Junior football, what is the future?

[RedEd]

5 hours ago, Shannon said:

How much for floodlights on average for teams that have recently been licensed? How did you raise funds, get grants and council help with it?

East Ayrshire Council agreed recently to give Talbot £15k, the rest of the funding is from a variety of sources including crowdfunding. From memory, I think their lights are costing £70k.

[parsforlife]

It’s right that clubs are concerned about the cost of floodlights.  For some that’s far too high and never going to be affordable unless you are one of the biggest non-league sides.   A team like Largs is going to find it very difficult to match what the big sides like Burntisland and Haddington have achieved in the east.

theres been an a lot of talk in years gone by about clubs not being able to afford the requirements or that they’ll never get the required permission etc but we’ve seen clubs rapidly find out that these obstacles are suddenly less difficult to overcome now they can see the prize of getting them in place.  I don’t want to belittle the work done by these sides as I’m sure there’s been a huge amount of effort put in to getting them where they are but surely clubs need to look at what’s happening with the perceived smaller sides and think ‘if they can, why not us?’

[Robert James]

In case you missed it, the SLL has issued an official statement on its website, confirming that as of yesterday, 48 clubs have submitted an "expressions of interest" . These have come from senior, junior and amateur clubs.

The statement also confirms that clubs can still register an interest. (Contact details available on the SLL website).

Confirmation of the date and venue for the impending meeting, will follow quickly, with each interested club, being notified individually.. 

[RedEd]

7 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

It’s right that clubs are concerned about the cost of floodlights.  For some that’s far too high and never going to be affordable unless you are one of the biggest non-league sides.   A team like Largs is going to find it very difficult to match what the big sides like Burntisland and Haddington have achieved in the east.

theres been an a lot of talk in years gone by about clubs not being able to afford the requirements or that they’ll never get the required permission etc but we’ve seen clubs rapidly find out that these obstacles are suddenly less difficult to overcome now they can see the prize of getting them in place.  I don’t want to belittle the work done by these sides as I’m sure there’s been a huge amount of effort put in to getting them where they are but surely clubs need to look at what’s happening with the perceived smaller sides and think ‘if they can, why not us?’

Spot on. And for clubs with a 3g pitch (like Largs), installing lights can add an income stream. Cumnock have other teams training or playing at Townhead Park on various days / nights of the week.

Edited March 3, 2020 by RedEd

[Cyclizine]

7 minutes ago, Robert James said:

In case you missed it, the SLL has issued an official statement on its website, confirming that as of yesterday, 48 clubs have submitted an "expressions of interest" . These have come from senior, junior and amateur clubs.

The statement also confirms that clubs can still register an interest. (Contact details available on the SLL website).

Confirmation of the date and venue for the impending meeting, will follow quickly, with each interested club, being notified individually.. 

No one's missed it Robert, you've just not read the previous posts in the forum again.

[peasy23]

One simple fact that the WRSJFA guys can't get away from, despite what they say, is that the Lowland league will only accept one West feeder league, and that will be the one they are creating. No amount of posturing about SFA agms will change that.

In that regard some things I would want answered by the WOSFL when they meet with interested clubs:

1. Will all applicants be accepted (assuming they meet any ground criteria)?
2. What is the proposed new league format (Just a rough idea of the plans, obviously numbers will dictate the final set up) ?
3. Given that they are starting a new league with no cash in the bank, what benefits are there for clubs (e.g. prize money, first aid/coaching courses, grant funding for improvements)?

[Jeek]

Getting a 16-0 scudding isn't enjoyable for anyone.

However, looking at the bigger picture, one should note the improvement off the field as this was going on. They went from pretty much a roped off field to the below in what, 3 years? This was obviously helped by support from the bigger teams going there, as well as other factors.

They've also improved on the field, comparatively speaking of course

A decent ground will help toward licencing, maybe they get lucky and get a couple of Scottish cup games a year, 6k or whatever, all goes to help improvement on the field

https://nonleaguescotland.org.uk/tweedmouth.htm

Yes.
Gets teams straight in at a roughly appropriate level, and avoids even one season of HOB-Tweedmouth 16-0 style humpings.
Any club found to be 'misplaced' will soon enough find their level through the normal promotion-relegation process.

[AlanCamelonfan]

7 hours ago, Killiepiyo said:

Novelties wear off and that was the orginal concern i beileve alongside travel that turned sides off joining up in the first place? Hard when your amateur to get players showing up to get ran over every week 

f**k up with this travel pish . Camelon travel 14 miles less per game (7 miles less each way) in the pyramid than they did in the joonyurs.

It's one season of playing weaker sides to sort out. You can see eosfl ended up with most of big guns in the top league but cause of the reboot it gave crossgates a chance and have come good and are holding their own

[AlanCamelonfan]

5 hours ago, parkcircus said:

£55k is about right, £35k will buy all the kit new for a 300lux led system

however you get a set of halide lights for under a grand and poles for £20k if your club can do most of the work themselves 

Camelon did it for about 10k. Ok they did a lot of work themselves from the committee one of the guys is a retired electrical engineer. Ok we had donation of the poles from Angus broadwood and it took us a lit longer to get done because they were relying on guys who were working etc. But we got their in the end

[Cyclizine]

Conferences would be the way to go. I'd prefer it if they were seeded like the EoSFL did, although I'd do the fairer A-B-B-A style seeding rather than A-B-A-B.

[cmontheloknow]

2 minutes ago, Cyclizine said:

Conferences would be the way to go. I'd prefer it if they were seeded like the EoSFL did, although I'd do the fairer A-B-B-A style seeding rather than A-B-A-B.

The EoS seeding was skewed from start by the fact that Hawick got a top slot as they were coming down from the LL. Like a dodgy curry, they went straight through pretty quickly!

Edited March 3, 2020 by cmontheloknow

[parkcircus]

23 minutes ago, AlanCamelonfan said:

Camelon did it for about 10k. Ok they did a lot of work themselves from the committee one of the guys is a retired electrical engineer. Ok we had donation of the poles from Angus broadwood and it took us a lit longer to get done because they were relying on guys who were working etc. But we got their in the end

Ours will cost us about £20k but we are buying used equipment 

[Born To Run]

Another way to look at floodlight installation is of the potential reward to come once a license is acquired.

By gaining annual Scottish Cup entry, you’re just a couple of games away from a few thousand in prize money (especially if the changes to prelim rounds come in).

Long term, clubs can pay off the high initial cost with a few good runs.

[parkcircus]

2 minutes ago, Born To Run said:

Another way to look at floodlight installation is of the potential reward to come once a license is acquired.

By gaining annual Scottish Cup entry, you’re just a couple of games away from a few thousand in prize money (especially if the changes to prelim rounds come in).

Long term, clubs can pay off the high initial cost with a few good runs.

And the club payment for being licensed, which does change but is still something

[AlanCamelonfan]

11 minutes ago, parkcircus said:

Ours will cost us about £20k but we are buying used equipment 

Nothing wrong with that. The likes of lithgae might they were slating us because we got poles from a scrappies but it's done the job while they spent a fortune on theirs

[parkcircus]

8 minutes ago, AlanCamelonfan said:

Nothing wrong with that. The likes of lithgae might they were slating us because we got poles from a scrappies but it's done the job while they spent a fortune on theirs

Ours are coming from an English club, we looked at used lamp posts but could only find 12m

[San Starko Rover]

All 16 clubs are not going to apply. This West Region model WILL split the clubs. Most of the audience at the Largs meeting fell for their charm as Largs don't have £90K to spend just on floodlights.

Oh, ffs...this how all the mis-information and name calling starts on social media. Guy from Raith Rovers puts it about that WR are telling clubs that it costs ninety grand for floodlights before you can join up. Bullshit. Didn't happen. WR reps clearly explained that you only need lights if you're in the position to be promoted to the LL. Clearly explained that would be the case regardless of the feeder league you were coming out from. Guy writes stuff on P&B and it becomes fact in big capital letters....And another thing,...about a squillion pages back, a young man who gives up his free time to film games for us all to watch was internet bullied for merely asking a question. His "neutrality" was queried (by someone who should know better) as if it was some sort of fault because he hadn't yet made up his mind and asked for further information.
Think some of you need to catch a wee grip here....I'm particularly looking at the guy that called Bobby MacNamara a liar. You do know that we can all see what you've written, mate ? 

Nope as you’ll see above the £90,000 came from theesel1994. Not sure what my team has to do with anything though.

[theesel1994]

2 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

 

 

Nope as you’ll see above the £90,000 came from theesel1994. Not sure what my team has to do with anything though.

 

 

It was someone at the meeting that brought up the £90K cost. Gordon Ronney said it will cost clubs a minimum of £150K to get grounds to SFA Licence standard.

[San Starko Rover]

It was someone at the meeting that brought up the £90K cost. Gordon Ronney said it will cost clubs a minimum of £150K to get grounds to SFA Licence standard.

I’ll await my apology from Black Pennel then as he says it didn’t happen.

[glensmad]

7 minutes ago, theesel1994 said:

It was someone at the meeting that brought up the £90K cost. Gordon Ronney said it will cost clubs a minimum of £150K to get grounds to SFA Licence standard.

Again, that is utter utter nonsense.