The Fiasco Of Relegation

[Rollerball]

Whats wrong with keeping it 54 teams? Its worked for years, why try and fix it if it aint broke?

And making the Welsh Prem 12/10 teams is ludicrous.

[budsboy]

As we are quite a new side to the league (4th season) I still feel I shouldnt have a vote to influence the direction of the league that could relegate clubs who have long been part of the Welsh League set up. My own thoughts would be that they should have relegated teams over a number of seasons rather than have one big hit but speaking to a few secretaries after last years AGM the impression I got was that we are all in the same boat and know what we got to do to avoid relegation.
I still feel though, and its only my opinion, there is going to be a twist at the end of the season.

[Aun Rees]

It will be interesting what the FAW/WPL do now that Newtown have finished 13th?

[rollerball]

I have spoken to a couple of the guys off the committee at Cwmbran Town and they are considering an appeal.

[Guest]

There's a shock! A team that is going down as a result. If they think it is so wrong why did they leave it until now - when they are relegated - to consider an appeal? To wait until you ARE relegated to appeal takes 80% of the validity out of your complaint in my view.

If it was so wrong make noises about it in January not now!!

[Casual observer]

The FAW have failed big time on this. They had the opportunity to improve standards and increase public interest in the league. All they had to was was this:

Start from scratch.

Literally, throw away the league tables at the end of the season and do a proper inspection of all the WL clubs. Give them a score for the quality of their pitch, stand, floodlights, facilities and club structure - youth/reserve teams etc.

You'd then have a situation where all the teams with the best setups would be in division 1, the next best in div 2 and the poorer ones in div 3. This would have encouraged clubs to spend money on their facilities instead of their players.

The fact is that the expendable commodity in this equation is the players. We all know they flit from club to club anyway for any numbers of reasons. All the FAW needed to do was put clubs in their rightful place, and the players and coaches would soon find their way to the clubs.

As it is we're going to see massive clubs such as Maesteg and Cwmbran in division 3, excellent playing surfaces like Ely and maybe Bridgend dropping down into division 2, while division 1 will be made up of only 50% of teams that even have floodlights!

Farce.

[budsboy]

I agree with the previous post to a certain extent but you cant just have clubs in division 1 who got the best facilities. Its also got to be about the standard of football on the field. I think most clubs are striving to do both but its very differcult to run a club on the field as well as off it in terms of finance and i dont mean paying players as we as a club dont but just general running costs through out the season

[Counting Crows]

When the Welsh League brought out their "new" ground criteria (which has since been watered down to only slightly more stingent than the 1980s criteria), i sought of assumed they would start from scratch like Casual Observer mentioned.

The League had a perfect opportunity at the end of this season to shake things up. How about D1 clubs having to have x number of youth teams and floodlights? Maybe D1 would be finished by now? Is it any surprise that clubs with lights are more advanced in their fixture list?

Also, midweek games kicking-off at 18.00 must be a pain for players and management staff alike re: work etc.

Clubs might also be more inclined to improve their facilities before giving their players £20 a game if it meant a place in D1.

Over time in would be nice to think that the whole WL could contain clubs all with floodlights and perhaps hard standing all the way around the pitch.

Give the spectator a better match-day experience. You shouldn't have to wear wellies to avoid getting muddy during the wet/wintery months at this level surely!

[budsboy]

I dont agree paying players at welsh league level but also certain clubs have an advantage of hiring grounds with lights and better facilities. Most clubs dont have this option and have to plan and finance their own ground improvements. I do agree that in divison 1 teams should have lights and seating and any ambitous club would strive to get this in place. But fundementally, ther must be a good product on the field of play to attract supporters not have just clubs who have the facilities playing sub standard football. There as to be a balance.

[Carolynn Purcell]

If Cwmbran Town do play in the 3rd division next season, i must say that there will be some tidy grounds to play on. With ourselves, Llanwern and CBH all playing on pitches that are maintained full time and have good facilities.

Talking of ground facilities, when the clubs voted for the smaller leagues at last years League AGM wasn't ground criteria going to be looked at first before promotion/relegation? It seems that the Welsh League have done a u-turn on this. Maybe its because some of the teams that would fail on ground criteria have friends in high places!!

[budsboy]

I was led to believe that relegation from the Welsh League would be clubs who didnt meet the ground criteria set down by the WFL. But in the last meeting I attended, we were told that all clubs had got the criteria so relegation of the bottom eight in division 3 would take place.

[Carolynn Purcell]

Only because the ground criteria used was different. The criteria talked about at the AGM was vastly different to the ground criteria they used at the EGM. (who did this suit i ask myself) And who decides which clubs have met the criteria?

Even this basic criteria, off the top of my head i can think of 10 clubs that don't come up to scratch, and I haven't been to many 3rd division grounds.

[rash07]

I have heard that Porthcawl Town are in process of joining up with Porthcawl Athletic in order to keep alive their Welsh League Status? Anyone else heard this?

[budsboy]

There are all sorts of rumours going around at the moment concerning a few clubs. Maybe some are true but others I find hard to believe.

[Legend 7]

In an adaptation of Roy Keane's outburst against the FAI earlier this season........

"The bottom 5 / 7 & 8 are going down. You all knew with a huge number of games left that this was the case. You will be relegated and play next season in the division below - GET OVER IT!!!"

Anyone who appeals now when they did not do so at times when they thought they would be safe have NO credibility whatsoever!