I think you're on a hiding to nothing if you want clubs to give up spots in leagues for "respect". Similar to if my job tried to pay me in experience. Its nice in theory but not gonna happen.
I've seen a couple of Rapa and United games and yes, they have approached it differently. Rapa has a bit of a head start though, given they were able to hold onto their academy where United couldn't really. Guess I personally feel that respect and results are closely tied together. I doubt United are going out of their way to "disrespect" anyone and are doing their best with the cards they've been dealt. I'm also sure this season has gone worse than they envisaged when making the decision to stay in Central League.
Team Taranaki is a completely different kettle of fish, no point comparing apples and oranges. Representative side vs club rebuild. Irrelevant.
Your examples don't make sense to me. If I got hired for a job I had no capability to complete, do I have a moral obligation to let my employer know?
The only irrelevant part of the Taranaki example is the rep side part. They had a spot in the League. Im sure if they had an open training they could have got 12 or 13 players along of a quality that would not be competitive. They couldn't however get a squad together that would be able to compete strongly so they took the option of not taking the spot.
Yeah, wasn't overly clear with my job comparison. Its completely unrealistic to expect someone to work for no pay. Just like it is completely unrealistic to expect a side to pull out of a league out of "respect" for the league. That's all I was saying. In theory, it can be a win-win situation but it doesn't tend to happen that way in practicality, in my experience.
Right, but TT don't now have to go away and build a team to compete from scratch, and win 6 promotions to get back to the stage they want to be, they aren't a club. I'm sorry, but I really don't see the parallel, the organisations have completely different goals. One was looking for short term results, the other wants long term sustainability. If TT get relegated then they're no worse off than if they pulled out - they disintegrate and go back to playing for club sides in the Naki - but for Wellington United relegation to Cap Prem is a far, far more desirable outcome than Cap 5. The consquences of withdrawal are completely different, so the withdrawals can't really be compared.
To extend your metaphor - the boss hired me when I could do the job, and circumstances almost entirely out of my control have meant I can't perform up to scratch right now, which my boss is completely aware of. I'm under no obligation to do anything except sit there and accept my paycheck if he's happy with that (and Capital Football don't appear to be making any noise about this).
I agree it would be lovely to have 10 competitive teams in Central League, but don't expect clubs to step out of the way to let that happen if its going to directly negatively impact them cos you're gonna be disappointed most of the time.
Capital Football was deafeningly quiet through this. Which was nothing short of shocking.
I take your points, but ultimately Wellington United were run into the ground and the only way out was to effectively close the club and put the badge on the Phoenix kids. There are players at so many clubs around the region that were turned away from competitive football at the club. This was never going to last and hasn't. In the time the Nix ran it, it is clear that nothing has been done to fix the issues that ran them into the ground in the first place. So all this "poor United" sentiment doesn't sit with me. Its a club that barely exists. They didn't even try to get a team together that would be competitive, the coaches were appointed so late and relied on weak trials a few weeks before the season started. That sentiment flows through the team. There were 5 or 6 players just standing on half way in the weekend just waiting to get beat and weren't getting held to account. That's the disrespect, be poor but have something about you. If I was involved I would be embarrassed to have to admit it. The fact its happening at such a historically significant club in the region makes it sadder but doesn't excuse it.
How quickly you forget just how bad Wellington United's hand got... Stu Jacobs was actually appointed as head coach in January (so there must have been some work in the background well in advanced of this), and then Stu left them even higher and drier by pulling the pin late in the piece. Would have been a difficult year for any club in this position (losing their coach so close to the start of the season), let alone the situation that United were in coming into the year.
https://www.facebook.com/WellingtonUtd/photos/a.202544283132665/1975322625854813/?type=3&theater