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The Central Midlands League's future?

Sarumio
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Jun 21, 2012, 11:41 AM

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The Central Midlands League's future?	Can't Post or Reply Privately

Now that the Humber Premier League, Nottinghamshire Senior League, Sheffield & Hallamshire County League and the West Yorkshire League have been granted Step 7 status - is the axe soon to fall on the Central Midlands League which overlaps and encroaches on all of the above Step 7 leagues. Its now a sprawling mess covering too large an area at Step 7 from its expansion days when it had aspirations of being classed as a Step 6 league.

Now it contains sides in two divisions covering a vast area - 6 counties in effect - Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire!

I can see what the FA are doing

At Step 7:
Nottinghamshire now has a county league
East Riding or Yorkshire now has a county league (the Humber Premier)
West Yorkshire now has a county league
South Yorkshire effectively has a county league (S&H County Senior)

With two other waiting in the wings:
Lincolnshire League - once it gets rid of its reserve sides by forming a second tier and pushing them all into it then I evisage this league will be reclassified as Step 7 within the next few seaons.

And then there's the Midland Regional Alliance which from what I can tell - is basically a Derbyshire County League with a ridiculous archaic name!

So what purpose is the Central Midlands League serving other than making clubs travel silly distances when they'd be better off in the county leagues mentioned above. It seems its sole purpose was to gain Step 6 status. That door has been slammed firmly shut byt the creation of the EMCL and its now the most ridiculous of Step 7 leagues in the country!

Surely all the CML clubs could just go into the leagues already mentioned (with the MRA being granted Step 7 status too)

MRA - Belper United, Clay Cross Town, Dronfield Town, Glapwell, Pixton and South Normanton Athletic
Notts- AFC Hucknall, Bilborough Pelican, Blidworth Welfare, Calverton Miners Welfare, Clifton, DFS Welbeck Welfare, FC Blisthorpe, Harworth Colliery Institute, Kimberley Town, Kirkby Town, Newark Town, Nottingham United, Ollerton Town, Real United, Southwell City, Sutton Town and Thoresby Colliery Welfare
S&H - Bentley Colliery, Kiverton Park, Thorne Colliery and Yorkshire Main
Humber - Easington United and Westella & Willerby
West Yorks - Kinsley Boys

The Nottinghamshire sides would be the only problem as there's so many of them that the Notts Senior League wouldn't be able to handle them all. As there's 17 of them at present - they could either restructure the Notts Senior into two Regional Premier Divisions (North and South) or keep just one CML division with the 17 Notts sides in it.

What are people's thoughts on the Central Midlands League's future?

(This post was edited by Sarumio on Jun 21, 2012, 12:03 PM)

Martin9
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Jun 21, 2012, 11:59 AM

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Re: [Sarumio] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

Given that the FA have limited the number of Step 7 leagues to 1 per county in other areas (e.g. Northamptonshire, Sussex, Berkshire, West Riding) this would seem to be the direction this is moving in. Can also see the Mercian League (Shropshire), Lincs League, Wiltshire League and a new Cumbrian League (for Westmorland and Cumberland) eventually being given that status whilst the Spartan South Midland 2 (Bucks), Peterborough & D (Huntingdonshire), Northern Alliance (Northumberland), Teeside (North Riding), Midland Combination 1 (Birmingham) and West Midlands League 1 (Herefordshire and Worcestershire) will become more closely aligned to specific counties. That just leaves Essex (with Essex Olympian and Essex and Suffolk Border) and Cheshire (with Cheshire and West Cheshire) with 2 leagues whilst the Central Midland League may eventually become the league for Derbyshire.

Mister TwoU
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Jun 21, 2012, 12:17 PM

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Re: [Martin9] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or

Well, the CML WAS originally a rebranded Derbyshire County League, so that would make sense.

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Sarumio
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Jun 21, 2012, 1:17 PM

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Re: [Mister TwoU] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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Well, the CML WAS originally a rebranded Derbyshire County League, so that would make sense.

The problem is - the CML has gradually shifted - it currently only has 5 Derbyshire sides in it!

Part-Timer
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Jun 21, 2012, 1:22 PM

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Re: [Martin9] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

Equating the Peterborough & District to Huntingdonshire is a mistake. Clubs affiliated to Huntingdonshire FA certainly couldn't sustain a Step 7 league. Of next season's PDFL Premier Division only three are Huntingdonshire clubs, with a couple more in the Cambridgeshire Premier Division. The remainder of the PDFL Premier consists of a couple of clubs from Leicestershire with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, with most clubs in the city of Peterborough affiliating to the Northamptonshire FA.

acmold
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Jun 21, 2012, 1:38 PM

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Re: [Part-Timer] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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Lincolnshire clubs as well.

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Part-Timer
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Jun 21, 2012, 1:40 PM

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Re: [acmold] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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Equating the Peterborough & District to Huntingdonshire is a mistake. Clubs affiliated to Huntingdonshire FA certainly couldn't sustain a Step 7 league. Of next season's PDFL Premier Division only three are Huntingdonshire clubs, with a couple more in the Cambridgeshire Premier Division. The remainder of the PDFL Premier consists of a couple of clubs from Leicestershire with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, with most clubs in the city of Peterborough affiliating to the Northamptonshire FA.

Lincolnshire clubs as well.

Indeed. A typo on my part. I meant to write 'with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire'.

Sarumio
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Jun 21, 2012, 2:26 PM

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Re: [Part-Timer] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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Equating the Peterborough & District to Huntingdonshire is a mistake. Clubs affiliated to Huntingdonshire FA certainly couldn't sustain a Step 7 league. Of next season's PDFL Premier Division only three are Huntingdonshire clubs, with a couple more in the Cambridgeshire Premier Division. The remainder of the PDFL Premier consists of a couple of clubs from Leicestershire with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, with most clubs in the city of Peterborough affiliating to the Northamptonshire FA.

Lincolnshire clubs as well.

Indeed. A typo on my part. I meant to write 'with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire'.

There aren't any Leicestershire clubs in the PDFL are there?

Part-Timer
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Jun 21, 2012, 2:35 PM

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Re: [Sarumio] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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Equating the Peterborough & District to Huntingdonshire is a mistake. Clubs affiliated to Huntingdonshire FA certainly couldn't sustain a Step 7 league. Of next season's PDFL Premier Division only three are Huntingdonshire clubs, with a couple more in the Cambridgeshire Premier Division. The remainder of the PDFL Premier consists of a couple of clubs from Leicestershire with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, with most clubs in the city of Peterborough affiliating to the Northamptonshire FA.

Lincolnshire clubs as well.

Indeed. A typo on my part. I meant to write 'with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire'.

There aren't any Leicestershire clubs in the PDFL are there?

Not geographically. I was referring to FA affiliations and used Leicestershire as a shorthand for Leicestershire & Rutland. I had Oakham United and Uppingham Town in mind. Blush

Must try harder.

Sarumio
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Jun 21, 2012, 2:41 PM

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Re: [Part-Timer] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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Equating the Peterborough & District to Huntingdonshire is a mistake. Clubs affiliated to Huntingdonshire FA certainly couldn't sustain a Step 7 league. Of next season's PDFL Premier Division only three are Huntingdonshire clubs, with a couple more in the Cambridgeshire Premier Division. The remainder of the PDFL Premier consists of a couple of clubs from Leicestershire with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, with most clubs in the city of Peterborough affiliating to the Northamptonshire FA.

Lincolnshire clubs as well.

Indeed. A typo on my part. I meant to write 'with the rest pretty evenly split between Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire'.

There aren't any Leicestershire clubs in the PDFL are there?

Not geographically. I was referring to FA affiliations and used Leicestershire as a shorthand for Leicestershire & Rutland. I had Oakham United and Uppingham Town in mind. Blush

Must try harder.

Ah yes I see of course! There are 4 Rutland sides in the PDFL but definately no Leicestershire sides!

Martin9
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Jun 21, 2012, 5:34 PM

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Re: [Part-Timer] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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On the current footprint you are quite correct (most clubs in Peterborough itself are affiliiated to Northamptonshire as Peterborough was part of that county in 1900). However as the trend appears to be moving towards 1 step 7 league per county FA the Peterborough & District League would likely only survive at this level if associated with Huntingdonshire FA (otherwise the Cambridgeshire County League would become the Step 7 league for both Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire). This doesn't mean it should only take clubs from that FA (doubt there are 16 intermediate level clubs, let alone clubs with step 7 facilities, affiliated to Huntingdonshire FA) in same fashion that there aren't enough Derbyshire Sides to fill a Central Midlands Division or Herefordshire and Worcestershire sides to fill a West Midlands League division, however like many other leagues at this level would fill it's quota of c16 teams from clubs on the borders of it's area, particularly from counties that may have an excess of teams at this level.

hucknallite
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Jun 21, 2012, 7:39 PM

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Re: [Martin9] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

I've always thought the best way to organise step 7 would be to have 1 league per county FA with a few exceptions: 2 leagues for Berks & Bucks and Sussex, i.e. 1 per administrative county. And none for Herefordshire, Westmorland & London with clubs going to the most appropiate league (the 1st 2 because of the lack of clubs and London because of the lack of grounds). The boundaries needn't be too strict (see Peterbough league above). But at least it's logical.

To put the cat further amongst the pigeons the MRA can't be far off having 60% of it clubs meeting grade I. If they apply for and get step 7 that really would be the end of the CML.

acmold
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Jun 22, 2012, 11:05 AM

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Re: [Martin9] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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The Cambridgeshire League has clubs in it from Cambridgeshire (and Huntingdonshire), Norfolk, Suffolk and maybe even Essex. If a league is based around a Town or City and that is near to a county border you will always have many overlaps.

The F.A. really need to pinpoint 56 leagues to be at step 7 if step five is 14 leagues if nothing else just to make things flow smoothly, it also needs to make sure their are 28 leagues at step 6 Cool

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VP
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Jun 22, 2012, 11:59 AM

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Re: [acmold] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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The F.A. really need to pinpoint 56 leagues to be at step 7 if step five is 14 leagues if nothing else just to make things flow smoothly, it also needs to make sure their are 28 leagues at step 6 Cool

Two step 6s and four step 7s isn't necessary for every step 5 league. The south east leagues certainly don't need four step 7s each.

Martin9
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Jun 22, 2012, 12:34 PM

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Re: [VP] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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Two step 6s and four step 7s isn't necessary for every step 5 league. The south east leagues certainly don't need four step 7s each.

I agree. The object shouldn't be to create a mathematically neat and tidy structure but one that provides a competitive framework that best suits the needs of all clubs (from a national division at the top for the Manchester United's of this world to district leagues at the bottom for park teams, with county and regional levels in between). With teams forming, disbanding, re-forming, wishing to be relegated to a lower level or not wishing to climb to a higher level there will never be a neat 4 down, 2 up (or 2 down 1 up) below the very top divisions. The FA is right to try and organise a structure for clubs who wish to compete regionally (i.e. at current Step 6 or above) although maybe somewhat over demanding on it's ground grading standards (although as leagues of 20-22 will always be prevalent at this level the requirement for floodlights to enable midweek fixtures is a pre-requisite), however at Step 7 and below the local county FA's are probably best placed to judge what pyramid best suits the teams under their jurisdication as will never be the same in all parts of the country. What appears to be happening here is the FA gradually moving towards a one Step 7 league per county FA and thereby leaving the county FA/step 7 leagues to organise the pyramid below that.

acmold
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Jun 22, 2012, 3:38 PM

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Re: [Martin9] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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however at Step 7 and below the local county FA's are probably best placed to judge what pyramid best suits the teams under their jurisdication as will never be the same in all parts of the country. What appears to be happening here is the FA gradually moving towards a one Step 7 league per county FA and thereby leaving the county FA/step 7 leagues to organise the pyramid below that.

This is assuming that County F.A's have actual knowledge of the Pyramid Systems and how it works and any interest in it.

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Hangabout
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Jun 27, 2012, 2:07 PM

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Re: [Sarumio] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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And then there's the Midland Regional Alliance which from what I can tell - is basically a Derbyshire County League with a ridiculous archaic name!

The Midlands Regional Alliance has previously had clubs from Notts and Lincs in it's league but, yes, it is now a Derbyshire county league in all but name.

With the FA now seemingly organising Step 7 in the East Mids/Yorks regions the CML has become a Notts-dominated competition as the Yorks/Lincs teams look closer to home.

skippy1
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Jul 21, 2012, 12:44 PM

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Re: [Sarumio] The Central Midlands League's future? [In reply to]	Can't Post or Reply Privately

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CML now without West Yorks with Kinsley Boys transferring to Sheffield & Hallamshire County League. I imagine we will see the S&H based clubs follow suit in coming seasons.

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