A MIXED reaction has been expressed by footballing officials from around Falmouth and Helston to the reserve league idea.

Should the plans go ahead, it would open the door for half a dozen teams in the Jolly’s Combination League including Falmouth Town, Penryn Athletic and Helston Athletic to potentially join.

Combination League official Paul Smith said it could cause issues for them, but it all depends on how the structure ends up looking.

Smith said: “From what I have been told, it appears all the SWPL sides with a reserve team in the Combo or East Cornwall leagues will be able to join along with clubs like Mousehole, who have reserves playing in the Trelawny League.

“The Combo could end up losing six teams and they are the ones with floodlights and the best facilities, which could make it awkward and force the league to be reduced in size.

“Also, our league would then become the standard of a junior league, not senior as it is now.

“There is also the question of what happens should a team get relegated to the Combo or East Cornwall at the end of this season, do they go to either of these leagues or the new one.”

Former Falmouth Town Reserves boss Paul Murray told the Packet he feels the idea of a SWPL reserve division is a nice thought.

But the current Wendron United manager went onto say he does not think it will work in the long run.

Murray said: “The principle of it has a lot of sentiment behind it and would be a great benefit to clubs like Falmouth and Helston who have first teams in the SWPL.

“But it might end up being quite a small league and with the players and culture in football locally, it might not encourage enough interest to stop it from crashing and burning.

“Teams need to travel less as clubs and players are struggling to pay for transport to away games, but they could end up travelling more depending on who enters the league.

“I would love to see it work, but I don’t think it will.”

Helston Athletic boss Sid Taylor said the plans would get his vote as he thinks it would make running the club easier and improve the standard of football.

“If the Peninsula League do go ahead with it I think it would be a great idea,” he said.

“To have the reserves playing under the same banner and becoming available for selected to the firsts without needing re-registering would be good.

“No disrespect to the Combination League, but the league is not very well run and if the reserves end up going to places like Falmouth, Penryn, Newquay and further afield more regularly then it will only make things better for them.”