Using varsity as an example, (which is a Div 1 club) - id say they are pretty damn talented if they fielded their reserve team (assumably their under 21s?) and only lose 3-2 to Western MPL. The premise behind splitting the Under 21 league up into Div 4 and Div 6 is because Mainland didnt want to go through the hassle of approaching, and then being denied by the Premier clubs in attempting to accomadate these teams into the PDL. When the organisation that aims to get the best players in the best leagues avoids doing so in fear of ruffling the feathers of the big clubs, you can argue that the Prems teams do have a fair amount say in what goes on with league structure.
W4E that is the biggest string of quantum leaps I have seen in a long time!
Maybe Mainland Football used common sense in deciding not to place any of the U21 teams in the PDL because it would have disrupted that competition and how it is structured to mirror the MPL (which really does make sense)?
Hope the U21 lads at Varsity hang around for next season, if Varsities win Div 1 they will get to show their stuff in the PDL as of right, not on the whim of administrators trying to construct "development opportunities". Mainland have a responsibility to provide meaningful competitions for clubs to enter, the PDL has been anything but in the past few years. It certainly never met the original objectives intended when it changed from a straight Reserve League to a development competition.
And there is nothing wrong either with Prem clubs having a say in how the MPL is run. Most of them would invest tens of thousands of dollars putting teams on the park in this competition every year so deserve the respect of Mainland that this commitment demands. Not that they get it. My experience is the clubs have been treated poorly over the years, I for one would like to see the league actually run by the clubs independently of all other competitions. Let Mainland administer the social leagues while the clubs elevate the MPL to a level it should be at - separate web-site, more media coverage, games played on Sundays etc etc.