Kirkcaldy and Thornton Hibs step up to East of Scotland league

The decision to admit the new nine sides to the senior ranks was made at a meeting on Thursday of existing EoS League member clubs.

The newcomers were accepted, with significant voting majorities in each case, and the next issue will be to see where they fit within the East of Scotland League structure.

Joining the league are Edinburgh South, along with Fife outfits Kennoway Star Hearts, Kirkcaldy & Dysart, Lochgelly Albert, Lochore Welfare, Luncarty, Newburgh, Rosyth and Thornton Hibs.

Berwickshire side Eyemouth United, who took a year out to rebuild their squad during a non-playing season, will also be returning to the East of Scotland fold in the new season.

But it’s still unclear when the new season will be given the green light given the current restrictions.

A spokesman for Thornton said they were “delighted” to be joining the new set up whilst Kirkcaldy announced they have also applied for membership of has applied to join the Lowland Development League – a League for under 20 teams in the Lowland League, the new West of Scotland League, the South of Scotland League and the East of Scotland League.

A club spokesman said it was “a major step in the Kirkcaldy Community Football Partnership pathway”.

League secretary David Baxter said all plans were on hold at the moment, with the suspension of football around the country still in force, so any provisional arrangements for receiving the clubs into the league would probably have to be reassessed.

Options are that the new teams could enter the Conference structure, which is flexible, so it may be that a new one was created, or they could be absorbed into the existing ‘A’ and ‘B’ Conferences.

Nothing could be certain until the go-ahead was given to start organising and playing football again, added Mr Baxter.