Sport / Football association finds new president as two new clubs sign up
SHETLAND Football Association (SFA) has found its new president at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Thursday night.
David Smith has stepped into the role after it could not be filled at last month’s annual general meeting.
He replaces Jakob Eunson, who has agreed to stay on as vice-president to help steer the association.
All of the committee’s vacant positions – bar the role of discipline secretary – were filled after a plea from the SFA on social media to ensure the safe running of the senior leagues.
Former Ness manager Craig Leslie will become registration secretary, while all three fixture secretaries – one for each division – will remain in place.
Carol Duncan is returning as minutes secretary, while former SFA presidents Brydon Robertson and George Smith are remaining as secretary and treasurer respectively.
New clubs for Championship
As many as four teams could be joining the Championship for its second season, potentially taking the league up to 10 teams in 2026.
Newly formed Rusty Spoons and Boca Seniors have locked in for the new campaign, joining Banks, Bressay, Wastside Rebels, Ness C, North Isles and Southside Impact.
However both Scalloway and Delting have also shown a desire to field teams in the Championship.
Scalloway already have A and B sides, while Delting currently only take part in the reserve league.
Robertson said both clubs wanted to be able to field players who were progressing up through the junior ranks, or were currently not getting a game for their other sides.
This was “rather than having boys stop playing, or leave for other clubs,” he added.
The Championship was the answer to the reserve league becoming too stretched, with as many as 14 teams in the division before it was split in two.
With the Championship now potentially reaching 10 teams – bigger than both the A and B leagues – Robertson said the fixture secretary would need to look at how to schedule matches.
“It means more football,” he told Shetland News. “There could be the opportunity to play a peerie bit longer into the year too.”
Named A list proposal
The main point of conversation at Thursday night’s meeting was once again about the so-called “named A list”, a contentious topic within senior football.
Lerwick Celtic had proposed that the list be removed, and instead players be able to play for their registered club across any division.
The only exception would have been players selected in the Shetland inter-county squad or Island Games squad the previous calendar year, who would have been banned from playing in the reserve league or Championship.
Celtic said the restrictions were “unnecessary”, and that clubs were in a better place to manage busy fixture schedules if they had all players available to them.
And they argued that though some would say this would allow stronger teams to dominate reserve matches, they believed teams would realise themselves this was not the way to go.
“If a club prioritises short-term wins by overusing first-team players in reserve matches, they risk alienating reserve players, who may seek opportunities elsewhere,” Celtic argued.
The club threatened to escalate the decision to the Scottish Amateur Football Association if not adopted by their fellow clubs.
While Celtic could not find a seconder for their proposal at Thursday’s meeting, Robertson said a working group had been set up to try find an answer to the debate.
“There was quite a bit of discussion about it last night, it’s a subject full of emotions and there was some strong opinions on it,” he said.
“[Scalloway manager] Glenn Gilfillan came with some examples from other leagues in Scotland, and some of them sounded like they could work for us.
“He’s going to work with the working group, and hopefully we’ll have something back to the meeting in January that can be voted on.”
Robertson said clubs will need to come to “some kind of consensus” on the named A list. He added the rule had been brought up at the SFA’s AGM in each of the last six years.
One rule change which has been brought in is around the use of trialists in senior football.
Trialists will only be able to play three times for one club before they will have to officially sign.
Robertson said the SFA had been operating under that basis, but it was not down in writing under those terms.
He added that players would also be banned for the team that they were playing for when they picked up the suspension, so a player sent off for Ness B would be ineligible to play for that team only until the ban was up.
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