To All Clubs

Now that Saturday’s deadline has passed, I can confirm that Benburb FC has taken the opportunity to withdraw from competing in the league.

That now leaves us with a Premier Division of 14 clubs. The conferences have 12, 13 and 9 teams. It is not possible to re-balance the conferences without major disruption to the results of the games that have already been played.

My full focus and that of the IMG is now on those 48 clubs that make up the leagues. At present the ‘Fixture List’ is only up to 2nd January 2021.

I shall now work on publishing the remaining fixtures, but before I do so, I will be re-arranging some of the existing games to try to keep as many teams playing as possible each Saturday.

I will try to limit the changes and keep as close as possible to the original. Some changes may however throw up a string of homes or aways, this is unavoidable and, again I hope to keep it to a minimum, but it is better this than having two or more teams sitting idle.

I hope I have your co-operation and understanding with this. Fixture lists have been updated. Can all clubs please check for changes?

Regards,
Kennie Young
Secretary
IMG of the PDM Buildbase WoSFL

The SPFL have donated 66 match balls to the West of Scotland Football League.

The Interim Management Group has decided to put some aside to be used for cup finals etc., and that the rest will be used as an award for any team with a player who scores a hat-trick in a match!

Ryan Connelly of Craigmark Burntonians and Willie Sawyers of Kilsyth Rangers scored hat-tricks on the opening matchday 24th October. Nathan Marriott of Johnstone Burgh scored a hat-trick on matchday two 31st October.

Matchday three saw three hat-tricks! Eddie Haley of Carluke Rovers, Ciaran Lafferty of Bellshill Athletic, and Josh Cooper of Port Glasgow Juniors will all receive a commemorative match ball!

This will run until the stock of balls runs out. We are also awarding a ball to Neilston FC as they scored the first ever goal in the WoSFL, scored by Euan Clark on 24th October.

PDM Buildbase has confirmed its sponsorship of the West of Scotland Football League, which kicks off tomorrow.

The PDM Buildbase West of Scotland Football League sits at Tier 6 and 7 within the Scottish FA Pyramid.

The League was only approved by the Scottish FA a few months ago and is now the largest within the Pyramid. PDM Buildbase’s sponsorship will allow the League to develop and become even more relevant within the Scottish game. 

PDM Buildbase has 25 branches throughout Scotland. Sixteen branches operate as a general builders’ merchant and nine branches specialise in drainage and civils materials. Eddie Hernon, Managing Director at PDM Buildbase commented: 

“We wanted to be involved with the West of Scotland Football League from the beginning. It’s an exciting development within Scottish football and we’re delighted we have taken the opportunity to commit to the League in its very early stages. Football is such an important part of life in Scotland and this sponsorship is a way that we can invest back into our local community.” 

Dave McKenna, Chairman of the PDM Buildbase West of Scotland Football League said:

“The clubs which make up the league are important members of their local community, mostly very long standing and providing a source of local pride and of course rivalry. The partnership comes about during difficult times for both football and industry in general. This speaks volumes for the commitment of everyone involved and bodes well for the future development and mutual benefit of both parties. 

“Football is a hugely important part of life within Scotland. The highs, the lows, the goals, the anticipation, the excitement, the banter. We look forward to all of this and more as our new league finally kicks off as the PDM Buildbase West of Scotland Football League.”

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PDM Buildbase has 25 branches throughout Scotland. Sixteen branches operate as a general builders’ merchant and nine branches specialise in drainage and civils materials. Branches are long-established companies that have been serving local trades people and the public for many years, with knowledge and experience to match. For more information www.buildbase.co.uk

To All Clubs

Following the result of the Ballot vote on Friday 9th October on starting the Leagues the IMG gave all clubs the opportunity to withdraw from playing without penalty. The deadline for that was last night.

Following the 8PM deadline, a further four clubs intimated their withdrawal from playing in the leagues.

There were no further withdrawals from the Premier Division, so it will run with 15 teams. The teams that have withdrawn are – Auchinleck Talbot, Cumnock, Glenafton Athletic, Kilbirnie Ladeside and Pollok.

The clubs that have withdrawn from the Conferences are: Ardrossan Winton Rovers, Arthurlie, Cambuslang Rangers, Girvan, Petershill, Saltcoats Victoria, Shotts Bon Accord and Whitletts Victoria.

At this point, we’d like to state, that we understand that this was not an easy decision for any club to make, and that all due respect should be shown to the clubs that made it.

We can only wish them the best of good fortune for the future and look forward to their return in Season 2021/22.

Respect is also due to those clubs that have made the difficult choice to start in the Leagues and we also wish them the best of good fortune for the forthcoming season.

The IMG of the WoSFL held an extensive Zoom Meeting last night to discuss the new set-up of the Tier 7 Conference Leagues.

We discussed various options, we considered what some clubs had said and also what others hadn’t said. We set up pro’s and con’s for all options and considered them all.

After a long debate, we settled on the option that we think is best.

We decided to use the same formula that was used when the Conferences were originally set up.

We ranked the teams according to their final placings in last season’s WRSJFA leagues. Then placed them into 3 Conferences using the ‘Serpentine Method’ as we had before. The 3 non-junior teams were placed into the same Conferences as before.

We believe this option best suits the needs of the clubs in that it retains as much as possible the original configuration and maintains a competitive edge and has a balance in strength across all 3 leagues.

The Conferences are:

47-8=39	Conference A	Conference B	Conference C
SBA	1 Renfrew	2 Neilston	3 Kilsyth
Arthurlie	6 St Roch’s	5 Gartcairn	4 Dalry
Whitletts	7 Craigmark	8 Irvine Vics	9 Shettleston
Petershill	12 Lesmahagow	11 Port Glasgow	10 Lanark
Cambuslang	13 Bellshill	14 Greenock	15 G Perthshire
AWR	18 Maryhill	17 Carluke	16 Larkhall
Girvan	19 Kello	20 Wishaw	21 EKT
Saltcoats	24 Muirkirk	23 Johnstone	22 R Albert
	25 Ashfield	26 Vale of Leven	27 Yoker
	30 Maybole	29 Forth	28 Thorniewood
	31 Annbank	32 Vale of Clyde	33 St Ants
	36 Ardeer	35 Lugar	34 Newmains
	Glasgow Uni	St Cadoc’s	Drumchapel

I will now turn my attention to setting out a fixture list for all 4 leagues.

This will be delivered as soon as possible.

Regards

Kennie Young
Secretary IMG of WoSFL

The following is an email sent to all WoSFL member clubs at 11.24am on the morning of 15th October 2020 by Kennie Young, Secretary of the Interim Management Group.

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To All Clubs

Please note that due to the withdrawal of a number of clubs from competing in the leagues, all previously issued fixtures are now obsolete apart from those in the Soccer Shop Challenge Cup.

There will also need to be a re-jig of the membership of the Conference leagues.

They will require to be balanced out to suit the change in circumstances.

Once the 8PM deadline for any further club withdrawals has passed, a new set of fixtures will be issued as soon as possible thereafter.

Regards,

Kennie Young
Secretary
Interim Management Group of the West of Scotland Football League

The following is an email sent to all WoSFL member clubs at 10.50am on the morning of 13th October 2020 by Kennie Young, Secretary of the Interim Management Group.

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To All Clubs,

As Secretary of the Interim Management Group of the West of Scotland Football League it is my duty to update you on the plans for starting the Leagues.

We have had intense discussions, throughout the weekend, including talks with the Scottish Football Association on possible scenarios surrounding the results of our recent ballot.

These meetings and discussions culminated in a Zoom Meeting last night lasting almost three hours.

Our over-riding principle in all this is protection of each and every one of our 67 clubs.

In line with the decision taken by the Lowland League, we also decided that we would not force any team to take part in a competition that had the potential to bankrupt them due to no income from fans, or that forced them to ignore their duty of care to their players and staff.

Therefore we offered the teams the option to withdraw from the league without penalty.

Relegation is a form of penalty.

So we cannot relegate a team for not playing and also we could not relegate a team for playing whilst allowing non-playing teams to retain a spot for next season.

The Scottish Football Association have accepted that due to the current circumstances we are quite correct to consider the welfare and survival of all of our clubs and that we have to consider all aspects and implications of any decision we come to.

They completely agreed that it would be unfair to punish any team wishing to withdraw from playing if they were concerned for their players, staff, committee and their fans. Also, that the clubs had to consider the financial implications of closed door matches.

They also informed us that due to a number of clubs withdrawing from playing and without penalty, that it was right and proper that the full 4 league structure from this season should rollover to the next season. 

However, it was also stated, that we must retain the format that was negotiated at the very beginning of the season, which is:

Premier Division of 20 clubs reducing to 16 by 2022/23 at tier 6. Tier 7 was to consist of 3 Conferences playing to become 3 Linear Leagues by 2022/23.

All teams must start Season 2021/22 in the League they are in at present.

For clarification, this means that there will be no promotion and/or relegation between tiers 6 and 7 in accordance with the Q&A document emailed to every member club on Monday 5th October. This was subsequently fully discussed at the online meeting held on the evening of Tuesday 6th October, three days before the closing time of the vote.

We considered every option and outcome, we also considered the emails, messages and phone calls from a small number of clubs that contacted us with various suggestions.

Since the result of the Ballot being published we have received emails from 9 clubs informing and confirming that they wish to withdraw from competing in this season’s League Competition. This has been implemented and the Premier League will commence on Saturday 24^th October with 15 Clubs.

It has been decided that we will run with a fixture list of 28 Games where each team will play the other 14 teams on a home and away basis.

The 3 Conferences will run with the remaining teams and will also be played on a home and away basis, we may if required adjust these Conferences to try to achieve a balance across the leagues.

Titles, Trophies and Medals will be assigned to all competitions.

I now have to inform you, that, should your club wish to take up the option of withdrawing from playing in any of the Leagues and be able to do so without penalty, you will have until 8PM on Friday 16^th October 2020, to confirm via an email to myself, of that decision. After that deadline passes all clubs that have not informed me of their withdrawal will be considered as playing.

A fixture list will be produced as soon as possible thereafter and the clubs will be expected to complete those fixtures. However, we have also decided that due to some of the results from the earlier club survey, we have also added a period of grace to still withdraw without penalty.

If you feel your club cannot continue due to the restrictions that are in place at that time, we will allow clubs to inform me via an email of their desire to withdraw from playing.

The deadline for that stage will be 8PM on Saturday 14^thNovember 2020.

Please note, that any club that has not withdrawn from playing by that deadline will be considered as playing and will be expected to complete their commitment to the League by playing all fixtures as set out. Any club withdrawing after that deadline will be considered as having withdrawn from the WoSFL and may be sanctioned for that withdrawal.

Finally, a reminder once again that the closing deadline for any club to withdraw without penalty from the Soccer Shop Challenge Cup is Saturday 17^th October.

Regards,

Kennie Young
Secretary
Interim Management Group of the West of Scotland Football League