ASB Premiership: Changes Needed Next Season

I agree with parts of your post. If they are going to stump up 150-200k for a youth team to play in the league, why have they not invested that previously in the league especially in times where Waikato and Manawatu were damn near broke.

I'm struggling to see what it is you guys want apart from prize money for the franchises.  That money would have been used in some way to prepare the team for the WC, so it's not a matter of simply, not putting the team in the NZFC and paying the dosh to the clubs. I think it is also important that we put on a good showing at the WC in our own backyard, constant game time is good and a lot less expensive than having the team head off overseas to get game time.

As far as the likes of the Manawatus and Waikatos not being financially viable, they need to step up to the mark and not rely on handouts. Using the same argument that people seem to be using that its not fair spending all that money on the youth team, it wouldn't be fair to bail out franchises because they can't get their house in order. where's the incentive for the clubs that do break even?

I read with interest comments around the financial viability of Waikato.I just like to put the record straight and state that Waikato was one of the first franchises to pay their $65k plus GST entry fee last season .its no secret that over the past few years we have struggled financially but we did return a profit last year.We are completely debt free and have a number of assets. 

We are keen to regain our license under our new structure next season and beyond. The challenge for the likes of us and other franchises is to keep raising our game on and off the field to the levels of Auckland and Waitakere.we have a long way to go but we are heading in the right direction.I am stepping down as Chair of Waikato,a position I have held for the past three years.we have an exciting new board to take the franchise to the next level.

Hope this clarifies a few things

Brendon Coker

Glad to hear that Waikato United is on a reasonably sound footing. I for one like having them in the ASBP because it's an away game that's easily manageable from Auckland. Playing at Porritt Stadium is okay, but an open field at Ngarawhahia does not impress, that would be my biggest issue. I realize in the past WU went to a lot of trouble and expense to play in the impressive Waikato Stadium but to do that you need decent support. I suppose the big question is why doesn't the sizeable Waikato football community turn out in decent numbers to support WU? It would be good to have a more competitive franchise.

The main reason we can't play all our games at Porritt is that we have to share the ground with athletics.the Hamilton City Council give Athletics the first right to any bookings over summer so if there is any date clashes soccer has to move.we spoke to the HCC over the use of the Waikato Stadium but if was far too expensive per game and also the Chiefs would again get any priority over bookings.

The playing surface at Ngaruawahia is the best in the Waikato and the Ngaruawahia club is superb to work with.there is a lot more development to happen at the ground such as enclosing the pitch etc.the bid for next year is to play the majority of the games at Porritt

The big question is why the local football community doesn't get behind the team.they do in a number of ways but not actually turning up to watch the games

 

Get Gin Wigmore to shake her booty before kick-off.

Lack of spectators is a problem throughout the ASBP. I think lack of promotion/TV coverage has something to do with it. A sports event needs a lot of promotion to attract the fair weather fans.

Glad to hear there are plans to develop the Ngarauwahia ground, it is a good playing service. Hope Porritt works out for you guys next season. 

As a side note, OFC are financially fucked because of this OFC TV lark. That took all of 10 months.

I would rather have no TV coverage than go back to the days of a government handout to stay alive.

 

Sadly, TV coverage these days is seen as the be all and end all. All the way from the EPL down.

Yes it is but OFC are really in the crapper over this. If NZF start going down the path of TV and Sky, our game will end up in the exact same shape.

TV coverage might well be the solution as much as it could be the problem.

I don't know any figures but I wonder how ACFC were able to get an hour's Sky TV coverage of their Under-17 Easter tournament on Monday night without any problem yet NZF can't do something similar with the ASB, as Trueblue has been complaining about ad nauseum. Toyota Grassroots Rugby is a weekly TV event. Why didn't ASB come to the party ditto?  PS - this is probably going over old ground, so apologies.

Did they get an hour on TV? You are kidding right? I'd love to know how that was pulled off.

 

Not kidding. 8.30 - 9.30pm Monday. It was brilliant coverage. Check out the ACFC Under-17 tourney thread. Exerpts from the 3 days, rain and shine - group games, quarters, semis and final:  boys and girls. Presentation of cups to winners, best player, top goalscorer. Dennis Kotzanos the (off-camera) presenter.

No idea how they pulled it off.

Where there's a will there's a way, ad nauseum, ad nauseum...

 

Too true, Trueblue. One day...

if you read past this post i covered this and the player did pretty well at ACFC - dosn't make my statement invalid though.

Doesnt validate your statement at all!!

There are other ways of trailing players other than emailing a club asking for recomendations!

They held open trails and made there own minds up rather than going to the word of someone else who could rate a player that no else does!

There were plenty of none Central Utd players in ACFC's NYL Squad 

All of whom have returned to there previous Winter clubs except one player!!

And im sure you know who that is.

And as I say ACFC's NYL Squad was clearly none the poorer for not having more of your clubs players in it......

And moving on! who in your 1st team squad do you think should of been selected for ACFC or Waitakere Utd?

i agree - there are other ways to trial players and to be clear i wasn't asking them to come to us and ask us to recommend players - infact if you read through my posts it's not just about players it's about ACFC's disconnect with the AFF clubs it should be representing.  It would be great to be able to support a team in the summer who gives to craps about the grassroots clubs in it's area but i guess until we have another Auckland franchise we won't know.

I don't particularly want to go into one players particular pathway into ACFC as I don't think that's fair for me to discuss that on his behalf.

You say the ACFC NYL squad was none the poorer for not having any Ellerslie players in it - well you must have a pretty good knowledge of both the ACFC NYL and the Ellerslie team to make that statement, but i assume since you seem to be in the know about some other things that you do - on the other hand I only watched two or three ACFC NYL games and probably don't have the same grasp on their abilities.

To answer your last point - i don't presuppose any of the Ellerslie AFC players should have made the ACFC or Waitakere Utd squads but i do think we had a few guys who were worth looking at - but to be honest i am not that surprised they weren't as i am aware there is a big feeling out there that pretty much no-one from Div 1 can step up to ASBP, and i find that very shortsighted.

Finally you seem to know a lot about ACFC - so answer me this question - Does ACFC actually care about tapping into the grassroots clubs in their catchment area (AFF) in terms of players and supporters or are they happy to just pretend to and just be central in disguise?

I resent that statement. Central have their roots in Croatia. ACFC have their roots in Madrid, or Barcelona, or somewhere in Spain...

well if i was in their position i would be trying to tap into the support of all the other winter clubs - it would be hard work but there is plenty of   reward out there.  what do i expect them to do?  well trying would be a good start - i'm not going to start giving specifics, surely if they want to  tap into grassroots clubs in their area then they would have tried something - me putting ideas out there when my gut feeling is that they actually don't have any interest in making connections with local clubs would just lead to people mocking my ideas.

I personally feel more attached to Waitakere for a number of reasons - initially we had a player represent Waitakere in the first couple of years with Ellerslie connections, also like i said in earlier posts Waitakere have in the past couple of season been proactive in contacting us during the end of the winter season in regards to trials - infact we even had N.E. come and watch one of our players who he had interest in.

I don't disagree that the ACFC reluctance to connect with my club is simuarly felt from most clubs in the AFF region - so no i don't think it's a shun against Ellerslie and i don't think i have said that anyway, but all the same i think if they made a better effort we would all be better off.

FYI the U17 Auckland City Competition is a great start - credit where credit is due.

[quote=chopah]

well if i was in their position i would be trying to tap into the support of all the other winter clubs - it would be hard work but there is plenty of   reward out there.  what do i expect them to do?  well trying would be a good start - i'm not going to start giving specifics, surely if they want to  tap into grassroots clubs in their area then they would have tried something - me putting ideas out there when my gut feeling is that they actually don't have any interest in making connections with local clubs would just lead to people mocking my ideas.

I personally feel more attached to Waitakere for a number of reasons - initially we had a player represent Waitakere in the first couple of years with Ellerslie connections, also like i said in earlier posts Waitakere have in the past couple of season been proactive in contacting us during the end of the winter season in regards to trials - infact we even had N.E. come and watch one of our players who he had interest in.

I don't disagree that the ACFC reluctance to connect with my club is simuarly felt from most clubs in the AFF region - so no i don't think it's a shun against Ellerslie and i don't think i have said that anyway, but all the same i think if they made a better effort we would all be better off.

FYI the U17 Auckland City Competition is a great start - credit where credit is due.

[/quote

thats your opinion mate - you can be a keyboard warrior all you like but all you have done is come on here and asked questions, you havn't offered any solutions so feel free to put up or shut up - at least the other ACFC fans on here are willing to make suggestions or solutions - it's easy to pick apart other peoples posts while offering nothing yourself.

ok mate - yeah that's what it is - delusions of greatness - you got me.

I don't know what your problem is but if all i wanted to do was tear down ACFC why would i waste time coming on here and doing that - I'm on here highlighting what i think is the next step in the development pathway for young talented kids (from any AFF club) who are good enough to play ASBP level and have to leave Auckland to do so (Birkenhead's waikato trio for example).

Waitakare do a slightly better job than ACFC in my opinion but again they are technically meant to be servicing the NFF area so again my points come back to ACFC.

So you want some things i think ACFC could do with grassroots clubs to improve this area?  

- Communication (make an effort to communicate to clubs in their area about upcoming events, trials, games etc)

- Exposure (tap into the winter league clubs young - target clubs who run summer coaching programs, offer assistance, support etc and the young players will grow an affiliation with ACFC and drag their parents along - if you want to offer some kind of free ticket thing you could but it's got to be more about a connection than just saving yourself $10 for a ticket.  You can't tell me Ivan turning up to a coaching clinic for an hour wouldn't attract some more supporters - and the efforts ACFC go to with their match entertainment you would more than likely keep them.

- Inclusiveness (winter clubs do need to be managed carefuly due to ACFC's close ties with Central, so i can imagine some clubs would be sceptical of any efforts from ACFC to manage a closer relationship but as one of the powerhouses of ASBP football a club would be silly to disregard their efforts without further discussion.  The ACFC U17 tournament as previously mentioned is a great step in the right direction - this is promoting a closer relationship, but needs to be followed through in my opinion.

WaiBOP United given a three year licence to play in the ASB Premiership, great news for me, and the right decision too. Now we wait and see how the rest of the league plays out, whether they go to ten teams or not.

And Manawatu are gone, in come the NZ Under 20's.

I would imagine the coach ( never heard of him)  would be recruiting players now. .for waikato

Interesting. 

Manuwatu keep youth league spot. Masterton and South Auckland joing youth league too.

Bit of a backwards step IMO and makes a mockery of the league really. The Best U20 NZers should be playing in the league in 2013/14 anyway. It's a cheap and "effective" way for NZF to build up to the 2015 U20 World Cup. 

Still just the eight teams in the ASB Prem, looks like the likes of Nelson, Wairarapa and South Auckland will have to prove themselves in the Youth League before they make the jump to the top tier.

Seems like a reasonable decision from NZF.

NZU20 side will surely be the top U20 so I wonder how other clubs feel about their best young talent being raided. It's going to create a lot angst and arguments no doubt and if whose to say clubs won't bother promoting their youth for that fear

Agreed, I'm a bit dubious about the NZ Under 20's, but they are likely to be more competitive than Manawatu, and it's not like our league is a superbly-regarded professional league so I don't see how they make a "mockery" of it. 

Nelson wouldn't have won too many games, nor Wairarapa, and three Auckland teams out of eight would have been too high a ratio for my liking. Though, as long as I can keep attending Waikato games for the next three years I'm happy either way.

How many leagues have a national U20 side in their top flight. None. It's a mockery. I feel for YM what a waste of all those years...

NZF continues its descent....

Wairapapa Yoof? havin a laff

Crap..