Mainland Womens Premier League

Mainland Football backs women's premier competition after team allows 23 goals

Article re Weekends game

Tony Smith had written this earlier..

It is fair to say that a number of young players (boys and Girls) from across the city were attracted to Coastal during their early days through their Aussie trips, Sporting Futures program and some positive coaching initiatives. They were ahead of the other clubs in many fields. As stated elsewhere players get attracted to success and opportunity.

As I tried initially to point out, this season is no different to previous ones, there has always been one or two stand out sides. Coastal Women have brought National success to our city by having the best players in recent times. Yes, some have now flown the coup completely, a couple have joined Cashmere Technical and we suddenly have calls for them to also leave the city and play elsewhere as the competition is not good enough and they are spoiling it for others.

Never heard those calls when they were at Coastal. 

Personally I would like to celebrate more national success for both our Men's and Women's games. No matter the club. We should be striving hard to keep them (the best) in our competitions and help raise expectations and standards.

Interesting feedback on the Cashmere Technical performances under Keith. One thing is for sure, the work ethic will continue to improve because he will insist on standards he expected from his men's teams.

One great comment from a speaker from France who I met at a women's world cup in the USA about 12 years ago.

"In France there is no such thing as Women's Football; there is just Football, Football for Women, Football for everyone, it is and must be the same game as for Men. They (the women) must work as hard or harder in order to play real Football." he continued ; Football played by Women must be credible."

I do think that too many of the current WPL and WPDL are simply not committed enough. They expect parity but are not prepared to work for it. Fitness levels are verging on embarrassing in some cases. 

I know  I am  'Old School' in many of my beliefs. One of them is that not enough of our young females are playing mixed football for long enough. Five years ago we had a lot of our very good girls playing in good competitions with and against boys. We had two or three girls in some of our competitive (Div. Two) sides from 11's through to 14's.

A number have carried on to WPL playing for us and others. I do wonder whether that background should not be encouraged again.

We also had representative girls and women's teams playing against boys and youth teams through the season a number of years ago. I thought that worked quite well.

Maybe our top girls U13 teams could be matched against the U12 boys. U15's against the U14 boys. We have mixed teams and girls only teams in our in-house. About 28 % of our players at this level are girls. Are separate leagues really helping our top players?

I still wonder whether the move to a Saturday was good for the senior women's game.

No answers amongst that I know far to "Old School". 

While Old School may not be the best school there are certain fundamentals that just can't be ignored. Football is a game for athletes. At the top level it is for athletes with a high level of technical ability who have learnt well how to apply themselves for the benefit of their team. Better players in general will seek better coaching and vice versa. 

Regarding the separation of girls into girls only grades in recent years I am sure this has brought about an expected gain in the total number of girls playing the game. However the downside has been the lower level of competition the better girls have been exposed to. While we have had good numbers achieving national recognition recently almost all were competing above their age group over a sustained period of time and exposed to tougher competition through tournaments etc. that accelerated their development. This has probably masked to a certain extent the issue that higher numbers alone are not a recipe for success. Maybe we threw the baby out with the bath water?

With you on that PT. My two wee girls (assuming they don't play netball or some other sport just to break my heart) will be in a boys team as long as I can keep them there.

Sounds like a whole bunch of men arguing over women's rights. Maybe we should ask them?

Interesting tactic from Mainland Football going on the offensive about the 23-0 today. The only positive out of all of it is that Women's football has finally made the news!

#webelieveintheWL

#spiritofthegame

#sheeshembarrassing

Do Mainland have their head in the sand?

23-0, 10-2, 9-0, 9-0, 8-0, 7-0. After 7 rounds we have had 6 blow-out scorelines.

I'm not trying to bring the top 2 teams down - and I agree the others have to raise the bar. I just don't think this competition is doing our best players any good except when they play each other. A season wasted for a handful of them in my opinion.

Solutions then people?? Do you want a two team league? Bet the girls would enjoy that. 

Clearly two very young teams in Tasman and Waimak doing well with their "own" players.

Only going to get better and they are all new players to WPL so will get better with every game.

That's roughly 30 more players at this level that weren't playing in 2015. Isn't this a good thing?

Do the girls eg Waimak want to play v the cash techs and coastals of this world and in doing so play against NZ ferns, u20's, u17's??

Clearly they do or I would hazard a guess Waimak could have defaulted tonight tonight. 

Yes young teams especially will blow out from time to time. But overall the numbers are up and you can't say diluted by the two new teams given none of them played WPL last year and yet they sit 3rd and 4th in the league!

As posted a couple of pages ago - if you read it carefully -

1. players in international frame pre major tournament play in Auckland for their own development

2. play 2 rounds then split - top 2 teams playing better opposition

3. increase the player base

Quoted from previous post about possible solutions to address the issue...

Short term fixes:

1. International players pre major tournaments. Pre Olympics, Longo and Moore should definitely be playing in a tougher league (Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, or in Flea's case Europe, USA, Japan). Likewise, girls in the mix for U17s World Cup in October, Lake and Bray, should probably be in Auckland.

2. Radical idealistic view. Cashmere and Coastal first teams play in Auckland. Their reserve grade teams would be competitive against the other 5 teams. Add Halswell and Selwyn from PDL and you probably have a league that is about right for most of those players.

3. Given that's not going to happen, play only 2 full rounds and then split to a local mini league and a mini Southern league (top 2 teams from each federation).

Medium to long term:

The player base needs to substantially increase, otherwise the drift to Auckland/elsewhere will only increase and the quality of the league will actually get worse. This is the single greatest issue in the game in this part of the world.

thanks for reposting those amazing solutions, but with all due respect if we are going to continue bagging the WPL I think we need feasible solutions or we accept that the likes of Tasman and Waimak have improved the league and in time will be more and more competitive.  Both have strong junior bases. 

Btw "breaking news" Sunwolves given the boot!

Completely realistic solutions. Meanwhile, you are ignoring the development needs of the current best players in the league. Do you honestly think Longo should not be playing in a better league weeks out from a major international tournament? Tech have been pushing for a Mens Southern league since forever for the exact same reasons - give better players better competition than what is currently available locally, so why not the women? And what are your suggestions? All i see is "wait".

My apologies, didn't realise those players were locked into playing in our WPL. 

Surely if they are disheartened by the state of the league they aren't just wallowing. Didn't longo train with canty united youth last year? I think you will find those players aren't just turning up to trounce teams on a Saturday but continuing to work hard behind the scenes. 

But how about:

Pride training year round so top players regularly training together. 

Perhaps add in some game days. Thus ensuring some coaching on a different level as well as some competitive games. 

Demand all clubs have pdl, u15's, u13's to ensure standards continue to improve

Keep improving the standards of coaching across all clubs too by raising the minimum standards. 

And yes be patient. Tasman's entry was proactive and well worth it. Waimak have a young side yes but developing and with more to come. Fctwenty have youth coming thru. 

"Save our WPL"  "Believe in the WPL"  "spiritofthegame"

• No live updates
• Bet there's only 3 officials
• Only time WPL has had any media coverage apart from a few lines at the bottom of MPL

HT Cashmere Technical 5 Waimak 0 in Reta Fitzpatrick Cup

You forgot about the incident a couple of seasons back in the WPL when Western walked off the park when playing Technical, that was back page news as well.

Yer it seems the only time it makes the news is when it's bad.  A bit like the Yellow Fever's reference to their newspaper as the Doom Post. Maybe we could call ours The Puss. 

Are you at the game?  Are there only 3 officials?

What happened with the Western vs Tech walk off? I don't remember that.

Ah, found it.  I do remember now:  Western Walk Off

In to final minutes Cashmere Tech 7 Waimak 0 in Reta Fitzs Cup

FT Cashmere Tech 8 Waimak 0.

Scorers Monique Barker 3, Emma Kench 3, Ashleigh Ward, Jo Hamblett

Of course GG, send all our best players and prospects to play elsewhere.

Of course if that had happened in the recent past then there would have been no national success for Coastal or The Pride.

Personally I think those successes have done a lot for our game.

We need more of the same.

The problem is not our very best players, it is the lack of players of ability and commitment below them.

Clubs competitions can only do so much, it needs more input from Mainland with club support.

Once 'The Pride' has been selected, could we not have a 4 squad zonally based development program and competition, for those not selected, running through term 4 into Term 1?

This would need to include players adopting a suitable personal fitness regime monitored by staff.

Recognise them as 'Players with Potential'.

Kick them out if they are not committed enough. Why waste time and money if they wont make the effort. 

Age?  13 - 20.  Regular games at U16 and U20. Players good enough, allowed to play in both or either groups.

I have always believed that 'If you want to be taken seriously,then you must firstly take yourself seriously.'

Provide them with the opportunities and guidance and we will see significant improvement, if they are committed.

They need to be working at and playing the game for 40 weeks not 20.

Good to see Waimak come back so well last night. The previous game as their coach said, was obviously a blip. 

When Turnbull was running the Pride, I'm pretty sure he ran off-season trainings for players. Must have stopped this year. 

Without the number one player in the region playing, who scored 6 last time, surely you would have to say it would have at least been double figures.  Loved the #lessonslearnt hashtag last night AW82, do you actually believe that is the case considering you weren't even there?

Not sure how you make the leap from "players in international frame pre major tournament play in Auckland for their own development" (which implies limited timeframe for a couple of players) to "send all our best players elsewhere". If you were national team coach would you really want players in the mix for an Olympic tournament wasting their time with double digit scorelines?

And if you can face a harsh truth, those truly committed to progressing their game, and are brave enough to test themselves in a bigger pond, recognise they need to leave the Mainland at some point anyway.

As you say, the standard is already there for the the good teenage players: already active for 40 weeks a year - from pre-season to ACFC and other tournaments, winter season, reps, U19, Pride or FTC and Nat Age Group tourney.

Agree with you that we need the increase the player base. To have your premier competition made up of 10% of your total player base is the problem. It's actually far worse - if you looked at number of WPL players as a % of say 15-30 year old female players.

I hope some discussion happens between not only Mainland and local clubs (view seems to be, "be patient, wait for Selwyn and Wiamak juniors to come through"); but also input from National team selectors. The current WNTU17 coach - a Mainlander himself - picked just one Canterbury player to go to World Cup Qualifying tournament. Ask him and the other national team selectors why they are only picking 1-2 south islanders for national teams at present; just to get a sense of perspective.

[quote=VimFuego]

When Turnbull was running the Pride, I'm pretty sure he ran off-season trainings for players. Must have stopped this year. 

Without the number one player in the region playing, who scored 6 last time, surely you would have to say it would have at least been double figures.  Loved the #lessonslearnt hashtag last night AW82, do you actually believe that is the case considering you weren't even there?

So what is being done to replace that program? How many was he working with? We need at least 60 on top of  "The Pride" training and playing more.

I would hope she would have made a difference. The bigger the difference, the more we need to address the fitness and commitment of the other local players.

/quote]

Thought you wanted our two top teams playing in Auckland !! Not just our internationals.

Disagree, the standard not there. Some of those in the Pride team and more in U 19's were poor athletically and technically last year.

Opportunity is there for some, standards are poor. If they do not face the athletic and technical challenges through their mid teens they will never compete with the top players. 

There are girls out there representing us that can not drive through a ball, they still sit down - collapse at the core. They can not push a pass - they still swing a leg at it, don't get standing foot alongside the ball.

I must admit I don't watch a lot of the women's football these days but the big games still show the flaws.

Agree there needs to be discussion and action. Lessons need to be learnt. Those closely involved with the women's game need to lead the way.

First lesson for most needs to be. You are not as good as you think. Look at Longo, Moore, Weiblitz etc. There is plenty to do. 

Don't get me started on Auckland based national selectors. Who are the Christchurch or South Island based ones?

Pretty sure theres been Pride wider training group sessions running for about a month now

Yer that may be the case, I have no idea, I just remember seeing them training under Turnbull. 

PT says he hopes that it having Longo there would have made a difference (and push the score up no less).  Which was exactly my point, where some commentators saying "whew, lessons learnt, the 23-0 was just a blip" when of course it wasn't.  The full team wasn't there.

but vim if you read back the Waimak girls had a few missing on Saturday also. I was at a simalr place with a young Woolston team in 1997 my first year player/coaching we held our own in the southern league that year but against the top two teams Christchurch and Dunedin Tech we got beat 11-1,9-1 and 7-0. As the lads gained experience of playing the top teams they improved. Coaching didn't improve them a lot but adding  a few experience players into the mix does. So sending good players to Auckland isn't going to help the good youngsters in town improve . Maybe NzF can help by encouraging some teams to be based else where , bucking the trend and getting some better girls to move here to improve the game . Also I think Dan is an excellent young coach and has passion for the game, and if he can add one or two older players to the mix . This young team will come right.

My biggest issue is there too many girls and boys playing at first teams far too young. It should be only a few who should have gradual games at wpl and mpl . 

I'd add Broonie that the Waimak team finished second in Womens Reserves last year (couldn't beat Coastal reesrves from memory) and they also lost their lynchpin player; yet the whole - young - team has moved up to Prems and added their better players who played U15s last year.

I'm not saying kick them out of the league, or kick good players out at all.  All I am saying is that we can't say "sweet everything is great it was just a blip there's no issues here" when clearly there is!

Coastal pdl lost knockout final 1-3 Waimak.

They have brought their whole young team up.....and they are 4th??! 

I doubt Waimak would choose to play players so young if they had older better players to replace them.

But going by NTC numbers the last couple of years, Waimak girls seem to dominate the 01/02 group. 

So there 15's are good. They might even be younger again next year if the 02's at that level come thru. 

But until they are dead last and not at all competitive why are we bagging them??

Sigh.  No one is bagging them. An issue is identified which also gained media attention and some solutions have been passed around with still no comment from any female!

when weiblitz , Dabner and Moore were 14 turning 15 they didnt play in any mainland comp . Being part of the school of football or academy or whatever they used to call it - (the team was rejected entry to prems ) so basically 9 months of total focus on development of their game rather than Saturdays result. They did play friendlies against different teams/clubs with no emphasis on results. Think Hepburn and Alfield  may have been part of this squad as well. Just putting it out there.

Whole other can of worms in your pandora's box there!

But I think off the envelope thinking is required. Prickly has offered a few; I've offered mine, Broonie's chipped in. We can't let the league stagnate for 3-4 years while we wait for a bunch of kids in Selwyn and Waimak to grow up, ffs.

I also think getting a perspective from Auckland would be useful. I've heard from someone who knows these things that Auckland 14-15 years old female players are light years ahead of ours. National Fed tournament results back that up.

And how many of Mainland's outreach programmes into schools over the last X years are being converted into club registrations?

Mainland's contribution to football at my local school over the past five years has involved an annual one day festival where the FDO comes out and runs small sided games.  Gave out a pamphlet showing the local clubs however I wouldn't think that had much of a difference registration wise. Sometimes the festivals didn't even line up with the season's start. That has since been passed onto the local club.

GG will be happy to know that the Futsal co-ordinator at Mainland is keen to come to schools and teach and lead Futsal and has been in contact.

9 months of total focus on development coupled with competition is definitely the answer. No good working with just 16 - 20 players though.

We need a much wider group or you end up as happened here with them all wanting to play together and not prepared to compete with each other.

To become a good player you need to play with good players but must also play against good players.

Find 16 committed players and work harder than anyone else over an extended program and you will continue to improve.

Instead of knocking the top sides you need to learn from them. I have no doubt Keith will be looking for even better from his charges every week.

Take up the challenge and it is a challenge,I do not see anyone doing it better than Waimak at the moment. They have lost their best individuals over recent years but hopefully with their current squad they will cement a place in the top grade. Love the fact that they are not complaining. They will continue to improve.

Seriously there is a sleeping giant out there. Look at their results and numbers in the 10th grade. Great work going on in Kaiapoi and Rangiora.

From The Press

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/79616583/wa...

Results/ Scorers

Cashmere Technical 7 (Mikaya Wieblitz 3, Annalie Longo 2, Christy Barker, Ashleigh Ward) Parklands 0 HT 1 - 0

FC Twenty11 2 (Ashleigh Leonard, Molly Senior) Universities 1 (Kat Mason) HT 1 - 1

Waimak the bye