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Playoff promotion and relegation in the WOSFL divisions


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Was having a look at the pyramid leagues and noticed that in The North Juniors League last season, which is tier 6 for their premier. They had bottom 2 automatically relegated and the 3rd bottom went into a play of with the First divisions 3rd to 5th placed teams.  Two semi finals and a final, which last season, East End, from the premier prevailed and stayed up winning the final on penalties.  Questions for the fans:

 

Is this something that would spark an interest in our WOSFL?, bottom two automatically relegated and the 3rd bottom goes into semi finals play off with 3rd, 4th and 5th places teams from the division below or is this not workable due to not knowing if 3 or 4 will be relegated from the divisons?

 

What's your thinking, a good , exciting idea or not?

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Playoffs are not workable in the WoSFL due to too much uncertainty.

Number of possible relegations being 3 or 4 is only one source of that, the other is the frequency at which one (or more) clubs in each division that could be (and often eventually is) promoted suffers a backlog of fixtures. Other clubs already have to extend their seasons to complete such fixtures at a cost in players' wages etc, possibly without income, and playoffs could mean more instances of that for clubs waiting to find out if they need to take part in playoffs.

They only work when all leagues & divisions involved finish their normal fixtures on the same predetermined date so that playoffs can take place immediately afterwards.

I'm also against playoffs in principle because I object to the potential safety net they provide to failing clubs in the higher division and the associated denial of promotion to clubs in the division below who have had a successful season.

Edited by archieb
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12 minutes ago, archieb said:

Number of possible relegations being 3 or 4 is only one source of that, the other is the frequency at which one (or more) clubs in each division that could be (and often eventually is) promoted suffers a backlog of fixtures.

They have the same potential in the north too. If Lossiemouth or Strathspey drop down and say Lochee go up, then they will be +1 as well.

I don't know what the contingency is in the North if that were to happen, possibly bin the playoff and have both teams in Division 1 the next season? 

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23 minutes ago, clansman said:

Nobody should get a chance to avoid relegation by playing off against a team from the league below. Shouldn't get a get out of jail card for being rubbish.

I'd agree with you for bottom placed team v's champions play offs but I think they can be a decent addition for teams outwith these slots. The set up in the four top leagues keeps things interesting and provides a great spectacle at the end of the season. 

I wouldn't do anything like that at our level though as we don't need the added fixture headaches it would surely bring. 

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I really like the idea of play offs but cant see how could fit it in. This season the league games look like finishing about Saturday 17th May so play off games on top of that would mean close to June finish date. Then the unknowns about 3/4/5 down or even just 2 down if a West Premier champion team is licensed and wins the play off.

When the old West Region Premier went from 12 to 16 teams and we had 2 play off games v Arthurlie in June these have probably been two of the best attended games involving Meadow in about 10 years and were midweek / Friday night games so definetly would be great to have but too many permutations at the moment & hard to fit in at end of a long season.

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3 minutes ago, Shannon said:

Then the unknowns about 3/4/5 down or even just 2 down if a West Premier champion team is licensed and wins the play off.

Three teams go down from each league regardless (except the Fourth Division obviously).

If the WoSFL champions are licensed and win the play-off, coupled with no team being relegated into the WoSFL from the Lowland League, then the 4th placed team in each league also gets promoted.

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14 hours ago, Bestsinceslicebread said:

What's your thinking, a good , exciting idea or not?

The main reasons for play-offs are to account for differences in the quality of teams (e.g. a regional play-off where one league might be stronger than another or like the North Region where maybe the second tier doesn't have the depth of quality) or to produce some added excitement by having more teams in contention for promotion (especially in the larger leagues of 24 teams like the EFL).

I don't think either reason applies to the WOSFL - usually the top 3 teams are good enough and there's enough interest with 6/16 teams changing each season. If you had to add a play-off only one I think would work is a 3/4/5/6 promotion play-off.

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2 hours ago, glensmad said:

Three teams go down from each league regardless (except the Fourth Division obviously).

If the WoSFL champions are licensed and win the play-off, coupled with no team being relegated into the WoSFL from the Lowland League, then the 4th placed team in each league also gets promoted.

That's one big.......If

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37 minutes ago, PossilYM said:

That's one big.......If

It only takes a licensed team to win the Premier Division and the play-off, as no team has been relegated into the WoSFL so far.

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21 minutes ago, glensmad said:

It only takes a licensed team to win the Premier Division and the play-off, as no team has been relegated into the WoSFL so far.

I think that's meant to be the one big if in this. Since its 1/3 on licensed champion and 0/1 in play-offs with a number of currently unlicensed teams tipped for the title challenge. 

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1 hour ago, glensmad said:

The point I was really making was that there is no scenario where the 3rd bottom teams are spared from relegation.

Just you stick to telling us who Glencairn got in the Big Scottish 😀

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2 hours ago, PossilYM said:

Got to think you've got a chance with Hutchie Vale.

They certainly ain't an East Kilbride FC.

They're a tier above us so they will be favourites, but we're at home. We've never lost at home in The Scottish Cup. 😉

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On 21/07/2024 at 17:46, Spyro said:

They have the same potential in the north too. If Lossiemouth or Strathspey drop down and say Lochee go up, then they will be +1 as well.

I don't know what the contingency is in the North if that were to happen, possibly bin the playoff and have both teams in Division 1 the next season? 

If this happened, they would adjust who competes in the playoffs. Instead of two up automatically from the Championship with 3rd-5th in the playoffs, it would be only one up with 2nd-4th in the playoffs. Of course this implies that the playoffs can't go ahead until it's known whether or not the North will gain or lose a club to the Highland League, which could cause some major logistical headaches in the future.

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