The late change by the Scottish Football Association to insist on floodlights to be part of the Entry Level criteria was a body blow to several local football clubs who had spent hard earned funds in an attempt to gain SFA Membership. Haddington Athletic were within a week of their SFA Audit last December when the change was announced. The club had built spectator toilets and a medical room at Millfield in the belief that they would be awarded membership. They were then advised that they ticked all of the boxes apart from having floodlights.

So in conjunction with neighbours Tranent Juniors and Musselburgh Athletic the club approached East Lothian Council some months ago for help to achieve their goal of gaining SFA membership which would allow them to be part of the pyramid system and gain entry to the Scottish Cup. East Lothian Council have agreed to make funding available and Haddington wish to acknowledge the help received from council officials and elected representatives. The club also wish to acknowledge the efforts of officials at both Tranent and Musselburgh, it’s been a real team effort.

The clubs have just released a joint statement which can be found in full on both the Haddington Athletic Facebook page and Twitter account.