NZ National Futsal League

NZ National Futsal League

Not sure where this should go, but the NZ National Futsal League, which will involve 5 teams from NZ and 1 from NSW will be starting in Wellington in this weekend.

Was talking to one of the players and they said its quite expensive like $300 to be part of a regional team

Think this is more the "if you play futsal and fancy it put your hand up" national league isn't it?

No, it's run by NZF. There is an article about it on there website.

Give me 2 secs and I'll find it.

Edit: http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=793&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=a624b88a3b
Mr_Incredible2010-11-23 15:00:46

I'll be doing updates on Twitter for the earlier matches, assuming I don't sleep in. Anyone watching can feel free to copy them into here. I'll be unable to report on later matches tomorrow on account of YF Freestyle and Nix v. Tards.

Izaac tells me it's at WIS in Newtown and starting at 10am.

That's the name I was looking for! NZF told me Southwest Stadium, but that name isn't used often.

First match is 11 though according to NZF and Granville. Capital City v. Maccabi Hakoah.

Yeah I think 10 is just the time players have to be there.

First six matches:

1 - Maccabi Hakoah 0 Capital City Futsal 0
2 - Red Sox 0 East City 3
3 - Christchurch Futsal 0 FootballSouth Futsal 6
4 - East City 2 Capital City Futsal 4
5 - Christchurch Futsal 2 Maccabi Hakoah 15
6 - FootbalSouth Futsal 3 Red Sox 1

Three other matches played but I left early for the Nix match. Six more tomorrow, defo worth checking out. First match is East City v. Christchurch, kickoff at 8:30am.

7-10

Maccabi Hakoah 4, FootballSouth 0. Good match, very heated with a red card given to one of the Aussies.

Capital City 3 - Red Sox 0. Goals to Tariq Assad (2) and Lucas da Silva.

Capital 2 South 0. Final match of the Wellington round - RedSox Manawatu v. Christchurch

Final score - RSM 5 Chch 1.

As you have a Chch team in this comp who plays in the Chch team and what venue do they play at in Chch?
What's the go with this Futsal and the Vikings Futsal?
I see that Vikings had a South Island t/ment at QE2 this weekend.

Vikings Futsal is, as far as I have ascertained, an independent organization not affiliated with NZ Football (who operate this league).

Venue in Chch - Nowhere, Christchurch isn't hosting any fixtures this season. The league isn't running in a convential home & away format, rather as a series of three round robins hosted at three venues. First round robin was hosted here, next in Dunedin, last in Auckland.

Who plays for Chch - the squad list is in the media guide, which you can access at @ http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=901

Thanks Robb. That gave me the info I was looking for as the venue in Chch is Bishopdale YMCA, I do know one player in the Chch team, Jono Dobbs.

Just to answer a few questions/clarify things:

does anyone else think that the futsalwhites and other whacky sideline teams are a huge waste of nzf time and money?

No. Not a waste of time and money but they should be run independently as they are really two different sports/codes.

The Canterbury side that played in this league judging by their results should take up netball.

Skill is even more rewarded than physicality in futsal. Lumbering centrebacks with no touch can't hide.

Hellobeaver:
Depends on what you mean by touch?
Well they can score a screamer of a volley as happened to win the recent SI tournament with the only goal of the final. It was a strike you won't see in the ASB premiership this season, the guy by the post didn't see it till the ball was past him.

Poolmister, the "SI tournament" was organised by a private Australian company and was not affiliated to NZ Football. What does scoring screamers hae to do with touch?

Yeh I know all of that, but big centre halves can still be good enough to play Futsal at the so called top level no matter who runs the competitions.

Ofcourse, if they have the skill. And if they don't futsal can help them develop the skill.

The tactics and principles differ vastly between the two codes plus too many outdoor coaches simply dismiss the game so it is all well and good NZ Football getting behind the game ($$$) educating coaches to this more skilful game is another story.

Round 2 starts this weekend in Dunedin.

http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=892&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=dcf9e786bd

Left the results & ladder back at my flat, and they're not on the NZF website, but here's what I can give from the top of my head + my phone outbox.

Maccabi Hakoah (Sydney) won all five of their matches and retain first place. They've clinched a top four spot - they've won all of their matches so far bar a first-round draw against Capital City.

Capital City retain second and clinch a top four spot. Saturday: 0-0 draw v. Chch, 1-3 loss to Red Sox Manawatu, 0-3 loss to Maccabi. Sunday: 2-2 draw with East City and a 6-0 win over FootballSouth.

East City (Auckland) retain third and now trail Capital by one point.

Red Sox have supplanted FootballSouth for fourth place, South dropping down to fifth, Christchurch remaining sixth.

Final round + playoffs  begin March 5, looking like I'll be heading up for that too.

Any red cards dished out?

I didn't get to see all the matches as I was team staff this time rather than media, however there were none in the matches that I saw.

Given that two of the three red cards in the first round were for bang out of order dissent, hopefully they've learned to keep their traps shut.

Final round including playoffs this weekend at ASB Stadium in Auckland. Live streaming should be up on the NZF website. I'll be there, but as team staff so again probably won't be able to provide much in the way of updates.

Arf! Actually I was the manager... slight difference Players were responsible for their own hydration!

Final standings:

1. Maccabi Hakoah (Sydney)
2. Capital City
3. East City (Auckland)
4. RedSox Manawatu
5. FootballSouth (Dunedin)
6. Christchurch

(Don't have the stats due to data issues, but it was basically Maccabi, big gap, Capital ahead of East City by 1 point, medium gap, RedSox just ahead of South, big gap, Chch)

Semis:
Capital def. East City 1-0
Maccabi def. RedSox 4-0

Final:
Maccabi def. Capital 2-0.

Maccabi were phenomenal, very much a class above, but this added a hell of a lot to the league in giving every team something to aim for. I'm happy with being first among the New Zealand teams, although naturally the disappointment of not winning the league is there.