Glenrothes disappointed by football vote

After a long delay, EoSFL officials announced on Sunday that almost three-quarters of member clubs had opted to declare the 2020-21 term null and void rather than restarting it three months after a competitive ball was last kicked.

Glenrothes were in eighth position out of 15, with 14 points, in the Central Taxis East of Scotland Division One Conference B before football in Scotland beneath Championship level went into cold storage in January.

Disappointed Glens co-manager John Martin said the Warout side had wanted football back as soon as possible to get their players playing again after such a long enforced lay-off.

He doesn’t feel the present EoSFL conference system is a good structure and would like to see it rejigged, he added.

He and co-boss Kevin Smith will be discussing matters with players soon with a view to getting back into training in some form, possibly adding some further quality by recruiting a couple of new faces, and seeing if any pre-season fixtures can be arranged between now and the start of the 2021-22 campaign on July 17. Most of Glenrothes’ players had already committed to the club for another year, said Martin.

He added that he’d have preferred the chance to play at least half their fixtures and to have aimed for a top-six finish under a points-per-game system.

“For me, the conference is not a good structure,” he added. “We were sold the pyramid system when we joined the EoSFL but we are still sitting with two conferences.”

Non-contact training is possible, he said, but it is uncertain how useful it would be if there are no competitive games until mid-July.

Martin felt the vote was a missed opportunity to bring football back and help those who had missed playing the game they love for so long.

“Everybody is entitled to their vote, but I don’t understand why clubs wouldn’t want to be back playing football,” he said.

“In my eyes, I think there's a lot of politics going on, but it is what it is.

“We just need to take it on the chin and move on.”