Junior football clubs in the Cup on merit

The irrational chip-on-the-shoulder mentality of Scottish football fans is displayed in its full glory this week, in John Hillcoat’s column in the Sunday Mail. The sports writer pours scorn on the junior clubs of Scottish football, bemoaning their inclusion in the Scottish Cup and crying foul at their victory over senior league opposition.

Hillcoat sees the junior league clubs’ participation in the national cup as preventing clubs of the senior Scottish Football League from earning lucrative sums. By denying them money-spinning ties against Premier League sides the juniors are “siphoning money” from the game, taking a “cheque that belongs to a struggling side in the SFL”.

His logic is that because the Juniors prefer to play in a regionalised league system, and so do not intend to apply for membership of the nationwide SFL, they are somehow not an equal part of the Scottish game. Resenting their higher incomes and attracting of better players than teams in the SFL, Hillcoat misses the elephant in the room: Junior clubs are only in a better financial position because they offer the fans a more attractive package.

Scotland’s Junior leagues offer real competition, with a high degree of fluidity between the divisions and a parity between their clubs. A shorter league season with more cup competitions means much fewer meaningless fixtures than in the SFL, with different cup formats and a greater number of opponents helping to maintain interest.

The Junior setup caters for the supporter in a way the SFL simply does not: Its regionalised system offers the intensity of local derbies against nearby towns and districts, while travelling to away matches is far easier given the shorter distances between clubs. Clubs are often based in grounds at the heart of their neighbourhood, bringing football to their community rather than expecting the community to come to them. Stadia quality is poor, but little different to that at lower levels of the SFL. In bad weather decisions to abandon matches are made well in advance, whereas the SFL frequently features last minute call offs when supporters have already made the effort and paid the expense to travel the full length of the country. Admission prices also put the Juniors ahead: Entry to West Region Superleague games is fixed at £5 for adults and £2.50 for children, SFL Third Division prices are twice as high.

Hillcoat’s antipathy to the Juniors comes hot on the heels of West Champions Irvine Meadow’s defeat of 2nd Division Arbroath in the Scottish Cup. With all but the top 4 of the 168 junior clubs already excluded from that cup, how much protection does he want for the 30 members of the SFL? The Scottish FA Cup is supposed to be a national tournament for all teams in the country. If the SFL is impoverished perhaps its supporters should consider why it offers a less attractive package than the Junior game, rather than ask the Scottish FA to favour them over others.