ESCA Leagues for 2019

As some may have seen, we now have the leagues for the 2019 season posted on the website, ready for fixtures to be finalised.  It has taken far longer than we had hoped, but for a number of good reasons.   We thought we’d share some of the what has happened in getting to this point.  It may also help people understand why some of the leagues look the way they do.

With Glenrothes’ relegation from EPL & Kelso not replacing them, it meant that not only did we have to look at a 3rd relegation place in each of the leagues, we also had to discuss where Glenrothes slotted back into the leagues, given what their club had gone through and their request to not play in the Championship.

Post AGM and with the powers given to ESCA, the committee took the view to place them in Division 5.  It was agreed that a more traditional 2 up, 2 down was able to be achieved in the Championship down to division 3.  With a couple of clubs having withdrawn and a number of defaults for others, there were complications with divisions 5 and 6, particularly given Morton 3s could not be promoted due to Morton 2s being in the league above and not having been promoted themselves.

Recently Glenrothes 1st XI have agreed a move from ESCA to SPCU 1 as of 2019, with their 2nd XI remaining in division 6 (a similar arrangement to Falkland’s).  This has meant additional shuffling of teams in divisions 6 and 7 to ensure 10 team leagues from Championship to division 6 and now gives 14 sides in division 7.

I know a number of clubs had been in touch over the Christmas period requesting clarity on leagues, so thank you for bearing with us while we sorted it.  That, hopefully(!), is the last of the shuffling needed for the leagues for 2019 and fixtures will be published within the next fortnight.

Thank you to the Comps sub-committee for their efforts on this and, in particular, Paul Bailey for his work on the fixtures.

If there are any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me.