfield > Maryhill > Alloa?), Edusport (Hamilton Palace > Annan > Bothwellhaugh?), or even Syngenta (Grangemouth > Dunipace > Little Kerse > Stenhousemuir?)... and thinking there needs to be 2 different licensed grounds in towns like Stirling or Bo'ness, or a dozen in Edinburgh.
It's perfectly sensible for the likes of Edinburgh City + Leith, Boroughmuir + Tynecastle, Falkirk + East Stirlingshire, Heriot-Watt Uni + Edinburgh College, and so on to share facilities.
Only oddity among those admitted to EOSL has really been Edinburgh South who've chosen to share out at Dalkeith. However they plan to develop somewhere like Fernieside (IIRC).This is the sensible approach. I was surprised to read that the WoS will point-blank refuse entry to any clubs wanting to ground share though. I can’t see the logic in this. As long as clubs aren’t taking the piss, then I really don’t see the problem... maybe Letham should’ve joined up with one of the other Perth teams until they got their place sorted if they were serious about joining. My personal suspicion is that they probably didn’t fancy being stuck in a league full of West Lothian teams for 2-3 seasons though
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13 hours ago, Marten said:
The seethe still coming from Hearts & Partick Thistle is getting annoying.
Not ALL of us Marten, but it’s absolute rockets like these which is why myself (brought up a Hearts fan) and to a lesser extent my mate from Maryhill don’t really bother about our “big” teams anymore, it’s just embarrassing.
Good luck Brechin, it was a dirty move trying to wriggle out the playoffs but it’s history now. You are a great club and you will love the Highland League with new clubs, new places to visit and the added bonus of Buckie coming down and filling your stadium with their 30,000 away fans. I doubt once you’ve got your shit together you’ll be there for long... but enjoy the journey and rise above the clowns on here
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7 hours ago, FairWeatherFan said:
Any tie over 50 miles is entitled to £150 in travel expenses, which then increases with greater distances.
Open draw across the first two rounds would be 97 games played, with the other 63 games to played after that. Looking at the first two rounds of 2020-21 if they had been played they would have been out of pocket a 5 figure sum.
Tbh you can’t really argue with this considering the last 2 seasons have been write-offs for the organisers. Hopefully it’s just temporary for a couple of seasons until everyone is back on their feet again.
Its been split really well though, can’t argue with it at all
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3 hours ago, GNU_Linux said:
Alness vs Scourie off tomorrow as Scourie can't raise a side.
I was just going to ask about this... can’t be good if they can’t get a team together at this stage of the year. No excuses, the boys should all be buzzing to go. Gutted for the guys who have worked hard to make this happen but it was always going to be a tough task being based up there. I’m surprised they didn’t try something in Ullapool with a few of the old KLB boys
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1 hour ago, parkcircus said:
We’ve previously said we won’t allow ground sharing clubs to get a criteria, maybe that would change but I doubt it.
Surprised with this tbh.
As long as it’s within reason (Clydebank/Yorker for example) I can’t see the problem. It’s when you have clubs trying to share at a ground 20-30odd miles away to obtain a license that I can understand them being rejected
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Tbf, considering the lack of licensed teams below the HL and the fact that many didn’t really fancy it until recently. The playoff is ok for now.
Plus any teams who do get into a playoff with the bottom club of the HL are more than likely going to win... unless they decide to lose 2 goals in the last 10 mins out of nowhere
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2 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:
Luncarty are north, while Scone Thistle and Tayport are south and nobody is losing any sleep over them being in the EoS and Midland Leagues, respectively.
These are common sense though and are only outside by a few meters, same with Harthill.
Letham have 2 (or 3) other clubs from their own city playing in a Lowland League feeder and are quite clearly in that catchment. If they then go and play in the Highland League feeder league then you would be as well allowing the Dundee teams into the EoS and the West Lothian teams into the WoS... which they were told wasn’t going to happen.
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3 minutes ago, Pyramidic said:
rather than try to join the emerging Midland League.
I really don’t know why this keeps being brought up. They are BELOW the line, they are in Perth, they are in the EoS catchment... I don’t understand how this idea even came about!
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6 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:
There is at least the consolation that amateur football out East is fairly easy to understand. Wish to check who are top dogs in the Borders - you look up the Border Amateur League table. Ditto in the Lothians - LEAFA; in Fife - Kingdom; in Perthshire.
Head out West then (beyond Ayrshire) you almost require a correspondence course... Caledonian... Central Scottish... Scottish AFL... Greater Glasgow Premier... plus some bleed into Stirlingshire area too, alongside Stirling & District.Someone has had a bash but it was just in its infancy before Covid hit and still needs more data and tweaking to get perfect... but it’s a good effort. Hopefully it’ll be manicured over the next wee while with plenty of results to add to the database
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11 minutes ago, Che Dail said:
All interesting points - helps makes the case for regionalizing the lowest tier...?
At tier 8/9, yes definitely. Probably at tier 9 in the East and 10 in the West once things settle down. Then you could basically “bolt on” the amateur league in the East. Borders, LEAFA, Kingdom, the Central gets a bit messy though... but it’s not as simple as it seems. A lot of clubs who could potentially be “promoted” have no intention, or the resources to go into as bigger region, but I suppose that’s where a stepped ground/club criteria comes into play.
The west would be a much tougher nut to crack.
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In the 3 games I witnessed, Rovers (full of local players) absolutely smashed Fairydean (full of toonies) in every one... says everything really!
Only problem was trying to get the local boys to walk away from the Border Ammys, it means more to many of them than the EoS. Playing for your own town and loads of history/rivalry that isn’t there when you step “up”.
From what I remember, Selkirk’s purple patch around 2004 onwards for a few seasons (ok, hanging onto an EoS premier league place rather than wallowing in division 1) was based on a lot of local players, including a big chunk of Earlston’s amateur league winning team following their manager.
So it IS possible and there IS the talent down there to compete without blowing the budget.
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Fair point...
But the ONLY rivalry in Gala is/was Fairydean vs Rovers every summer! Another sad day when I heard they both had merged... I’m usually all for change and evolution but some things from your teenage years are sacred
The more I hear, the more it seems possible though. The surrounding towns are all growing and there’s a decent sized catchment (Lauder to Jedburgh) with Kelso not being involved anymore. It’s not like Fairydean ever look to local players, Coldstream tend to look towards Kelso/Berwickshire/East Lothian, Tweedmouth go Berwick or Northumberland and Hawick don’t really do local either but not as bad as Gala. So there’s definitely a chance to create a bit of identity for a club right in the middle of it all. They might not be as high as Fairydean but they’ll have the potential to compete with Coldstream and Hawick and drum up more interest... unless someone wants to throw LOADS of money at it.
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3 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:
think Melrose AFC may play at Tweedbank athletic ground, Netherdale backpitches, or even public park in Galashiels?
That’s what I thought when I saw their name in the Borders Amateur league... or there was talk about a sports facility near the hospital many moons ago. I never in a million years thought the locals would allow football to be played in their town.
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5 minutes ago, Le Tout P'ti FC said:
Wait until you find out there's a Coop supermarket across the road now. I nearly crashed my car trying to take in all the changes in such a short space of time. Melrose doesn't do change.
Where do you warm up for the 7’s?!
Anyway, day ruined now...
Back on topic, I very much doubt we will see any new teams from the borders anytime soon, not even a Selkirk revival unfortunately
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7 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:
There was a fair deal of unhappiness among fans, ex-players, local journalists etc. about them replacing grass with plastic.
More than I can recall at any football clubs in Scotland recently.
Outrage-wise, overtaken by rebranding as "Southern Knights" for 'Super 6' purposes...Sacrilege! Melrose RFC was/is more than a rugby team, it was EVERYTHING the town stood for! It’s been a while since I was down there and this has all completely passed me by! I must swat up but I fear it’ll just make me angry...
The thought of Melrose even having a football team at all doesn’t sit right with me tbh, you have to have lived around there to understand!
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59 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:
You've made them up!
There’s a picture somewhere with me in one of their tops and my hair sprayed blue and white. I need to try and find it!
Didn’t realise the work that had been going on at Melrose though
Fitba on the hallowed turf! It’s no even real grass anymore! That must be up there with the Irish football team playing on Croke Park for the rugby playing locals
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Midlands League
in North Pyramid
Posted
Rothie Rovers got accepted into the North Juniors. That was confirmed the season before so dunno if it counts.
Can’t see anymore coming in from the Midlands area anytime soon, apart from Bredalbane maybe