North Caledonian League clubs call for Highland League to open up with relegation and promotion

North football clubs are calling for plans to create a new division which would see promotion and relegation from the Highland League driven forward.

The North Caledonian League wants to see a sixth tier of Scottish football established in the north to allow its teams the chance to play at a higher level.

Ross-shire has had no teams in the Highland League since Ross County were voted into the Scottish League in 1994. But if a tier six league is implemented in the north, teams like Invergordon and Tain outfit St Duthus would have the chance to enter the division.

Since 2014, the East of Scotland League and the South of Scotland League have played at a sixth tier level with promotion to the Lowland League.

St Duthus chairman and North Caledonian Football Association fixture secretary Niall Harkiss says all nine NCFA clubs are in favour of a tier six being established, saying it would breathe a new lease of life to senior football in the Highlands.

“The beauty is it would create an avenue for football in the most remote areas to progress beyond the bottom tier which we are confined to at the moment,” he said.

Read more in today's Ross-shire Journal by clicking here.

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