Did you see who Linfield and Crusaders got in the Scottish challenge cup..?

Yes as the title says Linfield and Crusaders yesterday finally learned of their opponents in the Scottish challenge cup. Yes the Scottish challenge cup. Belfast duo Linfield and Crusaders will be making their bow this season in the competition that was revamped to stoke renewed interest. However it doesn't stop there, joining them will be Welsh pair Bala Town and The New Saints. The addition of the four non-Scottish sides adds a novelty factor to this seasons' competition. The inclusion got approval from UEFA which could be the start of cross-border cup competitions dotting up around Europe.

The competition however does not feature the Premiership sides and so as a result last season's winners Rangers will not be able to defend their title. Underage teams from the Premiership sides however have been invited to take part, which have all been knocked out at this stage.
Three rounds have been played so far, all of which have been broken into northern and southern sections. The fourth round will be the first to see the non-Scottish sides take part and was drawn to prevent the Belfast clubs from facing their Welsh counterparts.

• Bala Town v Alloa Athletic
• Forfar Athletic v The New Saints
• Crusaders v Livingston
• Queen of the South v Linfield

Linfield will face an away trip to Dumfries to face Queen of the South in a trip that is about 100km longer than their longest domestic trip. Crusaders host Livingston which cuts the travelling aspect out for the Belfast team but for Livingston it's a trip that is around 20km longer than their longest domestic trip. 

The Welsh sides were always going to be travelling quite a distance. Bala have been spared an away trip with them hosting an Alloa team that will be making a 481km journey south. The New Saints however will be travelling 558km north to face Forfar Athletic. 

Irish sides in future?

I must admit I was intrigued about this when it first emerged that Northern Irish and Welsh sides would be invited to play in this season's competition. It did of course get me thinking of, should this experiment go well, why not include two teams of the Republic of Ireland. If they continued down this road then the two representatives from here would be Dundalk and Cork City. A couple of issues would need to be ironed out of course such as fixture congestion which has become an issue now with Dundalk's European adventure continuing into the autumn. Prize money would also be a deciding factor to see if it would be a worthwhile adventure. The calendar is also a big factor. The Scottish, Welsh and Irish leagues are all winter leagues with the league here a summer one. That could also present a challenge in trying to fit in games. 

From a fan perspective I would be more than willing to take part in this competition. The chance to face Hibernian at Easter Road would be an interesting match up. However there would be as much chance of that happening as a City away trip to say Peterhead or Elgin City. Either way I'm in favor of City giving it a go. 

However there is skepticism in me about the Northern Irish sides in particular. For years we had a cross-border cup competition called the Setanta cup which pitted northern sides against the southern teams here in Ireland. The competition began to dive into farce when in 2014 both Linfield and Cliftonville withdrew from the tournament citing lack of prize money as a factor for the withdrawal. Then the following year the clubs from the north voiced concerns over the schedule. The tournament was cancelled when agreements couldn't be made as to when to play it and to date it hasn't returned. Despite numerous format changes the competition with the exception of the first few years didn't really capture the imagination. I would be interested to see if the Irish league sides take to this competition given they weren't that keen on travelling south yet are open for travelling to Scotland.