Why does the SSFL have so many cups?

[Yalay]

By my count, a SSFL club will play in a minimum of 8 cups:

• Scottish Cup or Alba Cup (+ Cup Winners Shield for Alba Cup winner)
• South Region Challenge Cup
• SCFA Potts Cup (13 league members + Queen of the South)
• SCFA Challenge Cup (same as above but also with Dalbeattie Star)
• SCFA J Haig Gordon Memorial Trophy, WDFA Tweedie Cup, and WDFA Cree Lodge Cup (knockout league cups)
• SSFL League Cup (league cup with group stage)

Why does the league need so many cups with identical or nearly identical formats and competitors? Is this normal, or have they added more in recent years due to declining membership?

[FairWeatherFan]

7 minutes ago, Yalay said:

By my count, a SSFL club will play in a minimum of 8 cups:

• Scottish Cup or Alba Cup (+ Cup Winners Shield for Alba Cup winner)
• South Region Challenge Cup
• SCFA Potts Cup (13 league members + Queen of the South)
• SCFA Challenge Cup (same as above but also with Dalbeattie Star)
• SCFA J Haig Gordon Memorial Trophy, WDFA Tweedie Cup, and WDFA Cree Lodge Cup (knockout league cups)
• SSFL League Cup (league cup with group stage)

Why does the league need so many cups with identical or nearly identical formats and competitors? Is this normal, or have they added more in recent years due to declining membership?

It's a small league the majority of teams are usually knocked out after one game in the cups. So it helps fill the calendar.

Alba & SCC are relatively new additions. The League Cup doesn't always have a group stage. There was talk of the Haig Gordon/Cree Lodge/Tweedie/Potts being used on alternate seasons when there was a worry over fixture congestion.

[Yalay]

St Cuthbert Wanderers will play 51 competitive fixtures this season. That seems like too many. Wouldn't it be better to have a more consistent number of matches by lengthening the league (say, by playing each opponent 3x) and eliminating some of the cups?

[Hossy87]

8 hours ago, Yalay said:

St Cuthbert Wanderers will play 51 competitive fixtures this season. That seems like too many. Wouldn't it be better to have a more consistent number of matches by lengthening the league (say, by playing each opponent 3x) and eliminating some of the cups?

The cups are derived from the different associations that make up the SSFL.

[Sermani]

There is a great wee book by Malcolm Pagan "Senior non league football in south west Scotland" published 1996, gives plenty of details of the cup histories. Tweedie cup was originally played for by Wigtownshire teams, Cree Lodge cup by Wigtownshire/Kirkcudbrightshire teams and the League Cup was introduced in the 1950's to add to a shrinking fixture list. There are 18 cups listed that have been played for at one time or another.

[Bad Wolf]

On 26/05/2022 at 20:31, Sermani said:

There is a great wee book by Malcolm Pagan "Senior non league football in south west Scotland" published 1996, gives plenty of details of the cup histories. Tweedie cup was originally played for by Wigtownshire teams, Cree Lodge cup by Wigtownshire/Kirkcudbrightshire teams and the League Cup was introduced in the 1950's to add to a shrinking fixture list. There are 18 cups listed that have been played for at one time or another.

Spookily, I just read that yesterday. It's not a literary masterpiece by any means but is worth a perusal. It throws some light on the cups as you say, and also contains the surprising snippet that Moffat FC had two players capped for Scotland. It was quite a while ago though!

[TheScarf]

Have you seen how many the North Superleague and (new) Division 1 teams play in?  Fucking ludicrous.

[FairWeatherFan]

8 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Have you seen how many the North Superleague and (new) Division 1 teams play in?  Fucking ludicrous.

Roughly I think its this.

1) Junior Scottish Cup 2) North/Tayside Inter-Regional Cup 3) League Cup 4) North Region Cup

5) Superleague only Cup or Lower Division Cup for the West or Lower Division for the  East

Couple of teams were also in the Aberdeenshire FA so have a Cup and Shield. BoD also had the Scottish Cup.

EDIT: With moving to the 2 division set up some should be scrapped I would have thought.

Edited June 20, 2022 by FairWeatherFan

[Yalay]

On 20/06/2022 at 02:25, FairWeatherFan said:

Roughly I think its this.

1) Junior Scottish Cup 2) North/Tayside Inter-Regional Cup 3) League Cup 4) North Region Cup

5) Superleague only Cup or Lower Division Cup for the West or Lower Division for the  East

Couple of teams were also in the Aberdeenshire FA so have a Cup and Shield. BoD also had the Scottish Cup.

EDIT: With moving to the 2 division set up some should be scrapped I would have thought.

Still three less than the SSFL. And at least all of those cups are among different groups of clubs (except the league cup and north region cup, but only the league cup has a group stage). Contrast this with the SSFL which last year had three knockout cups with exactly the same 13 clubs.