The weak team which Carlisle put out against Workington Reds on 2006-08-01 sparked a debate on the CUFConline message board about how poorly Carlisle have treated Reds in this fixture in recent years. I mulled on this and I wonder if next summer it would be an interesting pre-season event to have Queen of the South, Carlisle, Gretna and Workington compete in a "Solway Firth Cup". This would provide competitive local competition in the pre-season friendly period, with higher attendances than may otherwise be expected for pre-season friendlies due to the close proximity of fans. There has already been positive feedback on the Carlisle and Workington message boards.
Semi-finals (Workington v Carlisle, and Gretna v Queen of the South) and then a 3rd place play-off and final would allow all the teams to have two games. Using Gretna and Carlisle's grounds (because they are central for the four teams) for the final and 3rd place play-offs. The ground hosting the final could be alternated each year.
I would suggest holding the semi-finals on a Saturday and Sunday, and then the 3rd place and final the following Saturday and Sunday. This would allow fans to attend all the games, should they wish to. As all the teams fall within the Border TV region, there may even be the possibility of sponsorship and a highlights programme after the tournament.
An additional and alternative twist on this would be for the following year's semi-finals to be between first and third, and between second and fourth. This could then be repeated each year, allowing for some variation in the teams facing each other in the semi-finals.
I have forwarded my suggestion to all four clubs in the hope that they will get together and arrange this tournament in future years for fans in this area. Should you also wish to email the clubs, their email addresses are:
| RIOA Index |
Fans | Email the webmaster |