East of Scotland Soccer Development Association

Division Change

At the start of each season, in March & August each year, all registered clubs have a free choice of division. There is no promotion or relegation, it is up to coaches to decide on the most appropriate division.

Where possible, ESSDA will operate 5 divisions at each age group.  With an even split of 100 teams across five divisions, this is ample for 5 divisions. If any division has too few teams, then it will be merged with another division.  The application form asks each team what they want to do in this circumstance, but I will also ask each team impacted before making any change.

Five divisions - Pele (strongest) > Iniesta > Maradona > Zidane > Beckham

eg If only 7 teams apply to join Iniesta it will be merged with Pele and/or Iniesta. 
On the application form, teams are asked if they want to be moved up (Pele) or moved down (Maradona).

Mid Season Division Change

If a team finds itself in the wrong division, and are winning / losing by a large margin each week, then I will try to move them up or down a division where this is possible.  Some points to note:

1)    Teams should not be winning / losing by large margins, as the weaker team should be playing extra players.

2)    Requesting a division change after fixtures have been issued but before the first game or even before the second game is discouraged. The strength of each division is varied, so changing very early may not be appropriate.  A team which moves early in the season will not be moved back later in the season.

3)    Teams are asked to consider the impact of their move on other teams.  By moving division, you are denying your opponent their scheduled game - have you told them you are moving?

4)    Teams requesting a move will be moved when a position becomes available in the new division.  There is no guarantee that teams will be moved immediately.

5)    If the new division has an odd number of teams, there will be a SPARE team, and this may make moving easier.  When there is not a SPARE team, a team will not be moved until a place is available. To move a team in these circumstances would mean denying an existing team one of their scheduled fixtures, which would not be fair. In these circumstances I will ask for volunteers to swap divisions with the team requesting  the change.  This is not a general invite for other teams to request miscellaneous changes.

6)  There is little I can do if a team resigns from the league. This may mean some opposition teams will have no fixture - they become the SPARE fixture.  Where there is already a SPARE team in the league, this may mean there are now two SPARE teams, and it would seem obvious that these two teams should play. 
Please note, the two teams would need  to agree who is home/away, and it may be that these two teams have just played or are scheduled to play in an upcoming week.  In these circumstances, I will try my best to reschedule a few fixtures to lessen the impact, but this is not always possible.

Please use the Contact Us link to advise the Match Secretary of your request

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Last modified on: 29/12/2022