South of Scotland League Blether

Tabby & white puss sits in the Wigtown sunshine on top of a green bin. The sticker on the bin reads COMMERCIAL WASTE.

This snootypants could have told me that Wigtown's game had been switched to Dumfries on Saturday, but chose not to do so. It's a cat thing.

Love the way the goalie dives out of the way and then blames his defenders for the second goal. Great stuff!

The River Tarff - or Water of Tarf as the OS prefers to call it in April. Leaves are appearing on the trees and the gorse bushes are still in flower. It's a picnicker's dream spot.

If the football was boring at Tarff Rovers, folk could always take a wee stroll and enjoy the riverside. It's still a beautiful world; we could have saved it but were too lazy & selfish to do so. Best appreciate it while we can, because our fairy godmother is not going to come & rescue us.

Professional football has a shocking repuation for both climate damage and infringement of human rights. Thank you for caring.

Just as well I didn't go down to Trammandford Park in Wigtown on Saturday because the match against Lochar was played at a school field in Dumfries, 57 miles away. The SSL website, written by a robot, didn't give out that information. so I guess some poor souls probably turned up to an empty field.

He's sold out, Jerry. You can't be taken seriously as a rebel if you're Working for the Man. This also applies to Eric Cantona; he does adverts for an online betting company too. Taking money to promote something that makes huge profits while ruining peoples' lives is simply immoral.

If only Gary hadn't started doing adverts for an online betting company? What was he thinking?

Have you seen the murals in the concourse? What did you think of them?

Good to see Stranraer on a wee run in the SPFL. I don't believe Reform UK will win the council byelection on 20/11/25 but if that catastrophe should happen the shame will be hard to bear, & I certainly won't be able to bring myself to enter Stair Park again. Share a stand with fascists? No thanks.

The gates at Ibrox, 2012, following the liquidation of Rangers FC. A boy rides a bike past a few attached scarves and Union Jacks.

Wigtown & Bladnoch only managed a single point last season, and they have just 1 point again now, but it wasn't always so. W&B won the title as recently as 2014 & 2015.

Things currently aren't good, but at least W&B won't be wound up owing HMRC £70 million, unlike another club we could mention.

CORRECTION

Please ignore what I said on Friday. St Cuthbert have not won the title more times than anyone else. Stranraer Reserves have won the League twice as often - 16 compared to 8 - and next in line are Threave Rovers with 13. Tarff Rovers also won 8 championships.

Not even close!

3 matches were off. The game at Lockerbie was OK because it was played on an artificial carpet, but I didn't expect the Wigtown match to be on. That's why I didn't go to see it & I'm very pleased that I didn't.

Results:

Mid Annandale 3 St Cuthbert 2
Wigtown 0 Lochar Thistle 10

Norwich City announce £20.7m loss amid on-pitch struggles Norwich City announce a £20.7m loss for the 12 months to the end of June as the team continues to struggle near the foot of the Championship.

What makes professional football clubs think they don't have to pay their debts, like the rest of us? People & businesses are waiting for their money from NCFC, & probably won't get it. Meanwhile their fans are protesting because they keep losing. What do they expect? www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

That doesn't look like a progressive electorate! There's nothing progressive about Reform UK or the Tories, who manage 49% between them for programmes that can be reasonably described as fascist & racist.

You had me going there for a while.....

A blue gate with the words ST CUTHBERTWANDERERS EST 1879 in an unpicturesque photo. It looks a bit like a builder's yard but the trees on the hillside beyond are more in keeping with this part of Scotland.

#FloodlightFriday St Cuthbert Wanderers have won the SSL title more than any other team, but they'll not be doing so this year. Kirkcudbright really is a great town. I'd live there myself if I could afford to. The football ground is next to, and I imagine sometimes in, the pretty River Dee estuary.

Not wearing a poppy. Not going to Costa. Sorted.

League Fixtures & Results | Scottish Women's Football

...and here's the website. Stewarton and Giffnock both like nightmares to play against. Nice to see Rose Reilly, the most famous Scottish woman footballer of all, remembered in the name of Stewarton's home ground.

scotwomensfootball.com/fixtures-and...

YouTube video by Gretna FC 2008 TV Gretna 2008 Ladies vs Newton Stewart Ladies - The Highlights

The SWFL South includes 4 teams from D&G, and at the weekend Gretna and Newton Stewart played against each other. Gretna began on 1 point, Newton on zero with a -27 goal difference after 3 games, hoping for a change of luck after having met some formidable opponents.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VP7...

Coming up: 8 November

Creetown v Abbey Vale
Dalbeattie v Newton Stewart
Lochmaben v Nithsdale
Mid-Annandale v St Cuthbert
Wigtown v Lochar

Can't see the Wigtown pitch surviving the week's dreich weather. The Big One at Dalbeattie is probably doubtful as well, given the forecast. It's pishin doon.

Dalbeattie Star Football Club | Match Reports Read the latest match reports for Dalbeattie Star FC.

Our 11 teams have barely caught up with the internet age, except for Dalbeattie Star, whose website contains damn fine match reports with just the right amount of home town bias.

Read all about it...

www.dalbeattiestarfc.com/match-reports

Claim to fame. I once played Trivial Pursuit with Joe Ottewell, father of Ben, in Cromford, Derbyshire.

Would you like my autograph?

Football on a Saturday afternoon in Lochmaben.

The Auld Firm match has ended with Rangers moaning and griping again. It's too tedious for words, but fitba - and life - doesn't have to be that way.

Some of us like it calm, peaceful and with a low carbon footprint. Only £4 at the gate and no need to buy an online advance ticket.

That's really shameful.

That's awful.

OK then. Since we live in Scotland we should all speak Scots. Signs in English are unacceptable here under Susan Hall's rules. Fine by me, although not being a racist I don't feel any need to make a public fuss about it.

I believe that very early Z Cars episodes were transmitted live. Apparently Stratford Johns, who played tough Inspector Barlow, was so nervous that he used to vomit in between his scenes.

Great work. Thanks for reporting it, and all good wishes.

2 If only they'd known in advance about the reorganisation, Threave would have stayed in the Sooth. The best solution would be to come back home next season so the League isn't reduced to only 9 clubs and Rovers can more or less guarantee themselves promotion.

Good for the SoSL, good for TRFC.

1 We'll lose Dalbeattie and Newton to the new Lowland League West at the end of the season. Ironically, Threave Rovers, probably the best non-legue side in D&G, won't be joining them. Their brave move to the bottom division of the West has, in retrospect, backfired...