New clubs in the East of Scotland

[Dev]

4 minutes ago, GordonS said:

 

All true, but as ever, perception beats reality.

You're not NicolaS are you?!

[Bestsinceslicebread]

1 hour ago, FairWeatherFan said:

So far regionalising at the bottom of either the WoSFL or EoSFL is largely just discussed on here or the odd club rep in an interview. In official terms it has rarely been seen. Most of the West comments has been about adding a new division for applicants next year below their Conferences. Which would then lead to Premier-1st-2nd-3rd-4th. Longer term maybe creating a separate division for those clubs that don't meet ground criteria to work on that from within, and finding ways to hook up with the Amateur leagues.  Of course that's all just talk and might not lead to any action.

I certainly don't see either the WoSFL or EoSFL going through an endless expansion. I imagine it would become an administrative nightmare for what amounts to volunteer organisations. In the West's case they had enough votes in the Juniors to go region wide and they have yet to extend their geographic footprint yet. Maybe they could see regionalising happening by linking up with their local amateur leagues instead of doing it themselves.

Right now the travel stuff isn't a issue, individual players here and there will leave clubs for travel, not because its that far to drive but they may need shorter distances due to need of time being close to family, new work etc,  its always been the case.

Nothing will be regionalized in the West, why, cause basically the whole West voted when they were in the junior level to have four divisions, premier, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and I don't see it changing anytime soon.  There wont be an additional league in the west because there is not enough teams joining so no point in another division.  As the pyramid grows some leagues will find it inevitable to add extra divisions or regionalized but not the now.  I hear talks about teams from far away joining, Oban Saints etc... so what, you only have to travel to that team once, they have to do all the traveling so its something different for the players, committee and fans etc.. on a one off except if you get them in a cup.

Some talk about other teams who are joining the EOS as they wont get into the WOS and some players happy, not happy, who gives a shit. If those players don't want to be part of the team where ever the team goes then I would expect any decent manager to move them on and open up another space for someone who cares and wants it, just the norm at that level.

Just to add, I see this the same as the EOSFL but I do expect some leagues might regionalized lower down but only as I see it within a few years until everything starts to settle down with teams and leagues all comfortable for a few years playing 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Bestsinceslicebread

[patriot1]

You’re spot on BSSB. Maybe someone will correct me but I haven’t heard anyone from Coldstream, Tweedmouth or Peebles complaining about long journeys and they have to make one every fortnight.

If you want to play in a local league go amateur.

[invergowrie arab]

5 hours ago, Pyramidic said:

When Oban Saints (and their Argyll friends) join the WOSFL the travelling scenario for Harthill will be truly turned on its head

Harthill to Oban - 2 hr 33 min (117.7 mi) via M8, A82 and A85

Harthill to Berwick will become a "walk in the park" at 1 hr 29 min (81.2 mi) via A1

The WOSFL is going to grow!  Some 17 expressions of interest at the last count.

Are Oban Saints South of "the line" ?

[FairWeatherFan]

5 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Are Oban Saints South of "the line" ?

Yes.

The SPFL Play-off boundary line being 56.4513N

Most northernly part of Oban is 56.42something.

Edited March 18, 2021 by FairWeatherFan

[GordonS]

1 hour ago, Dev said:

You're not NicolaS are you?!

Are you ironically proving my point?

[GordonS]

5 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Are Oban Saints South of "the line" ?

As FWF says, yes. But here's a wee quirk - Oban is south of a line of latitude through the mid-point of the Tay Bridge, but if they had used the OS grid instead, it would be north.

I'd genuinely love to know who came up with that line, how and why.

[FairWeatherFan]

13 minutes ago, GordonS said:

As FWF says, yes. But here's a wee quirk - Oban is south of a line of latitude through the mid-point of the Tay Bridge, but if they had used the OS grid instead, it would be north.

I'd genuinely love to know who came up with that line, how and why.

I think it was as simple as not looking beyond the make up of the then national leagues. The fact the short hand of the middle of the Tay bridge get's used to explain it, someone was purely thinking of it as that's Dundee in the North. Job done from their point of view.

There's never been much thought on the pyramid by The Powers That Be other than the HL/LL. Even when trying to get the Juniors in from the very beginning the Tay was used as the dividing line.

[GordonS]

8 minutes ago, FairWeatherFan said:

I think it was as simple as not looking beyond the make up of the then national leagues. The fact the short hand of the middle of the Tay bridge get's used to explain it, someone was purely thinking of it as that's Dundee in the North. Job done from their point of view.

There's never been much thought on the pyramid by The Powers That Be other than the HL/LL. Even when trying to get the Juniors in from the very beginning the Tay was used as the dividing line.

Did anyone ever think what it means for Perth? I can't help but think that, if you're putting Dundee in the north, you probably want to put Perth there too. It's not like Perth is a small place so it's unlikely to have been overlooked. And Luncarty, ochone.

It all seems like someone on a committee asked their kid to come up with something because they were studying Nat 5 Geography.

[8MileBU]

33 minutes ago, GordonS said:

As FWF says, yes. But here's a wee quirk - Oban is south of a line of latitude through the mid-point of the Tay Bridge, but if they had used the OS grid instead, it would be north.

I'd genuinely love to know who came up with that line, how and why.

You know that game “Pin the tail on the donkey”? Basically that with a map and a pen.

[FairWeatherFan]

Just now, GordonS said:

Did anyone ever think what it means for Perth? I can't help but think that, if you're putting Dundee in the north, you probably want to put Perth there too. It's not like Perth is a small place so it's unlikely to have been overlooked. And Luncarty, ochone.

It all seems like someone on a committee asked their kid to come up with something because they were studying Nat 5 Geography.

I don't think anyone ever bothered looking at a map when deciding it. It basically went:

SFA rep 1 "There's only Elgin City and Peterhead that's likely to be relegated to the Highland League."

SFA rep 2 "Good point, throw in the Angus teams."

SFA rep 1 "Why not United & Dundee as well? Dundee's got a bunch of Juniors it makes sense"

SFA rep 2 "They aren't Dundee Juniors, they're Tayside Juniors. We'll just say the Tay is the boundary between Highland and Lowland."

SFA rep 1 "The Tay's a river that's all squiggly wiggly you can't use that as a boundary!"

SFA rep 2 "Use the Tay Bridge then, straight line from there!"

Later the poor sod that had to read all these minutes and turn them into rules becomes the first person to actually look at a map. Purely to find the exact line of latitude and nothing else.

 

 

[8MileBU]

21 hours ago, Sure & Stedfast said:

No firm commitment disclosed but likely Bo’ness Juniors will apply to EoS - seems to have went down quite positively with the locals after the local press covered the story

SMH...

More like:

[San Starko Rover]

What is it with Central Belt clubs and constantly moaning about travel, they probably do the least traveling out of any teams in a league. Never hear the Borders teams moaning and they have to travel that distance most weeks with a much smaller fan base to support them. Elgin never seem to moan about having to go all the way to the Central Belt when it’s not even a Tuesday night (I’m lead to believe this is when most of their games are).

[Burnieman]

3 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

What is it with Central Belt clubs and constantly moaning about travel, they probably do the least traveling out of any teams in a league. Never hear the Borders teams moaning and they have to travel that distance most weeks with a much smaller fan base to support them. Elgin never seem to moan about having to go all the way to the Central Belt when it’s not even a Tuesday night (I’m lead to believe this is when most of their games are).

* a very small handful of central belt clubs who are not yet EoS members.

[FairWeatherFan]

3 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

What is it with Central Belt clubs and constantly moaning about travel, they probably do the least traveling out of any teams in a league. Never hear the Borders teams moaning and they have to travel that distance most weeks with a much smaller fan base to support them. Elgin never seem to moan about having to go all the way to the Central Belt when it’s not even a Tuesday night (I’m lead to believe this is when most of their games are).

I don't think people appreciate the amount of travel they do, or the SoS/NCL do to make it work. They do when it comes to the Highland and know to hate it though.

[San Starko Rover]

I don't think people appreciate the amount of travel they do, or the SoS/NCL do to make it work. They do when it comes to the Highland and know to hate it though.

Honestly if players and clubs can’t travel from West Lothian to Berwick they’re really not cut out for Senior football. Scotland is not a big country

[AlanCamelonfan]

2 hours ago, patriot1 said:

You’re spot on BSSB. Maybe someone will correct me but I haven’t heard anyone from Coldstream, Tweedmouth or Peebles complaining about long journeys and they have to make one every fortnight.

If you want to play in a local league go amateur.

Even st Andrew's have quite a few longer journeys

[LongTimeLurker]

1 minute ago, San Starko Rover said:

....Elgin never seem to moan about having to go all the way to the Central Belt when it’s not even a Tuesday night (I’m lead to believe this is when most of their games are).

A lot of Elgin's players tend to be from the central belt so they aren't necessarily travelling from Elgin as a team for those games or even able to train together regularly as a full squad. Will be interesting to see how keen League 2 clubs still are on national divisions for part-time players if Brora Rangers crash the party.

[invergowrie arab]

When I played junior rugby at 9 years old we played teams from Ellon to Ayr.

Children's and adults ice hockey do the same FFS 

[patriot1]

7 minutes ago, AlanCamelonfan said:

Even st Andrew's have quite a few longer journeys

Absolutely. Really annoys me when people assume we’d be happy if a midland league was formed.
 

I’m just frustrated that three years in and we still haven’t had a trip to Tweedmouth.