Junior football, what is the future?

[BS7]

I keep seeing the ‘milk and honey’ line - it’s not that for me.

flip this around though - 20 years ago the east of Scotland league wouldn’t have been entertained by the east junior clubs - but now, in one fell swoop, about 20% of the east junior sides are heading there. That’s how badly the sjfa gave misjudged this, that’s how badly this has been mismanaged.

what summed up the thinking in the sjfa was TJ having a pop at Bonnyrigg for not winning the junior cup recently. True, but Bonnyrigg got massive exposure beating a championship side as well as the highland league champions and runners up. That kind of thing clearly happens every week in the juniors.

 

[A.M]

6 minutes ago, kefc said:

Don’t see why money is so taboo, it’s not handed out like confetti, it’s earned and given by people or organisations who respect the work you have done on off the pitch. Talbot have done no too bad through the years taking money off the SFA.

The money clubs receive as rewards will be re-invested to better them be that their ground or into the structure if the club. By being Licenced this has enabled us to start an u20/reserve team which when you cost kit, travelling, training costs won’t be shy off £10k per season, this is an investment that we have no doubt will  benefit the club.

We are able to access different grants for ground improvements, a run in the Scottish is always welcomed for exposure and financially.

You either hang onto something not so good for nostalgic or historic reasons or look ahead and see where you can improve, everyone is different in life on how they see things.

I never said its taboo, but it isnt all there is , Kelty may reap the rewards because your ground will let you get a license but many clubs will never be able to get a license so those rewards are not available to them , they are the clubs I am talking about.

[A.M]

2 minutes ago, BS7 said:

I keep seeing the ‘milk and honey’ line - it’s not that for me.

flip this around though - 20 years ago the east of Scotland league wouldn’t have been entertained by the east junior clubs - but now, in one fell swoop, about 20% of the east junior sides are heading there. That’s how badly the sjfa gave misjudged this, that’s how badly this has been mismanaged.

what summed up the thinking in the sjfa was TJ having a pop at Bonnyrigg for not winning the junior cup recently. True, but Bonnyrigg got massive exposure beating a championship side as well as the highland league champions and runners up. That kind of thing clearly happens every week in the juniors.

 

Yes Bonnyrigg got exposure from beating Dumbarton , and rightly so but I'm sure your fans would have swapped all that to win the junior cup ?

[craigkillie]

12 minutes ago, A.M said:

Burnie_man and Kefc, yes a fixture list is an advantage but surely could be attained in juniors ?

You would think so, but the last 100+ years suggest otherwise.

[A.M]

1 minute ago, craigkillie said:

You would think so, but the last 100+ years suggest otherwise.

fair point, they have improved slightly though , we now get a month ahead.

Edited April 3, 2018 by A.M
spelling mistake

[surely not!]

I never said its taboo, but it isnt all there is , Kelty may reap the rewards because your ground will let you get a license but many clubs will never be able to get a license so those rewards are not available to them , they are the clubs I am talking about.

Can’t see what the difficulty would be in teams getting their ground licensed. It’s not a major list of criteria and if teams ( at any level/grade) are a long way from it then they’ve been stealing money from the paying public by forcing them to have to put up with sub standard conditions.

[kefc]

There is a definite difference in East Junior football and West imo, East is dying on its arse whereas the West Premier with the bigger catchment area, the product seems to be better.

Crowds are down in the East, the better players are heading to the LL couple that with no fixture lists, no money, perceived West coast biase and a sense of apathy in the whole system then when you weigh it up it’s not much of a gamble for East region sides.

Junior clubs make the grade, its certainly not the structure as it stands. The EOS, LL being part of the pyramid, Licenced, fixture lists, u20’s, National cup comps and being rewarded sides more with the structure that makes the grade and with good clubs added to that structure it could thrive.

Edited April 3, 2018 by kefc

[cmontheloknow]

9 minutes ago, A.M said:

I never said its taboo, but it isnt all there is , Kelty may reap the rewards because your ground will let you get a license but many clubs will never be able to get a license so those rewards are not available to them , they are the clubs I am talking about.

Cover for 100 and non-lethal refreshment facilities is hardly asking a lot when you charge admission, is it?

Edited April 3, 2018 by cmontheloknow

[BS7]

5 minutes ago, A.M said:

Yes Bonnyrigg got exposure from beating Dumbarton , and rightly so but I'm sure your fans would have swapped all that to win the junior cup ?

No, not anyone that I know that was at Dumbarton that night.

[BS7]

1 minute ago, kefc said:

There is a definite difference in East Junior football and West imo, East is dying on its arse whereas the West Premier with the bigger catchment area, the product seems to be better.

Crowds are down in the East, the better players are heading to the LL couple that with no fixture lists, no money, perceived West coast biase and an sense of apathy in the whole system then when you weigh it up it’s not much of a gamble for East region sides.

Junior clubs make the grade, its certainly not the structure as it stands. The EOS, LL being part of the pyramid, Licenced, fixture lists, u20’s, National cup comps and being rewarded sides more with the structure that makes the grade and with good clubs added to that structure it could thrive.

The west depends on the east for the junior cup though?

[A.M]

1 minute ago, BS7 said:

No, not anyone that I know that was at Dumbarton that night.

You honestly believe that ?  I know a few people who were at Dumbarton that night who would love Bonnyrigg to win the junior cup , and still would

[Burnie_man]

I never said its taboo, but it isnt all there is , Kelty may reap the rewards because your ground will let you get a license but many clubs will never be able to get a license so those rewards are not available to them , they are the clubs I am talking about.

Clubs don't need to be Licenced below LL level, so nothing needs to change.

However every club can be Licenced, some quicker than others, some more expensively than others. What is certain though is if you never try, you'll never be Licenced.

[kefc]

12 minutes ago, A.M said:

I never said its taboo, but it isnt all there is , Kelty may reap the rewards because your ground will let you get a license but many clubs will never be able to get a license so those rewards are not available to them , they are the clubs I am talking about.

I don’t get this either, how with no disrespect at all can these clubs get their licence and Junior clubs can’t? 

Edited April 3, 2018 by kefc

[BS7]

4 minutes ago, kefc said:

There is a definite difference in East Junior football and West imo, East is dying on its arse whereas the West Premier with the bigger catchment area, the product seems to be better.

Crowds are down in the East, the better players are heading to the LL couple that with no fixture lists, no money, perceived West coast biase and an sense of apathy in the whole system then when you weigh it up it’s not much of a gamble for East region sides.

Junior clubs make the grade, its certainly not the structure as it stands. The EOS, LL being part of the pyramid, Licenced, fixture lists, u20’s, National cup comps and being rewarded sides more with the structure that makes the grade and with good clubs added to that structure it could thrive.

From what I’ve seen this season I think the standard east v west is pretty level but the smaller leagues in the west make the leagues look more competitive and there’s less of a gap top to bottom in 12 than 16.

[kefc]

4 minutes ago, BS7 said:

The west depends on the east for the junior cup though?

It sure does, The SJFA being based in the West have totally misjudged this situation. Again !!!

You’d think the alarm bells would have been ringing for them 12 months ago, it’s only now that they have taken notice.

Edited April 3, 2018 by kefc

[AlanCamelonfan]

15 hours ago, Dead said:

Great news. I hope that we can get the Stirlingshire Cup back up and running next season and with Camelon FC back as Stirlingshire FA members.

As a Shire fan I'm looking forward to the possibility of competitive games between the teams. The artificial barriers that were in place when you had two teams a few miles apart not playing each other was daft. Surely local derbies are what fans at the non-SPFL level, no matter what side of the Juniors/Seniors debate you are on, want.

Camelon will join east of scotland fa to play in football nation east of scotland cup I suspect

[cmontheloknow]

1 minute ago, kefc said:

It sure does, The SJFA being based in the West have totally misjudged this situation. You’d think the alarm bells would have been ringing for them 12 months ago, it’s only now that they have done anything about it.

None so blind as those that won't see.

[Robert James]

15 minutes ago, A.M said:

I never said its taboo, but it isnt all there is , Kelty may reap the rewards because your ground will let you get a license but many clubs will never be able to get a license so those rewards are not available to them , they are the clubs I am talking about.

Using Golspie Sutherland (NCL) as an example of a Licensed club, why can't smaller Junior clubs obtain one in the future ?

[A.M]

1 minute ago, Robert James said:

Using Golspie Sutherland (NCL) as an example of a Licensed club, why can't smaller Junior clubs obtain one in the future ?

A certain amount of money would need to be spent on some of the smaller clubs , and many of them survive week to week and dont have money to spend

[cmontheloknow]

6 minutes ago, Robert James said:

Using Golspie Sutherland (NCL) as an example of a Licensed club, why can't smaller Junior clubs obtain one in the future ?

I would suspect because the SJA membership have been wilfully misled by tales of £250,000 toilet blocks, the requirement of floodlights and a need for seated stands. There are required improvements to be made by a number of clubs but the accepted standard is dreadful in many areas so is that a surprise?

There have been improvements of course in recent years - Beechwood, Loch Park, Bellsdale to name three, and plans to improve at Newlandsfield too.

Edited April 3, 2018 by cmontheloknow