Southern League 2024

Some quality strikes here, including 2 in the mainland.

A week of stunning goals! ✨

Which one do you think is the best?

1- Ryan De Vries @AucklandCity_FC
2- Estelle Harrison @Auckland_United
3- Joshua Galletly @ESAFC
4- Garbhan Coughlan @cashmere_tech
5- Joel Stevens @ChristchurchUtd#NZNationalLeague #NZFootball #GOTW pic.twitter.com/ssQMN8d4KS

— NZ National League 🏆🇳🇿 (@nzleagues) August 20, 2024

The bad thing for FC is that they need 3 wins and Uni to lose their last 3 games.
The good thing is that two of those games are against relegation rivals Uni and Selwyn (the other is against Coastal Spirit unfortunately) while Uni still have, apart from FC, Coastal and Nomads to play.

They should be dropping the bottom 2 teams, FC2011 shouldn't have been there. Balance in the League has gone for Dunedin football. They travel every second week and have no Dunedin derbys. Originally 3 teams from Football South. Give automatic place to top Footballsouth, and playoff winner from Mainland. 2 up 2 down each season. Would be doubtful Footballsouth would get back to 3 teams, but would make tail wag in the League for the relegation spots and bring balance for Footballsouth teams. It is possible under current promotion relegation rules, Footballsouth could have no representation. Remove reserve grade requirements so teams like Wanaka or Rangers (Nelson) could get a go.

Podderick

They should be dropping the bottom 2 teams, FC2011 shouldn't have been there. Balance in the League has gone for Dunedin football. They travel every second week and have no Dunedin derbys. Originally 3 teams from Football South. Give automatic place to top Footballsouth, and playoff winner from Mainland. 2 up 2 down each season. Would be doubtful Footballsouth would get back to 3 teams, but would make tail wag in the League for the relegation spots and bring balance for Footballsouth teams. It is possible under current promotion relegation rules, Footballsouth could have no representation. Remove reserve grade requirements so teams like Wanaka or Rangers (Nelson) could get a go.

Plenty of wishful thinking here, regional representation would be great but doesn't just happen overnight and sometimes clubs are too small.

Dunedin could do with a second team but it's up to individual clubs to make that happen.

I was going to type Nelson Marlborough but didn't realize it was so offensive it needed exclamation points, anyway, Teams that play in a promotion relegation league should have to go up. Does the loser in the League get to choose to go down? If you don't want to be promoted get out of that league. Wanaka are probably caught with foreign players  not sure, you would have to elaborate as no nothing of their team. Individual clubs don't have control while the organization running it keeps making arbitrary decisions around league make up. Reserve teams should not be in a promotion relegation league to make the Southern League. Maybe better  to drop 2 this year, go to 8 team league SL with 1 relegation spot and make an 8 team second tier league with 4 dunedin & 4 chch  with 2 up 2 down in that one  and finally, sort out the player payments, raise the reimbursement level to 300 and have an open book policy on the club accounts in regard to player payments.

When the Southern League was reintroduced both the South Island Federation's only wanted 8 teams with a view to increase to ten at a later date, however NZ Football went with 10 as they wanted it to mirror the 10 teams in both the Northern and Central leagues. But that was short lived as the Northern League was increased to 12 teams. 

Believe that there is now talk around to reducing the Southern League to 8 teams, if it did go ahead then would not happen to the 2026 season at the earliest as normally lead in is a minimum or an eighteen-month window before any chance takes place. 

The big issue would be getting clubs to agree to how it would be achieved and what criteria would be used. 
For example:

Sadly, when the 'old' National League was disbanded, and the seven Federations were introduced the clubs in the North Island elected to retain the Northern and Central League with clubs within the Mainland Fed. decided to 'go local' and the Southern League was disestablished and the Mainland and the then Football South League's were introduced and as a result the top North Island teams were playing in higher standard than down south and as a result a gap opened over the intervening period of almost two decades.  

Tonight's game between Universities of Canterbury and FC Twenty 11 is being streamed via FIFA +

Podderick

I was going to type Nelson Marlborough but didn't realize it was so offensive it needed exclamation points, anyway, Teams that play in a promotion relegation league should have to go up. Does the loser in the League get to choose to go down? If you don't want to be promoted get out of that league. Wanaka are probably caught with foreign players  not sure, you would have to elaborate as no nothing of their team. Individual clubs don't have control while the organization running it keeps making arbitrary decisions around league make up. Reserve teams should not be in a promotion relegation league to make the Southern League. Maybe better  to drop 2 this year, go to 8 team league SL with 1 relegation spot and make an 8 team second tier league with 4 dunedin & 4 chch  with 2 up 2 down in that one  and finally, sort out the player payments, raise the reimbursement level to 300 and have an open book policy on the club accounts in regard to player payments.

You might as well disband the SPL and Nelson Bays league altogether then because I can tell you most teams in those leagues aren't keen on promotion. What a ridiculous statement.

And Blenheim is a fair way away from Nelson - so yeah it's important to know what city teams are even from 😂

Sorry but you are out of touch with reality.

HT Universities of Canterbury 0 FC Twenty 11 0

FT Universities of Canterbury 0 FC Twenty 11 0
The first scoreless draw of the season and FC first point of the season but it will not save them from finishing in bottom spot.
UC now move ahead of Selwyn on the table. 

Updated Table:

image.png 45.83 KB

lthomas20

Podderick

I was going to type Nelson Marlborough but didn't realize it was so offensive it needed exclamation points, anyway, Teams that play in a promotion relegation league should have to go up. Does the loser in the League get to choose to go down? If you don't want to be promoted get out of that league. Wanaka are probably caught with foreign players  not sure, you would have to elaborate as no nothing of their team. Individual clubs don't have control while the organization running it keeps making arbitrary decisions around league make up. Reserve teams should not be in a promotion relegation league to make the Southern League. Maybe better  to drop 2 this year, go to 8 team league SL with 1 relegation spot and make an 8 team second tier league with 4 dunedin & 4 chch  with 2 up 2 down in that one  and finally, sort out the player payments, raise the reimbursement level to 300 and have an open book policy on the club accounts in regard to player payments.

You might as well disband the SPL and Nelson Bays league altogether then because I can tell you most teams in those leagues aren't keen on promotion. What a ridiculous statement.

And Blenheim is a fair way away from Nelson - so yeah it's important to know what city teams are even from 😂

Sorry but you are out of touch with reality.

0-0 tonight, both teams need to go down. Bottom 3 are poor. You comment with no care to fix a broken league, where teams cover up payments of thousands of dollars to players. But please, give me your expert views every week as you gush over these teams and players who are bone average. Football in the SL is a pretty poor watch at the moment, too many kids who aren't good enough.
Also Rangers and Roslyn never earned the right to come up. They were offered after GI pulled out and turned it down. FC2011 were asked after that....and is Blenheim a city.

Podderick

lthomas20

Podderick

I was going to type Nelson Marlborough but didn't realize it was so offensive it needed exclamation points, anyway, Teams that play in a promotion relegation league should have to go up. Does the loser in the League get to choose to go down? If you don't want to be promoted get out of that league. Wanaka are probably caught with foreign players  not sure, you would have to elaborate as no nothing of their team. Individual clubs don't have control while the organization running it keeps making arbitrary decisions around league make up. Reserve teams should not be in a promotion relegation league to make the Southern League. Maybe better  to drop 2 this year, go to 8 team league SL with 1 relegation spot and make an 8 team second tier league with 4 dunedin & 4 chch  with 2 up 2 down in that one  and finally, sort out the player payments, raise the reimbursement level to 300 and have an open book policy on the club accounts in regard to player payments.

You might as well disband the SPL and Nelson Bays league altogether then because I can tell you most teams in those leagues aren't keen on promotion. What a ridiculous statement.

And Blenheim is a fair way away from Nelson - so yeah it's important to know what city teams are even from 😂

Sorry but you are out of touch with reality.

0-0 tonight, both teams need to go down. Bottom 3 are poor. You comment with no care to fix a broken league, where teams cover up payments of thousands of dollars to players. But please, give me your expert views every week as you gush over these teams and players who are bone average. Football in the SL is a pretty poor watch at the moment, too many kids who aren't good enough.
Also Rangers and Roslyn never earned the right to come up. They were offered after GI pulled out and turned it down. FC2011 were asked after that....and is Blenheim a city.

FC Nelson were the Nelson Bays team offered to go up - they contested the playoffs last season and won the league up there.

Easy to say the bottom 3 are poor based simply on results, but there have been quite a few close games involving them against the other sides. Uni have lost 8 games by only a single goal, including against United (twice), Bays (twice) and Nelson, and had a draw with Nomads. Selwyn have had results against Nomads and Nelson (away) and even FC have had close games v United (0-0 at HT), Dunedin home and away, Nelson (2-1 up at half), and Bays (1-0 up at half).

AllWhites82

FT Universities of Canterbury 0 FC Twenty 11 0
The first scoreless draw of the season and FC first point of the season but it will not save them from finishing in bottom spot.
UC now move ahead of Selwyn on the table. 

This is the second ever 0-0 draw in the league (including the 8 league team), that 206(178) games. The last 0-0 draw was Ferrymead Bays v Christchurch United in 2022, Round 12. And that was 123 games ago.

And that is also FC's first draw as well. Uni have gained more points this season that FC did last season. And have more points in total Uni on 8 points, while FC have 7.

If you want better quality teams from Southern, ask Mosgiel and/or Green Island what it would take to make it worth their while. Simple.

It's probably NZF and the feds that run these leagues that need to think hardest about how the current format limits the regions outside the main three cities.

Napier City Rovers have been the only consistent Central region team to play in Central League, while Northern League might be about to lose both Hamilton sides.

The difference in the Southern Leagues example is we clearly have teams outside the league that are better than some that are in it. FC Nelson and Otago Uni have beaten more Southern League teams this year than FC2011!

I think it's clearly a matter of things just being way more convenient for those teams located in the three hubs of Akl, Wel and Chch. Teams outside (like FC Nelson, etc.) are disadvantaged in that competing at SL level is a big financial commitment, and time commitment for players spending a whole day on the road every other week. Teams from Chch flying to Dunedin or Nelson meet at the airport at about 7am and don't get home until after 6 a lot of the time.

Those travel commitments are unavoidable unfortunately, but ironically would be lessened with more variety of locations, e.g. a Marlborough or Dunedin derby.

Understand that the DC Royals game verses Coastal Spirit is not being 'streamed' as no FIFA+ camera installed at Tuhuna Park.

I have huge respect for both DC Royals and Nelson Suburbs for the travel they have to undertake to play in the SL, every second week and issues that this brings. Due to various reason's - unable to land at Nelson on Saturday evening, snow closing Lewis Pass when about to reach the Pass when then busing back on Sunday, with Pass still closed for most of Monday, it took Suburbs around 48 hours to get home via Kaikoura and Blenheim, after their game against Bays last weekend, so players would have had to miss a day's work etc. The Royals have also had plenty of issues in recent rounds when trying to fly out of Dunedin.

SamCoughlan

I think it's clearly a matter of things just being way more convenient for those teams located in the three hubs of Akl, Wel and Chch. Teams outside (like FC Nelson, etc.) are disadvantaged in that competing at SL level is a big financial commitment, and time commitment for players spending a whole day on the road every other week. Teams from Chch flying to Dunedin or Nelson meet at the airport at about 7am and don't get home until after 6 a lot of the time.

Those travel commitments are unavoidable unfortunately, but ironically would be lessened with more variety of locations, e.g. a Marlborough or Dunedin derby.

Round 17 of 18
Cashmere Technical 3 Ferrymead Bays 0

Nomads 1 Universities of Canterbury 2 

Win for Technical means they have wrapped up the title and qualified for the Championship Phase of National League

Today's scorers:
Cashmere Technical 3 (Garbhan Coughlan 2, Danny Kane) Ferrymead Bays 0 HT 1 - 0

Nomads 1 (Caleb Cottom) Universities of Canterbury 2 (Pero Foreman, Todd Vermeir) HT 1 - 1

HT Dunedin City Royals 0 Coastal Spirit 5

HT Nelson Suburbs 0 Christchurch United 0

FT Dunedin City Royals 0 Coastal Spirit 5 

FT Nelson Suburbs 1 Christchurch United 1

Today's Scorers:
Dunedin City Royals 0 Coastal Spirit 5 (Alej Steinwascher 2- incl pen, Kenshin Hayashi 2, own goal) HT 0 - 5
Nelson Suburbs 1 (Ben Polak) Christchurch United 1 (David Yoo) HT 0 - 0

Updated Table:
You would have to say the advantage is now with Coastal to finish in second place.

image.png 44.96 KB

Upcoming fixtures:
Wednesday 7:30pm
Coastal Spirit vs. FC Twenty 11
Sunday - all 1:15pm
ChCh United vs. Cashmere Technical 
Dunedin City Royals vs. Nelson Suburbs
FC Twenty 11 vs. Selwyn
Ferrymead Bays vs. Nomads
Universities of Canterbury vs. Coastal Spirit
To be advised
Selwyn vs. Dunedin City Royals

That might be the end for Christchurch United this season...

lthomas20

That might be the end for Christchurch United this season...

Yeah I agree, feel they needed to get the full 3pts from every game to have a chance at 2nd

Half a Pint

lthomas20

That might be the end for Christchurch United this season...

Yeah I agree, feel they needed to get the full 3pts from every game to have a chance at 2nd

 United only have only game left and even if they defeat Technical, Coastal will finish in 2nd if they win their remaining two games.  

And those 2 games? Are against FC Twenty and Universities…

My money would be on Coastal

I heart football again. 

AllWhites82

Half a Pint

lthomas20

That might be the end for Christchurch United this season...

Yeah I agree, feel they needed to get the full 3pts from every game to have a chance at 2nd

 United only have only game left and even if they defeat Technical, Coastal will finish in 2nd if they win their remaining two games.  

How are Coastal's U20 minutes looking?

VimFuego

I heart football again. 

Don't count your chickens Vim... FC and Uni both in fine form

Steptoe

AllWhites82

Half a Pint

lthomas20

That might be the end for Christchurch United this season...

Yeah I agree, feel they needed to get the full 3pts from every game to have a chance at 2nd

 United only have only game left and even if they defeat Technical, Coastal will finish in 2nd if they win their remaining two games.  

How are Coastal's U20 minutes looking?

I’ll leave that to the guy who has a mate of a mate and one of those FX-82 calculators from 1986.

Thanks for my introduction pal.

Hard to tell as transfermarkt haven't updated their stats. Could work it out but Vim wouldn't like it, don't think he enjoys numbers. 

VimFuego

Steptoe

AllWhites82

Half a Pint

lthomas20

That might be the end for Christchurch United this season...

Yeah I agree, feel they needed to get the full 3pts from every game to have a chance at 2nd

 United only have only game left and even if they defeat Technical, Coastal will finish in 2nd if they win their remaining two games.  

How are Coastal's U20 minutes looking?

I’ll leave that to the guy who has a mate of a mate and one of those FX-82 calculators from 1986.

Oh that's where it's going wrong, you're getting your stats from Transfrmarkt. 

Let's not let this get in the way of what has been a stellar season for Coastal, beat Tech twice and drew once, with a win and a loss to Chch Utd as well as seminfinalists in the Chatham and finalists in the English. 

Two games to go, let's bring it home.

Those concerned about the required 1728 minutes for Under 20 player's for Coastal, I expect that the minutes will be exceded in tonight's catchup game against FC - if not will it will be very close.