I remember those bad old National League days when a quarter of the
league got relegated (Stop Out being one of them 
). I seem
to recall that before the reversion to regional leagues there was
for a few years an 'invitation only' national league. Clubs
had to submit proposals to be included and there was a lot of bad
blood over the selections. Hutt Valley Utd were an unfortunately
short-lived example.
). I seem
to recall that before the reversion to regional leagues there was
for a few years an 'invitation only' national league. Clubs
had to submit proposals to be included and there was a lot of bad
blood over the selections. Hutt Valley Utd were an unfortunately
short-lived example.
Some care will need to be exercised with the A League
because there is only so much playing talent around,
and expanding too much at this stage runs the risk of lowering
the standard of the game. Football is riding a wave but
despite the surge in popularity it is still vulnerable. The
last thing the A League needs is 2 or 3 clubs going bust because of
the same reasons that sank the Knights, ie, poor administration,
small crowds, no money.
I grew up on those Sundays at Te Whiti Park StopOut, so
feel for your loss.
One way of expanding the A-League, which I think needs to
happen to make the competition more interesting and the season
extended, without necessarily lowering the standard, is for the FFA
to increase the number of allowed imports and marquee players per
team. What do people think about that suggestion? The
A-League is going to struggle to get better with only 8
clubs. That is, the players have to be playing for more than
6 months of the year. But StopOut is right, no point
expanding if it lowers the overall standard.
