First game back and to be honest it looked pretty poor in terms of skill level. Lots of missed passes, long balls etc, all with a low accuracy rate. Still, good to have football in the city over the summer, despite it feeling like I was cheering on Tech with 8 of the 11 (by my count) coming from the one team. I guess with not selecting anyone outside of the region, this was always going to be where we're at.
What hasn't really been delved into is how the new national league structure is going to work. With the Mainland region guaranteed 1 spot, with another optional one, could we see a Canterbury United and a Christchurch United in the national league? And what will happen when it comes time for a relegation? We might see Canterbury drop out and Christchurch stay in!
To be honest, I still can't work out how this relegation system is going to work. It happens every 4 years apparently, however surely they can't just take the team at the bottom after the fourth year. They might have been amazing in years 1-3 and then all of a sudden everyone packs their teams in year 4? And surely they can't keep points over all of the 4 years! Has anyone got any ideas on this?
I think it's an accumulation from something I read. I'm sure someone will know definitively??? It does take into account 'guaranteed' places for regions, so you might not finish bottom, but still get relegated.
Oh ok, I didn't see anything about an accumulation of points, not sure if there is a 4 year league for relegation in the world. They should do 4 year winner too if that's the case. :-)
Yes you're correct about the guaranteed regional places, so yer, you might finish above the teams that have a guaranteed spot, and then you're out!
I did a little digging, the ODT did a bit here.
the extended relegation time with accumulation of points over 3-4 seasons is similar to what they use in Argentina and Brazil - except there the intention was to protect the big clubs from relegation if they have a horror season
based on the last 3 seasons of the ISPS Hamilton would be getting relegated but it would be possible for a team to finish 8th this season and have the Weenix and Southern United below them and still get relegated!