W League

This sucks. Short sighted as usual. So much for the collaboration in getting the World Cup. Not a great way to grow interest in the game in the lead up to the World Cup either.

And as someone above pointed out the Nix have already done a power of good for Aussie Football with numerous emerging or returning players given pathways they otherwise wouldn't have had. Our roster at the moment is well stocked with young developing Aussie payers. The same thing would have happened with the Nix Women's team. So the result is one less reliably viable team in the W-League; fewer development pathways for Aussie players; plus a large market for activating greater sponsor interest lost. 

Would NZF have gone with the convicts for the WC bid had they known they'd get knifed in the back so soon after being awarded the prize?

This is so fudgeed up. The FFA have shafted us again so we shouldn't be surprised. Wouldn't it be better if the W League was also owned and run by the clubs, as the A League will now be?

Wonder if this is related to the Phoenix taking the FFA to court a month or two ago.

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/why-ffa-stood-firm-on-phoenix-bid-to-bend-w-league-rules

A bit of a worry, but likely just a baseless SBS comment. Surely a solution is to guarantee a certain number of young Australian players (U23) are signed, by the Nix. 

The largesse shown to the Phoenix men’s team might change in future seasons, with FFA believed to be looking at ways of fast-tracking Australian talent in response to its just-released “Performance Gap” study.

One consequence might be the rescinding of the right for Phoenix to count NZ nationals as Australians.

Wellington Phoenix were contacted for comment.

I highly doubt the nix management left the request to the last minute, more likely the FFA left making a decision until the last minute. The more concerning comment in that article is the one that Blew bolded.

FFA might be looking at further rules to ensure a minimum number of young Aussie players are getting game time at A league level at each club. As at the moment some clubs like Melbourne Victory they aren't.  They could make that also apply to the Nix.

In this Covid period, The whole W league thing is a real setback for NZF and any football ferns development. Hopefully NZF are still trying to work with FFA on some international friendlies with the AUS and NZ based players. Or set up some training camp in Aus with friendly games against Aus teams next year some time.

Why? Isn't it reasonably plausible that the club simply assumed that the same set of regulations applied to both leagues, only to find out at the last minute that they didn't which then kicked off the whole mess.

I don't see the likes of Dome and the owners making that kind of assumption, especially given their historic dealings with the FFA. It's possible, but unlikely. More plausible is that the FFA were fudgetards and dismissed any our the nix's concerns and left it till the last minute to say "oh, you do realise the NZ girls will be considered as foreign players?"

But the bolded becomes a problem only if the club didn't know that - which then takes us back to my point that the most plausible explanation here is that the club was not aware of competition's regulations. Which is a pretty bad gaffe all things considered.

Seems to me likely the NZF/Nix got the verbal ok from FFA during the #As One campaign, but probably with-out any details. Then when push came to shove, for what ever reason FFA reneged and used the eligibility clause as an excuse.

Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups

Perhaps the FFA were concerned that the Nix might keep them a bit more honest if they were in the W League. It's pretty clear that Integrity & the FFA are poles apart. EG: Metrics.

Player development male & female, obviously a hot topic in Aus football 

Think Nix and NZF should offer FFA a team of 50:50 young Aussie and Kiwi players. But still try for that $500k govt support. W League doesn’t need a Nix team, but NZF/FFS especially really need a W League team in the run up to 2023 WWC

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/300159934/as-one-the-tension-at-the-heart-of-transtasman-football-relations

not shocked that player development is a hot topic, but denying the nix a w-league team because of it is plain stupid - the nix over its 10 year history have helped so many Aussie players both young and old. Having a nix team in the W-league will obviously help develop NZ players but it will offer another avenue for aussie women to get game time too. just so short-sighted and typical of the FFA.

Not so sure that with the hurriedly assembled W League side many if any Aussies were to be included. Suspect that with $500k to be put in by the NZ Govt and support also from NZF it could well have been 100% Kiwis, at least for this first season.

it is their leagues - you need to get over it

With the A-League now independent I can't see the clubs or FIFA standing for that.

Ten Teams Better Than Nine

The other clubs' support for the Phoenix W-League team didn't stop FFA intervening there... not sure Fifa will care. 

True, but it's not quite the same thing - on the one hand the FFA didn't want to change the rules to let a new team in, on the other hand the threat is that they'll change the rules to kick a team out. The stakes are much higher with the second. 

Also the men's game has more money behind it and more clout than the womens. They may consider the W-League a development league but the A-League is their flagship competition.

That article made me laugh. 

Aussie women simply not playing enough minutes so let's block a team that would increase minutes across the board.  

Why isn't the FFA putting pressure on the Aussie teams with no W / Youth League teams to get their houses in order. They are the ones who should be in the firing line. Not a club with govt. help and I'm sure at least one or two Aussies. 

FFA for the good of the ( Aussie) game... Yeah right!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/women-in-sport/30016...