As you're probably aware, at the last Men's League AGM the SAF proposal for a single division of eight "elite franchises" (my description) was voted down.
The "working group" to consider the future structure has only met once, in June, prior to a meeting called by SAF, involving all the leagues, ADO's etc to consider "restructuring".
As far as the Men's League is concerned, there will be an overhaul of
the constitution, but the guiding priciples, as far as I can see will be:
Retention of club based
competition as the underlying principle, but permitting groups of clubs to come together
to put in a combined team;
A suitable level of competition for as many as possible
What I think we all want to get to is a structure that
allows:
Stronger clubs to continue competing in their own right.
Groups of clubs to put in a combined team....
.... without everyone being required to join
one club as secondary first claim (but not removing what already is in place),
.... without having to create a new
"super-club" entity which has to be affiliated to SAF
Recognition that most clubs will go through cycles where they become
stronger or get weaker - no-one should be locked out just because they are currently weak,
or permanently locked in just because they are currently strong.
So, for example
Arbroath could continue as they
are, with Perth and Dundee HH athletes joining as Sec First Claim,
or
A group such as "Tayside" or "Highland" could be
used as the name for a group of clubs, whose athletes would still compete under their own
colours, if desired, or under some new regional colours, if desired
or
Clubs could put out a merged team, retaining their individual
names and club identities eg Harmeny/Corstorphine, Black Isle/ Inverness (speaking
hypothetically !!!!!)
We'd probably need to have some common sense guidelines on geographic proximity for clubs grouping together.
Strong clubs could compete in their own right, with their weaker (/younger) members competing for a regional group, or as SFC (or even "on loan" in a lower division.
Allowing consolidation is probably the easy part, the difficult bit I can foresee is if the individual clubs who do get together become strong enough to compete in their own right, or simply fall out with each other. Eg if a "Highland" team got into Div 1, then one (or more) clubs wanted to compete under their own name, does one get to keep the Div 1 place whilst the other is cast aside to make their own way from the bottom, or find a new group to join?
I don't think any of the above are insurmountable obstacles to a sensible evolution that gives everyone something better, and we may have to allow scope for common sense to be used in unusual circumstances rather than trying to regulate for every eventuality. The underlying principal is to allow evolution to what the clubs, and their athletes want.
Any thoughts to take forward if/when we get-together again would be welcome.