I think in the Australian NPL the A-League reserve sides can get demoted, so I see no reason why the WeeNix and AFC reserves shouldn't suffer the same fate
Ramming liberal dribble down your throat since 2009 This forum needs less angst and more Kate Bush threads
I think in the Australian NPL the A-League reserve sides can get demoted, so I see no reason why the WeeNix and AFC reserves shouldn't suffer the same fate
They should be able to but at the moment they are currently protected from it.
Well interesting weekend so far. Olympic just keep on keeping on. CU blowing a great chance to beat Auckland City. First win for Auck Utd against a very disappointing Coastal team in this national league.
Went to Miramar vs Springs. Frantic game from the start, both teams scored early including a cracking diving header from Owen Smith. Nico Bobadilla saw a second yellow by the 26th minute and got sent off, ribbing got out of control on the way out from the Springs bench and coaches who he had to walk past... Scotty Hales with a seriously classless remark to him which I won't repeat and shouldn't have been said in front of kids for sure.
Anyway, Miramar actually competed well for rest of the first half and didn't look like they were playing with 10. But Springs took over in the second half and controlled the game more, goal didn't come until the 67th but was well deserved. Poor giveaway from Miramar but cracking finish across goal from Caspar McGavin. Miramar didn't create a lot again until perhaps the last ten minutes but had some very good chances... Springs keeper Connolly making a couple of huge saves. His counterpart Oliver in the Miramar goal had some goodies earlier in the game tbf. Anyways, Springs deserved the win and now move into the "favourites" group with Olympic.
Anyone know the impact on the top domestic leagues?
I believe the Southern League will go back to 8 teams. TBC whether 2 or 3 from there go into this new National League so a possibility that, if 3 get in, we get 2 teams promoted next year for 2027
I wonder if it's worth having just two leagues underneath the National League - a Northern League, and a South-Central League.
If you took out Christchurch United, Coastal Spirit and Cash Tech from the Southern League it's a pretty weak league without them. Similarly, a Central League without Olympic, Miramar, Suburbs and Napier wouldn't be great. Especially if both leagues remain at 8-10 teams.
Might also make promotion/relegation a bit easier, you could have the winners of both the South-Central League and Northern League automatically promoted and a play-off between third bottom in the National League and second places in the Northern/South-Central Leagues to determine the final spot in the league. Seems a bit smoother promoting from 2 leagues instead of 3.
Teams from Dunners/Wanaka having to get all the way to Welly, or maybe even New Plymouth and Napier.
Agree with this, it could make some sense from a football perspective but not a logistics perspective.
Central League atm generally doesn't require flights, while in the Southern League, 7/10 teams (going down to 6/10 tho) are from the same city (Christchurch)
I wonder if it's worth having just two leagues underneath the National League - a Northern League, and a South-Central League.
If you took out Christchurch United, Coastal Spirit and Cash Tech from the Southern League it's a pretty weak league without them. Similarly, a Central League without Olympic, Miramar, Suburbs and Napier wouldn't be great. Especially if both leagues remain at 8-10 teams.
Might also make promotion/relegation a bit easier, you could have the winners of both the South-Central League and Northern League automatically promoted and a play-off between third bottom in the National League and second places in the Northern/South-Central Leagues to determine the final spot in the league. Seems a bit smoother promoting from 2 leagues instead of 3.
Thoughts?
If you look at the UK National Leagues they work towards a 1-2-4-8-16 model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_League_System_(football)#:~:text=In%20March%202018%2C%20representatives%20of%20the%20National%20League%20system%20confirmed%20that%20a%20pure%20pyramid%20in%20a%201%2D2%2D4%2D8%2D16%20was%20the%20goal. with four down/ two time two up, and the occasional rejig with teams in the geographic middle potentially shifting sideways to keep things even.
I don't think NZ Geography works for such a model, instead a 1-3-6-12 model could be the aspirational goal...
Step One National League Step Two: Northern (a) Central (b) Southern (c) Step Three: Northern North Northern South Central North (d) Central South Southern North (e) Southern South (f) Step Four: Northland Auckland Waikato Bay of Plenty Hawkes Bay Taranaki Manawatu Wellington Tasman Christchurch Dunedin Central Otago/Southland
8-12 teams per league ... with two down / two times one up (or playoffs), and an annual rejig if required
Such a model probably also requires club reserve teams to be fitted into the pyramid to give the necessary numbers.
That leaves the following potential long away games that may require some travel subsidy (plane or motel) in that you can't realistically go there and back in a day with surface travel... Step 2 (a) Whangarei vs Tauranga|Hamilton|Taupo (b) Napier|Gisborne v Wellington v New Plymouth (c) Nelson v Christchurch|Timaru v Dunedin|Queenstown|Invercargill Step 3 (d) Napier|Gisborne v New Plymouth (e) Nelson v Christchurch (f) Timaru|Dunedin v Queenstown|Invercargill Step 4 No long away games
Step 1 = Plane Step 2,3= Bus Step 4 = Car
Like the UK model it can be aspirational and something that is worked towards. Either with a step omitted or with 8 team leagues (21 games) instead of 12 teams (22 games)
Agree, the Miramar game was good value and end to end at times, but Western springs had the majority of control and bar the header at the end, didn't look in too much danger against 10 men.
I heard from someone who was close by the comment towards the lad sent off was deplorable. IMO The David Brent of NZ football. A shame really as Springs played well.
Olympic certainly look in the driving seat. Looking at the Auckland City game highlights, it looked like Christchurch gave it away.
All to play for...LT01
Well interesting weekend so far. Olympic just keep on keeping on. CU blowing a great chance to beat Auckland City. First win for Auck Utd against a very disappointing Coastal team in this national league.
Went to Miramar vs Springs. Frantic game from the start, both teams scored early including a cracking diving header from Owen Smith. Nico Bobadilla saw a second yellow by the 26th minute and got sent off, ribbing got out of control on the way out from the Springs bench and coaches who he had to walk past... Scotty Hales with a seriously classless remark to him which I won't repeat and shouldn't have been said in front of kids for sure.
Anyway, Miramar actually competed well for rest of the first half and didn't look like they were playing with 10. But Springs took over in the second half and controlled the game more, goal didn't come until the 67th but was well deserved. Poor giveaway from Miramar but cracking finish across goal from Caspar McGavin. Miramar didn't create a lot again until perhaps the last ten minutes but had some very good chances... Springs keeper Connolly making a couple of huge saves. His counterpart Oliver in the Miramar goal had some goodies earlier in the game tbf. Anyways, Springs deserved the win and now move into the "favourites" group with Olympic.
👉 Auckland FC Reserves with a stunning win 👉 Wellington Olympic & Western Springs are pulling away 👉 Another late comeback for Auckland City 👉 Auckland United finally got a victoryhttps://t.co/926u45ubvC
Caspar McGavin with the winner for Western Springs away against Miramar... third goal of the Nats for the 19yo striker as he continues his big year having bagged eight during the Northern League phase #NZNationalLeaguepic.twitter.com/Rr6Re8cd6l
image.png253.37 KB Leaders Olympic with a bye. Fellow frontrunners Western Springs should beat the Nix but depends who drops down for the visitors I guess.
Every game becomes a must win for everyone else now... including Auckland City vs Auckland United. City should win but stumbled to a couple of draws and AU got on the board last week. Miramar must bounce back away to Coastal. Christchurch Utd are still in the hunt but Birko away looms as a huge test. Oh, and Wests who probably won't make the final play Knights reserves who can't.
Have a feeling the top twos' advantage will become even clearer this round.
Commentator on the AFC vs Olympic game has never heard of Miramar, apparently - calling it "Minamar". Also cant say "Basalaj" properly despite him playing at this level for a decade. Is there not a basic level of research/competence required before getting on the mic? Makes it so hard to watch.
Has just butchered "Bouzoukis" as well. Tragic.
On a more general level, the bias & general ability on comms for most games is horrible. The sooner we get some professionalism in the production of the NL broadcasts the better (throwing some WC money at it would be ideal). Having the NL as an actual watchable product would be huge.
The main commentator Paul who was doing the Wee Nix Coastal Spirit game kept calling Luke Supyk Luke Syprick. But otherwise I like listening to him as he is quite funny.
Aucklansd II must be looking at 19 yr old Wellsbury
Morgan Wellsbury is another off the Tauranga City production line... this was his first #NZNationalLeague goal for Birkenhead
19 years old, tied for Northern League Golden Boot w/14 goals, he's tall and good in the air but also mobile and capable of composed finishes like this pic.twitter.com/Pkq2RAcT5O
👉 Great results for both Auckland FC & Wellington Phoenix Reserves 👉 Miramar Rangers won big to stay in title contention 👉 Bounce back victories for Christchurch United & Auckland Unitedhttps://t.co/WcVSShzOvQ
Good game between Olympic and Christchurch utd. Joel Stevens with a brilliant free-kick and then nicked the three points late on. Final three rounds should be good with a lot of teams still in the running. Olympic will be gutted with this one.
Only criticism was the commentary on Fifa+. I know it's probably only volunteers, but how are you getting the pronunciation wrong of Basalaj, Supyk etc. Surely you would ask the players, if unsure. Calling Jack-Henry Sinclair "Henry-Sinclair" for the entire game. It's punishing. Giving betting odds etc. Second half comms were poor.
How are the commentators selected? Do they get training? In fairness there are a couple of decent ones, Auckland City and Miramar's are good. The rest you could easily mute.
