Historic Day of Finals

The league’s match secretary has announced that we will have a probable first in any league, as we complete all 3 cups with the finals on the same day

Craig Burton said, “WOW” this must be the first time any league has played 3 finals on the same day, at different venues, and is certainly a first for the SSMAFL. A massive thank you to all the clubs involved, and to the grounds for helping us complete these competitions, which hopefull rewards some clubs and players for the dark times of no football being played, and to celebrate our return”

Sadly, no spectators will be allowed entry to the games, due to Scottish Government restrictions on sporting events.

The kick off’s will be split as follows

10am: Presidents Cup Final at Fullarton Park, home of Vale of Clyde FC

12 Noon: Chairman’s Cup Final at Somervell Park, home of Cambuslang Rangers FC

4pm: Kastle Decor Strathclyde Cup Final, at New Tinto Park, home of Benburb FC

SAFA announce 2020-21 fees

The Scottish Amateur FA have announced that the affiliation fee for this season will be reduced to £70

The public liability insurance will remain however at £40 and the fees are due to be paid from now to each club’s league who collect them for the SAFA

2019-20 Cups to be brought to a conclusion

The league executive committee approved a proposal from Match Secretary Craig Burton to conclude the outstanding 19-20 cups. He had secured venues, and agreements from all clubs involved to play all the outstanding semi finals and finals between 3rd and 10th October before the league season starts on the 17th

 

Sadly, Broomhouse have been unable to continue as a club, and therefore SOUTHSIDE are the winners of the 2019-20 Challenge Cup.

The league will make arrangements to present the trophy and medals as soon as covid restrictions allow.

Season start announced

Match Secretary Craig Burton advised clubs at a special covid meeting that competitive matches will commence on Saturday 17th October.

He said “This gives clubs time to play some friendlies and get ready for competition and to secure venues for matches”.

He also advised that the league are looking at re-instating the latter stages of last seasons cups as all at either Semi final or final stage and “potentially if we can source venues we can fit them in so players and clubs can still seek some success from a disastrous end to last seasons campaigns”.

 

Hi All

This is an appeal to all of our followers, players, coaches and supporters.

We get to start games again this weekend, but it is a lightyear away from what we are used to. The SFA & SAFA have distributed information to us, that we in turn are passing on to our club secretaries etc. Also anyone can view the return to football hub on the SFA website

This is a really challenging time, with very strict rules that MUST be followed if we want to continue going forward. It’s quite simple, we are being given a chance here that scares the Scottish Government and we MUST get things right, or we will lose the ability to play again, and thats the last thing we want.

Please stick to the rules.

NO DRESSING ROOMS.. Toilets should be available, but must follow guidelines of venue for use.. PLEASE..DO NOT URINATE IN AN OUTSIDE AREA

NO SPECTATORS ARE ALLOWED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

FOLLOW the procedures laid down by the club’s covid officers

If you are a coach/manager/first aider or a substitute, you must remain at a 2m distance from all others. The only exception to that is when you are actually playing. DO NOT ENTER THE FIELD OF PLAY without permission.. I know that will be tough, but we HAVE to do this if you want to play the game.

Car parks are not areas to watch the game, so again, please no spectators.

Lets firstly enjoy football being back, but every single one of us is responsible to ensure we get it to stay

Clubs given a covid breakdown

At a specially called meeting of all clubs, a comprehensive description of what clubs will have to do whilst in training was given by way of a zoom video conference.

The harsh reality of where amateur football stands was strongly told to club delegates, and exactly what role we all have to play was explained in detail.

A slide presentation giving detail was show to all clubs and topics such as covid officers and covid courses and trace registers were fully described.

The league have advised the minimum that must be done whilst we are in training mode and match protocols would follow soon as well as warning clubs that failure to ensure protocols were adhered to, would be treated with the full force of disciplinary action.

The league President stated..” let’s be blunt, we simply cannot afford to mess this up, failure to do what is needed could have dire consequences that none of us want, and the safety off all must be the most important thing we do. If it feels like we have just started from where we stopped, then your not doing things right, and putting lives at risk”

The league appealed to all clubs to ensure they get the relevant covid training and supply details of such.

Divisional Changes

At two recent meetings, one with the Premiership clubs, and the second with the Championship clubs, some changes were approved to the way the 2020-21 Covid affected season will progress once we hopefully get competitive football back up and running

So, the Sammy’s Italian Kitchen Premier Division has 16 teams for this season, and now for 2021-22 as well. This extension is due to changes being made in the Championship set up, to try and follow Scottish Government advice to reduce travel where possible. Therefore, each team will play each other once. Then the division will be split into top 8 and bottom 8 sections. Once the season is completed, only 3 teams instead of four will be relegated to the Championship.

Now, the Cutting Edge Engravers Championship has been split into 3 regional divisions, one covering Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and the far West area, One to cover Greater Glasgow, and the last to cover Lanarkshire, all with 9 teams per section. This will now mean each divisional champions will be promoted to the Premier Division.

The draws were also done for the Kastle Decor & Home Improvements Strathclyde Cup, that being the only confirmed cup competition at this stage, with a decision on other tournaments to be made well into the latter part of the season

The league remain committed to return to a 3 tier system, with an additional Development section from 2021-22 season

COVID UPDATE 6 AUGUST 2020

Thursday 6 August 2020
The Scottish FA Grassroots sub group welcome the most recent announcement of the planned move through the route map process and the commitment of Scottish Government to restart sport at all levels.

Whilst indicative dates have been issued at this stage, we will be working closely with the Scottish Government, sportscotland and wider partners to progress plans for the return of football in a safe manner. This will include the preparation and approval of appropriate protocols and guidance to allow the return of contact sports.

Further to the Scottish FA statement issued on 29 July, it remains clear that a phased return will require to be staged over a period of weeks, in line with the Scottish Government three-weekly review cycle.

At present the Scottish FA suspension of training and match play activity remains in place for all clubs with players aged 18 and over, unless given express permission by the Scottish FA Board.

For clarity, all teams involving players 18 years and over can only engage in non-contact, socially distanced training in line with Scottish Government guidance and this must be adhered to by all clubs.

It is important to note that the indicative date of 24 August for a return to contact training does not allow any full match play activity to take place at that stage. This stage may allow adult outdoor contact sports to begin along with increased group sizes for training. This will be followed by permission for local friendly matches and games to begin, however this will be no earlier than 11 September and finally a possible return to competitive matches with restrictions in place from 1 October.

All of the above will be based on the continued progress against the virus and it should be understood that these dates and stages are indicative and remain subject to change.

At this present time there are no changes to the guidelines for football. We would like to reiterate that public health and wellbeing remains the most pressing priority and that we have a responsibility to do what we can to continue to suppress the spread of the virus and prevent a second wave. By not following the government and medical guidance, the restart of football for all will be endangered.

Further details and guidelines remain available on the Return to Football Hub here.

The Grassroots Sub-Group once again thank all the clubs and volunteers that continue to follow the guidance as this adherence will enable us to move forward through the stages set out above.

Thomas McKeown, Scottish FA Board Director and Chair of the JRG Grassroots Sub Group

Covid 19 update

Hi All,

Please find below the latest update from the Scottish FA Joint Response Grassroots Group, now that the Scottish Government have moved into Phase 2 of their Route Map out of lockdown. There is still no training allowed under any circumstances

The first link is to the the Scottish FA website news page where the latest statement is available which accompanies the infographic for Phase 2 in the Return to Football Hub. The second link is to an interview with Jason Leitch, the National Clinical Director.

Finally the Scottish FA “Return to Football Hub” contains useful detailed information for ours members to utilise as applicable, as we progress to Phase 3 of the Scottish Government’s Route Map.