It's awesome that there are so many teams. But I just don't get why 2 CL I'd needed... where were these teams last year what was the reason for not playing in the fed league then? 3 trips from HB to Taranaki $$$ for those clubs.
I can't speak for all Taranaki clubs, but for Rangers it was a range of things - Cash, player commitment, quality, and among other things the cyclone which was going to cause trips to take several hours longer or potentially force the team in to overnight stays (road network damage etc) which was simply not feasible. I'm pretty sure there is a travel subsidy from NZF, but from what I heard from the club there just wasn't enough appetite to get it to work. Combine them all together and it made sense to just play in the Taranaki Premiership last season.
I'm surprised Peringa have come through to put their name in the hat this year though. Will have to find out who has bankrolled that. As for FC Western, well they've been smart about things and have slowly been establishing themselves as one of the more dominant clubs locally. There's been talk of them going up to Federation League for a while, but they've wanted to make it sustainable and stable first and foremost to avoid yo-yoing in and out of it. I quietly suspect they'll be of the better sides in the competition this season - They're ambitious, driven and from what I gather, quite well resourced