Dusty Rhodes Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 In my free time i was looking through some old threads here on shetlink and came across a very interestin 27 page one.... it was titled SHETLAND FITBA AGM. while having a read through it i noticed that shetland football has changed a lot in the 4/5 years since that thread was started..... What I was wondering was do people think it has changed for the better or for the worse? Back then Delting were unstoppable, Whalsay were underachievers, Whitdale were a B-League team and Unst Yell and Burra were being forced to play A's....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufsta Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 have to say bad..... for unst yell and burra anyway.... 5 years ago they were all competing in the B-league with a chance to win the league or a cup..... now Unst and Yell have been left with no chance of winning anything... not even competing really!!! and burra have been forced into works league (dont get me wrong burra are probably enjoying playing in the works league) the only thing that has improved in the last 5 years is the standard of players in the works league..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penfold Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 have to say bad..... for unst yell and burra anyway.... 5 years ago they were all competing in the B-league with a chance to win the league or a cup..... now Unst and Yell have been left with no chance of winning anything... not even competing really!!! and burra have been forced into works league (dont get me wrong burra are probably enjoying playing in the works league) the only thing that has improved in the last 5 years is the standard of players in the works league..... Why do you feel that Unst and Yell are unable to compete in B league football nufsta? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufsta Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 One huge obvious reason i think..... not being aloud to field A-league playes. every other team can field 3 players from the A- eague and if the info i have been told is correct they can also field a coonty player now. Unst and yell can't. where as before when they were in the b-league they could. if unst and yell could sign 3 players each to play in the b league for them from A teams then they would put up a much better fight in the league and not just have to have a battle to see who will come 2nd last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufsta Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 also as soon as a team like unst or yell start to do well in a few games maybe get a draw or two, then all of a sudden teams start coming with teams that could easily compete in the A-league let alone beat Yell or Unst. i mean one game we might play a team that is actually a b-team and get a good result but then the next time we play the team comes with players that should never be playing Bs just to make sure they win. in my opinion they should change the rule to say you have to only play Bs or As. then you would see a more level playing field. Players would then have to think what level they could actually play at. it could also lead to the creation of a few more A teams because i am sure lerwick could easily supply another team easily. if not then players would move around clubs and you would see teams like thistle getting better players. this would then create a better A-league aswell. <---- its just an idea but i dont see much wrong with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penfold Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 That rule is set by the scottish amateur football association, nufsta. You cannot sign for two different clubs playing in the same association. You can however play for the same "club" accross two teams, within the same association as happens on the mainland as well, think there is a club in Paisley that has two teams in the same association a "A" team and a reserve that plays in the division below and they do the same thing. The only difference is when they field both teams in the Association wide cup open to all league teams, then they have to register their squad to prevent them from fielding players between the teams if one gets knocked out early. Mossbank are in the same boat as yourselves and Yell and it is unfortunately a problem particular to Clubs with only one team and no sustainable youth set-up due to their geographical and socio-economic postition within Shetland. I believe that Unst get a dispensation from the need to buy a table and attend the Association awards do? if Ness for example did not attend they would have to pay the cost of the the table as well as selling their allocation of raffle tickets. Did the association not allow Unst to return to the reserve league to ensure their survival after the loss of key players? Does the association not as far possible try to ensure that Unst home games are played in Baltasound ensuring the continuance of football in Unst as well as where possible allowing the fixturing of league games on Saturdays? The Shetland Football Association are not wholly responsible for the situation you believe it has put you in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufsta Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 i was just trying to point out why things have changed for the worse for Unst and Yell in the last 5 years. I never ment to blame anyone for these changes as i know that it may not have been the fault of the Shetland FA. But you have to admit we were in a better situation 5 or 6 years ago. I undertand your point about raffle tickets and do's and i would think are very grateful for the way we are given special treatment But to say to that the SFA are being kind to allow us to play all our home matches at our home ground...? well i wouldnt have thought the SFA could have any say in that??? but i may be wrong as have never been to any meetings. all that i am trying to say is that i think the set up is worse for the smaller teams. and the best example of this is the fact that Burra are now playing works league. maybe one way to try and stop the unfairness would be to have stricter rules on what A players are aloud to play in the Bs. I don't know what the rules are at the moment but i am sure that they could be better. I am sure Unst had to play against one or two coonty players last year..... and i did hear delting had Stuart Hay down as a named A player all year even tho he hardly played at all (i only heard that, not saying its fact). this is why i would suggest that at the start of the season you should have to choose As or Bs... Which i would think could lead to the creation of another A league team or two. It may not work properly for the first season or two as some teams may have too many players and people not gettting games, but that would lead to players moving to teams that dont have the quality or quantity and therefor strengthening them. i know that only teams like Unst Yell Mossbank and maybe thistle would agree to this but i think it would work. It could help the fact that unst and yell might have 20 players signed whereas whalsay and celtic probably have nearly 75 each.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penfold Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 But to say to that the SFA are being kind to allow us to play all our home matches at our home ground...? well i wouldnt have thought the SFA could have any say in that??? but i may be wrong as have never been to any meetings. all that i am trying to say is that i think the set up is worse for the smaller teams. and the best example of this is the fact that Burra are now playing works league. I meant that it was a issue that was important to Unst to have home games in Unst as when Northern Rovers were on the go they were made to play games in Mid-Yell, there are teams that fail to field teams from time to time when they are away to Unst and their are teams that end up playing weakend teams whislt away to Unst its swings and round-a-bouts as Unst then have to travel away and face that teams strongest team. I recall going to play Unst when we only had a B team and getting well beaten, with players in our team who were able to play "A" football, a club such as ours that now has three teams, were in the place where you feel your at now. I know that there is large differences in the structure of the clubs, but to come out of it you need to look hard at yourselves first instead of looking at what you perceive to be injustices in the league. Me personally I would limit the number of A players in the reserve league but I am in a minority, maybe yourself and the players within Unst should get more involved in the running of the Association and get votes on the committee so that you can change it? Instead of sitting feeling that the rules are stacked against you. In answer to your question of being better off 5 or 6 years ago I feel you had a strong sqaud then and its depth helped Unst compete, thats no offence intended to anyone involved with Unst at the moment as they will be doing their best to keep Unst going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufsta Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 i do understand that you are saying penfold. Ness has done wonderful in managing to get where they are now but i cant see unst really managing to do that but i hope to god i am wrong.... all that i would want is a fairer league system in place with better rules on who can play Bs. Sorry about all the moaning before..... this thread just made me think of back in the day when Unst won the B-league brought back all the good memories!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penfold Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Yep everything is easier whan the teams winning dats just fitba for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest whitedaleno20 Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 if your system of only allowing players to play either play A's or B's that would surely affect the youth trying to break through into the A league?! players of 16-20 ages would have to chose either to play B's and not try to improve by playing A's, or by being registered as playing A's and sit on the bench and get little football all year. I remember last year we went up to Unst and played you in the B's. I think we had one registered A's player, and could only just field a team with a few debutant youngsters in the mix. so it really is swings and roundabouts in what team is playing. I do however feel that there are some teams who use too many A players in the B's in order to win, however that's just football and in order to keep youth developing into A's standard players I cant see how things could be changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufsta Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 i know it is not all teams that abuse the system........ my idea about only playing As or Bs would have to make teams really think about what youngsters should play at what level.... for example they might need to decide whether to keep a youngster on the bench all season for the As or have him play Bs..? one rule that could be in this system is to say the teams could swap players from A to B 3 times a year.... so you would have 3 transfers a year within your own team..... so if a youngster is signed to the As but isnt getting a good run then they could swap him for for a player that is playing well in the Bs and could chalenge better for an A place then the ypungster could get a better chance in the Bs..... its only an idea, theres probably lots of reasons it wouldnt work.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoichkov Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 This is an interesting debate and one I've tried to think up possible solutions for which would suit all parties but it is very difficult. With reference to earlier posts about trips to Unst, I've had similar sympathy for both Unst and Yell not being able to sign A players. I went up to Unst for an end of season game with our B team and we won by 4 or 5 nil. We had 3 definite A team starters who played that game and those 3 completely dictated the outcome of the game. In fairness we wouldn't have had 11 players had those boys not offered to play but if we had a 'pure' B team then the score would have been much closer, Unst would have probably won. Maybe if you couldn't play anybody from your named A XI for that whole month then it would stop the really top A players from playing in a league they really shouldn't want to play in. I know i'd feel guilty playing B's and keeping a B player on the bench when I'm playing A's every week. Although sometimes the lists themselves can be quite odd with guys that barely play A's included and some that play nearly all the time excluded, which wouldn't really help my above suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marooned in Maywick Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 This could be a can of worms I'm about to open...but could Unst and Yell have an A player play as a trialist? Question for penfold (I guess, as he seems to know most about the rules side of things). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penfold Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 There was a proposal to allow a trialist system to operate at the AGM but it was not successful, and the definition of a trialist is an unsigned player, so therefore say a Neil Laurenson or Erik Thomson for example would not be eligable if they were signed for another team. Also the rule regarding playing a county player who was returning from injury in the B's would throw up problems for Unst as well if they were to be able to field 3 A's player, due to the fact that if you decided to give the county player a run to get match fit you would only be allowed to play him and the other 2 A's would not be able to play. Neil Laurenson and Erik Thomson if they both made the county squad this year would be unable to both play for Unst in the same game then under that rule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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