Another team resigns! Seen today a well known and established team Dunoon AFC have folded.

[HibeeJibee]

Tbf where's logic in WoS + SYFA + SAFA all covering U19-U21?

[AMP28]

44 minutes ago, HibeeJibee said:

Tbf where's logic in WoS + SYFA + SAFA all covering U19-U21?

SYFA no longer cover 21s and 19s. There is no u21 Scottish cup this year for example. They only go up to u18s. The 21s and 19s are offered to play in amateur Scottish cup if they want but not sure how many actually took them up on it. 

 

 

Quote

 

[mcruic]

5 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Tbf where's logic in WoS + SYFA + SAFA all covering U19-U21?

WoS, EoS, Lowland League (with a few South of Scotland teams and League 1/2 teams) do U20.

SAFA do U21 and U19 (the West of Scotland U21/U19 League joined up with the Caledonian League, but dropped its U19 section, while the SPAFA created a new U19 League - League 2 team Stenhousemuir have both U21 and U19 teams in these leagues, and Dumbarton have an U19 team).  The WoS U21 League doesn't seem to have been part of the SAFA until 2022-23, when its teams were allowed to enter the Scottish Amateur Cup.

Highland League (with a few North Region Junior and North Caledonian teams) does U20/U21 (Aberdeenshire League and North of Scotland League (not held for last 2 seasons)).

SYFA - the Scottish Youth Cup was U20, but it's now U18.

SFA also does U18 (Club Academy Scotland leagues - Elite, Performance and "Advanced Youth")

 

 

[mcruic]

Tantallon Victoria folded today in the Glasgow Colleges League after their 7-0 defeat at Clydebank Red Star.

[mcruic]

Also not sure why the Midlands AFA needs a reserve league?  They only have 12 clubs now, 9 of which have reserve teams, which cannot enter any of the national or district cups (there is only one "all-in" Midlands Cup where they can compete against the A teams).  The Dundee Saturday Morning League now seems to be more successful, but it has quite a few teams with a "pub team" feel, which I don't think bodes well for longevity.

[Redondo]

14 hours ago, Crazy Feet said:

When I heard The Caley were bringing in the U21 set up with dual contracts etc I thought they were going to have their 21s games on a Friday night. What's the point in having dual contracts if the teams are playing on the same day!?

You could have 21s games on Friday night then the ams drafting boys in on a Saturday afternoon to beef the squad up if required like the 20s/Juniors do.

There is no modern thinking or common sense at the top of the amateur game unfortunately.

With the development leagues and over 35s on friday nights im not sure there would be enough astro pitches to cover under 21s to play on friday nights. It would make sense for them to play friday nights tho for the reasons u mention.

[Crazy Feet]

1 hour ago, Redondo said:

With the development leagues and over 35s on friday nights im not sure there would be enough astro pitches to cover under 21s to play on friday nights. It would make sense for them to play friday nights tho for the reasons u mention.

The 35s is essentially a summer league. Season is already all but finished.

 

[pleslie99]

5 hours ago, Redondo said:

With the development leagues and over 35s on friday nights im not sure there would be enough astro pitches to cover under 21s to play on friday nights. It would make sense for them to play friday nights tho for the reasons u mention.

That’s already been stated by the league that it’s the reason they can’t play on a Friday night, there isn’t available pitches for them to use.

[zenon]

Tannochside United announce today they have folded just months after reaching the quarter finals of the Amateur Cup.

 

[cmontheloknow]

My local amateur team, Lochgilphead Red Star, resigned from the Scottish Premier AFA a few weeks back. I haven't spoken directly to anyone involved about it, but I understand from speaking to people around and about that it boiled down to the two main threats to a club's existence - people to run the club after those that had been doing so took a step back, and people to turn up to play, especially following the loss of some players over the summer.

There was also the issue of Red Star going from the weak SAFL where they were strong to the top division of the new set-up and finding themselves losing heavily a few times in the opening games. That led to occasions where a team could not be raised. All of the above compiled led to the decision to fold for 2023-24.

Tarbert had taken time out from the SAFL a few years back and tried to come back last season without luck. They switched to the Greater Glasgow set-up and seem to be doing ok for now.

I understand Red Star will return, but where?

Edited October 29, 2023 by cmontheloknow

[stanley]

4 hours ago, zenon said:

Tannochside United announce today they have folded just months after reaching the quarter finals of the Amateur Cup.

 

That's a bad one considering their success. It shows that the Saturday Morning leagues aren't immune either. The Saturday Morning League has already lost several clubs since the season started (I think at least 5 so far have gone although their league has far higher numbers and is obviously doing very well compared to the afternoon leagues in the west).

Edited October 29, 2023 by stanley

[Gazzah]

17 hours ago, zenon said:

Tannochside United announce today they have folded just months after reaching the quarter finals of the Amateur Cup.

 

The two teams who contested the 21/22 final both folded within 3 months of the final. 

[mcruic]

I think Newmains United's Sunday team has also resigned/folded - their remaining Football Central Lanarkshire league matches have all been awarded to their opponents.

[zenon]

9 hours ago, Gazzah said:

The two teams who contested the 21/22 final both folded within 3 months of the final. 

I know that. 

[mcruic]

Paisley United appear to have folded after only being formed in 2022 - they played 2022-23 as a member of the Scottish Welfare Association, finishing 15th of 17 in the Greenock & District Welfare League with only 2 wins in 23 games.  They joined the Saturday Morning Amateur FA, at Tier 3 (Division 1A), but failed to win a game.  Their record this season was played 11, drew 1, lost 10, scored 9, conceded 85 - they lost by double figures on 5 occasions, their last match being a 15-0 hiding by New Farm Loch in the Scottish Amateur Cup on 7th October.

 

[mcruic]

Blantyre Soccer Academy has folded in the SMAFA - not clear if their colts team, who play in the same FA, will also fold.  If so, that's 4 teams from the same association folding in less than a week.

EDIT - Their colts team will remain playing in the SMAFA Development Division.

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by mcruic

[Basile Boli]

At this point I don’t think amateur football as we know it can be saved.

The more I think about it I think the SFA need to bring the SAFA into the fold as a type of sub-division to the bottom teams in the pyramid.

Just have an all-in pyramid where the amateur leagues feed into WoS Division 4/Eos Division 3 for example. 

Promotion from the old amateur leagues into the WOS can be optional.

Relax the ground criteria rules at the very bottom and let the bigger established sides with good facilities find their way up. 

Imagine a scenario in 10 years where teams who have been treading water for as long as I can remember - Royal Albert, EK Thistle for example - are replaced by teams like EKYM or Glasgow Harp.

Thorn Athletic have been ahead of the curve for this and put in the hard graft to become a WOS team and will probably find themselves miles ahead of their old amateur peers in the next decade.

This would also involve a lot of work like regionalising leagues and abolishing existing setups which will undoubtedly have opposition but hopefully in this scenario the presence of the SFA could help overcome.

 

 

[ammyo1]

I don’t think affiliating leagues up to WOS/EOS is gonna make a difference in costs of running an ammy club, which is effectively the biggest reason a lot of clubs are folding, with players committing coming second to that. The costs for training facilities, and parks on a sat are ridiculous, and will only continue to get more expensive. The so called bigger teams may look to the future and move to junior/semi pro set up, but there will always be new amateur teams starting up, and unfortunately older ammy teams folding, it’s happened for years now it’s just speeding up at a faster rate because of the above reasons..

 

some leagues and clubs are thriving, and that’s to do with commitment of players which is excellent to have and I appreciate not all clubs have this. Reckon a lot of leagues will look to either merge once it gets unsustainable, or move to sat morn as they right now, look like the only viable options to prolong teams in amateur footy ️

[stanley]

9 hours ago, mcruic said:

Blantyre Soccer Academy has folded in the SMAFA - not clear if their colts team, who play in the same FA, will also fold.  If so, that's 4 teams from the same association folding in less than a week.

EDIT - Their colts team will remain playing in the SMAFA Development Division.

 

Both teams are continuing according to Twitter.

Edit: unless I'm misreading this tweet: 

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by stanley

[Basile Boli]

9 hours ago, ammyo1 said:

I don’t think affiliating leagues up to WOS/EOS is gonna make a difference in costs of running an ammy club, which is effectively the biggest reason a lot of clubs are folding, with players committing coming second to that. The costs for training facilities, and parks on a sat are ridiculous, and will only continue to get more expensive. The so called bigger teams may look to the future and move to junior/semi pro set up, but there will always be new amateur teams starting up, and unfortunately older ammy teams folding, it’s happened for years now it’s just speeding up at a faster rate because of the above reasons..

 

some leagues and clubs are thriving, and that’s to do with commitment of players which is excellent to have and I appreciate not all clubs have this. Reckon a lot of leagues will look to either merge once it gets unsustainable, or move to sat morn as they right now, look like the only viable options to prolong teams in amateur footy ️

Doesn’t struggling to pay costs for parks etc go hand in hand with lack of players?

If you’ve only got 11/12 most weeks instead of 18 you’re missing out on £240 worth of fees over the course of a month. Does that make up the difference? I genuinely don’t know.

Basing these figures off a tenner a week as that’s what I believe most teams charge players these days.

For what it’s worth I believe a dwindling player pool is by far the biggest problem.