National League review and future

personally i'm quite happy with the mix of clubs and franchises.  NZF are simply asking the best to step forward regardless of who they are.  the franchise model has seen too many teams falling behind the best standard

of course this is all open to how the new rules are actually administered

I wonder what would happen during winter if a 'club' enters the national league? Are the national league clubs eligible for the Chatham Cup?

My understanding (and this is based on nothing more than a couple of guys I know) is that some of the stalwarts at Central would far prefer to see it as Central United as opposed to Auckland City.

One of the problems you now have though is that Auckland City is now known world wide so if you look at it from the point of view of attracting players from overseas, would you want to play for ACFC, the club thats done very well at CWC or Central United, a team with a nice history in NZ.

I would be interested in how this works out in respect to some of those clubs in disguise (Waitakere, NCR, Miramar and Cashmere)

I *think* it was Darren White. I remember working out who it was during the match but can't remember it fully.

Nobody did. According to the ACFC website! Mysterious.......

What I like about the proposals is that they're specifically NOT "ripping it up and starting again". They admit both that the current system has worked reasonably well AND that it hasn't done nearly what it's supposed to. They would prefer a club-based National League but they don't know whether it's feasible. So they're opening it up to both and seeing what develops. I consider this very wise.

As to ACFC/Central, I can imagine that it will end up like the Nix/Wellington Utd, especially if ACFC are serious about gearing up for an A-League bid.

I think Napier City Rovers and HB United are no longer as closely linked as they were in the past now that HBU is essentially run by Central Football. Looking at their board and hierarchy, I think the only NCR person there is Terry Parkin.

Its hard to know what HBU/Central Football might do if NCR want to put their hand up. If HBU is costing them money and the team is made up of mostly out of towners, then why would you bother hanging in there if NCR wanted to take over?

HBU was set up because NZF wanted the franchise model, HBU hasn't had the type of success that Auckland City have and managed to build up a nice little nest egg, so could probably just disappear and no one would mind too much, as long as they were replaced with something else.

Plus I suspect you would have locals that would want to play for NCR vs HBU

I suspect that the reason that locals don't want to play for HBU is because of the coach, not whether or not the team is HBU or NCR.

The very point I was making...

with regard to foreign players I was thinking that it might benefit us and the Islands if the foreign player cap was relaxed a bit. 

I'm all for there to a limit on Brits, Spanish, Brazilians etc but I think all sides should be encouraged to recruit from the Islands.  Helps them and us. 

There must be a few more Krishnas, Totoris and Brownes out there. If they come here and make the grade could help the Nix, the National League and potentially the AWs (if they don't get capped by their home nation first).

Even if they end up only playing for Fiji, Tahiti etc at the very least they will raise football and when they represent Oceania, which is going to happen more now at U17/20 level, they will not be too far out of their depth.  Gives us decent opponents to play too at all levels.

Nelson Sale was also there. They also had a couple of Fijians in Peni Finau and Osea Vakatalesau

Lea'alafa for Auckland City looks promising this season. Fast feet.

Yeah I remember watching some of them at ECB prior to playing for Manawatu too.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/domestic/732...

Another good Rollo article. Fa'arodo, Fifi'i, Abba (I think) and Ifill are others with Nelson connections. 

I collected some thoughts on the televising and the ground shifting....

Ground Control

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/26/fo...

i think the phoenix licence issue may soon become very relevant to the future of our national league

Don't count on it.

Anyone know the length of the broadcast agreement? Wonder if Nix participation was a key factor or not? Guessing some clubs might see their chances of getting a licence just improved - after #nixaggedon.

Can anyone confirm this? There was a letter/email sent to all clubs that a fine may occur for using foul languish on SKY TV broadcast matches.

if so, that would be good

Any ideas of teams that have expressed interest? Bids must be in. I assume the current teams are all in, then North Shore? Nelson?

...and, i should know this but...is 10 the max? What if there are 3 or 4 bids that meet criteria and appear sustainable?

10 maximum. Allows for the fixture list to develop at the pace the NZF want, up to 30 games in 2018.

Read rumours of Eastern Suburbs and possibly two north shore bids. Imagine Wairarapa have bidded as well.

But are they going for clubs in towns/cities with hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands? #metrics

Mainland federation is pushing Nelson's club franchise.

Thats a very short window to assess these applications.

Believe Eastern suburbs.....North shore utd..Glenfield.

I don't know the football politics in the area. Could the region support HWFC and Waibopalula?

Is the list now: Hamilton Wanderers, Tasman Utd, Wairarapa, and from Auckland: South Auckland? Eastern Suburbs, North Shore x2?

That's 7 so far. 

North Shore City make a bid...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c...

That makes sense, having a team North of the Harbour bridge.

If I was Waitakere, I'd be a bit worried about not making it at the minute.

Hmmm... both Nth S & Taka unable at the minute to even get into the NRL Prem let alone the ASB.

North Shore need a team though. Think I heard humours of a glenfield and Birko bid too.

Is it all turning into a lolly scramble? #licenses