Mainland Premier League (Part 1)

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Today's results

And the Top of the Table Clash In Div 1: University 3 Waimak 1 

The Coastal Women were 2-0 up, then 2-3 down, then scored twice in the last 5 mins. 

Heard the winning goal came in the last 30 seconds.

Looks like that results will hurt Western with the title race now a two horse race. 

Good to see University pick up their first win of the season.

Went down and watched the Women's Coastal v Western game: it was a scrappy and fiery affair, played on a ludicrously small pitch. WTF was that all about? Surely a senior game deserves better than that. Also thought the refereeing was very poor: the guy missed far too much to be happy with his performance. Part of the reason for tempers getting frayed in the second half was down to his ineptitude. Linos were ok though...

The pitch size and placement are dictated by areas damaged by the earthquakes or neglected since being under repair. That's wtf it's all about. Pitch was within limits for senior game. Same for both sides. Welcome to the east Ray :)

That's the one. Put Parklands and Pap Redwood  in there in place of Cashmere & 1102CF then play the PDL as a reserve grade for that league and you should have every up and coming young player in ChCh covered. Burwood could take the place of a PDL from Ashvegas if they weren't up to it numbers and finance wise.

But the result of the day would surely be Hornby getting up over Mid Canterbury for their first win of the season. Ole ole ole ole.

The big drawback not having a dedicated true PDL (one that has a few old heads playing in largely a youth development team of u21's) is that all senior games are played at 2.30. This means for emerging clubs with div1 as their 1st team there is no scope to operate a Development team in tandem with its 1st division team. I'd imagine it works well for MPL/PDL now, so why shouldnt the same  structure be considered seriously for Div1 clubs? It would make a more meaningfull link than a standalone u21 league, put less pressure on player numbers u21, and create a great culture for clubs. Players being blooded into competitive senior football should be able to attend both matches in order to learn by playing (part) matches and/or simply observe and be "part of" the pathway. Not sure if it matters if club has a team in both MPL and Div1?

Was not at the game but Tony Gumley was the FC coach today.

Agree 100% - give div1 clubs first option to have a mirror PDL slot alongside their 1st team, and fill the rest up with those that don't have one. As long as it is a true PDL, than u21 teams could fit in there quite nicely, AND the team that comes out on top at the end of the season already has a structure in place that is aligned with MPL/MPL.  

"same for both sides"

where did I say that Western were the only team being disadvantaged by playing on that pitch? The point is that for a senior game to be played on a pitch barely within the requirements was poor for both the players and spectators. There was a larger pitch alongside not being used at the same time: If that's not ridiculous I don't know what is. Oh and don't try and take some kind of moral high ground with your "welcome to the east" comment: it seems like you're very sensitive to the fact that your club provided a crap pitch that did a disservice to BOTH teams...

All interesting comments around this University issue. I believe that the Mainland rules state that any complaint around ineligible players must be made by midday the following friday after any league game. Therefore nothing can be done in relation to div 1, however the Chatham cup is a different story. Disappointing outcome for them, by all reports they have a talented squad

Yes they are definitely a talented squad, and yes under the new rule a complaint falls outside of the required period. 

However hard to argue that it brings the game into disrepute which falls squarely under several NZF and MF rules with disciplinary options possible. No time limit on any of that.  This should be more than an embarrassment to the clubs involved, and not something MF can disregard especially since NZF is aware of the situation.

NZF can not do anything about the situation as this is a Mainland competition, NZF can only rule on NZ competitions hence the Chatham Cup decision.. Im not sure how what has happened brings the game into disrepute when my sources confirm the player concerned had been with the club since the start of the season and was on every team-sheet.. Would appear to be an honest mistake in terms of paper trails rather than the club trying to deceive

Why not? Not that that was what I was trying to do, just putting some balance into unwarranted criticism of one of the clubs most affected by the earthquakes. If you are going to post ill informed comments and lame accusations go for it, I shall try and remain sensitive to your feelings - had to laugh at that, been a long time since I've been labelled overly sensitive :)

Also interesting to just learn where these complaints have come from.. Im not sure what service it provides by the Mid canterbury coach to ring every Div 1 club asking them to lay complaints, and also from ChCh United. Both teams as the ladder shows are struggling in a division where they should be competing, especially United considering they were relegated from MPL and favourites to go straight back up and as it currently sits 9 points behind University! Quite amusing really

Waimak coaches start fight? Surely this can't be the case.

Interesting to hear you say United were favouries to go straight back up as it was always going to be a big ask considering they have a new coach and they lost key players including Chris Anderson - their leading scorer from the last two season.

How many clubs in Div 1 [none MPL club] have a youth policy of any sort to make this any better than U21?

Burwood yes so when are they in to Div 4? See note below.

Yes a feeder league is what Div 1 [before all the club amalamations] was a few years ago with MPL clubs having teams of young and older players mixed together giving the development that some don't get from being given 10 mins at PDL.

Don't expect the likes of Parklands [top div 2] and Pap Redwood [highest teams in Div 6 and lots more below] to be the clubs to keep the lower grades [below MPL] competitive in numbers of quality teams.

The problem comes that a club wanting to put in a new team or in some cases more than one team in a division has to start in division 6 no matter how good they are. 

FC20 as a case Div 5s should be the clubs MPL team [a bit tongue in cheek here] they haven't had the same team on the park twice yet. 

When you have an ASB prem player [do fc20 have any others?]  turning out amongst other talented players that I know of from Superyouth/PDL/Div1 level playing div 5 because of the above noted ruling. Sure not all players want to train twice a week if at all but had to start back at the bottom because they wanted to play as a group of mates together and too many teams in div one or two for that club already.

How does thas help other teams they play against when the scores already 5 or 6 in 20 odd minutes. The same will happen next year when they move up to division 4. 

I guess that's my personal opinion, and has been so far proven wrong.. Wigan4eva, I was also at the Waimak v Uni game yesterday as I have friends invloved with University. The behaviour from both the Waimak coach ( yelling and screaming abuse at the Uni players and threatening them ), along with the abuse by Waimak supporters towards University was appalling. I was standing near the clubhouse and could hear everything, how does the club expect to have young kids come and support  with behaviour like this? The players from Uni should be congatulated for the way they conducted themselves in very difficult circumstances. I'm not sure about a official complaint about the behaviour, who would lay that?

Some keys game coming up in the next few weeks starting next Sunday with Ferrymeead Bays vs Nelson Suburbs, then 1 June Nelson Suburbs vs Cashmere Technical then on 8 June Tech at home to Bays, with Westen vs Suburbs the same day.

If the officals have been on the end of it you would expect them to put in a report. 

Seems like a witch hunt is happening to disrupt the varsity camp. Obviously some bitter feelings towards them from rival teams for their achievements so far this season. The fact that they played the player on team card shows an honest error from their admin.

Yes good to hear some clubs in Div 1 are happy to leave it done and dusted on the field, while other what to take it to places who cannot make a ruling anyway. 

as for the mid canterbury coach. if this guy had any brains he would of let varsity play them next week and then complain after the match. mainland rules state complaint to be made within 7 days of previous game. 

a petition will not change anything. 

But the transfer has now been completed so will have to defeat University on the park but they will still be 5 points behind with just seven games to play.

correct. mid canterbury got no chance. went down 3-1 to hornby yesterday. sense university will be looking to give them a real hiding next week, which they r more than capable of. very strong squad. 

 Am I the only one seeing legal issues getting raised at the end of the season? - granted mainland will cover their asses with the 7 day rule, but can still see someone trying it...

This shark just got real. 

The 7 day rule is rubbish anyways. If someone is illegal then what does it matter if it was 8 days ago? And I don't know all this wasn't spotted by Mainland anyways. For the important leagues (WPL MPL DIV1) surely cards are checked by them to see players are legal. it doesn't have to be every person on the card studied, I'm sure they'll have a master list and it would only be any extra names to look at.

Good drama to watch on here tho, keep it up. 

I tell you now they won't budge on the rule.