Where did the numbers come from? I can't seem to find it reported anywhere

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Federation_Northern_Territory

(Obviously hasn't been updated for a while..)

Small from what I remember a decade ago.

Three leagues based in Darwin (north), Katherine/Arnhem Land (central) and Alice (south).

Per capita or in total?

It will be a lot more even than that I would imagine.

-PB

The only reasoning and factor I could think of is expense?

It's not like FFA have lots of money, to throw around.

Wouldn't mind having another round (64).

Edited by rookoz: 14/1/2014 10:14:45 PM

I agree 14 NSW teams is bs, especially with not even the chance of nt teams qualifying.

Still just reading that article has me pretty wet at the possibilities! Imagine;

SFC v manly united at a jam packed cromer park.
WSW v blacktown at a full lily homes stadium
Brisbane strikers v roar
Roar v fury
Adelaide united v city
Mvfc v knights
Mhfc v south Melbourne
Jets v adamstown
Glory v ECU joondalup
Mariners v Sydney Olympic

Even some of the local sides against one another! Eg Sydney united v Marconi or south against melb knights. All of these matches with big crowds, televised and playing for important points. Jizzzzzz

I disagree. 14/32 is 43.75% of the spots. Now this would be slightly off if it was merely on population, as NSW has 34.5% of the population and so would only warrant 11 spots.

However, when you look at football participation levels it makes sense.

The 2011-12 ABS reports (the latest ones) have participation for 'outdoor soccer' at the following level:

NSW - 206,400 participants
QLD - 88,700
VIC - 88,600
WA - 52,500
SA - 28,000
ACT - 13,600
TAS - 9,000
NT - 2,500

TOTAL - 489,300

In other words, NSW has roughly 42.2% of football participants in Australia, which when taken as a percentage of 32 teams is roughly 13.5 teams. Maybe NSW has one more than it should, but it all depends which way you round a team.

We all realise the participation figures. But that doesn't mean we have to agree with the use of participation figures to conclude the number of spots given. Look at NT as a case in point absolutely no allocation. Should Oceania be stripped of their .5 spot because of their low participation levels? Should Asia be given a bunch more spots based on participation (at a guess based on populations). It's just a stupid excuse to centralize the competition to NSW and save costs.

NT is not in the National Premier League. Tasmania was one of the 5 divisions who were ready last year. With the FFA Cup being based on the winners of the other 8 divisions I can't see them even getting a play off for .5 spot for some time to come.

That NSW figure doesn't seem to be including North NSW. According to FNSW's annual reports there were 203,566 players in that association during 2011. There are roughly 50,000 players in NNSW.

Edited by chillbilly: 14/1/2014 10:32:50 PM

I know what you are saying and I agree it shouldn't be as simple as mere participation rates. The key bit is, as you said, that it "doesn't mean we have to agree with the use of participation figures". I'm happy for people to argue for something else instead, but too many people are simply asserting that it is a mere NSW bias that doesn't make sense (see the Cappucino quote which is who I was more specifically responding to) - the participation rate shows it does make sense, that there is a rational reason behind it, it's just one that you and others don't agree with and would prefer other factors taken into consideration.

+ the central coast derby where mossy will face his former side.

The National Premier Leagues Final gives one spot for each division. Consider that your senate. Consider the FFA cup more like the lower house where Tasmanians are not considered to be worth 10 times NSW.

That's an interesting piece of data. I went through the ABS data for each state, which doesn't break individual sports down into areas. It is probably my mistake using ABS data rather than each federation's registration figures, but it does make me question what the real figures are (i.e. both could be wrong)

Using the registration figures that I could find, I couldn't find any for Queensland so used your number, NSW has just over half the registered players in the country and should have at least 16 teams in the competition if that was the sole way to determine the amount available.

This.

How stupid.

-PB

saw this on fb:

"2 thirds of NSW NPL gets to go in yet SA NPL with 14 teams gets one"

yet like mentioned, 1 rep each for NPL finals....

Although I agree that NSW may have arguably an unfair representation, this is after all the first FFA Cup. The participants per state or NPL division if you will, can be adjusted in years to come. Perhaps even an initial round of 64 as someone earlier in the thread mentioned, which would allow a large portion of NPL participants to be part of the FFA Cup proper.

Regardless of the teams that make it in, I'm very excited that this is so close to reality.

So who for broadcast rights? With SBS now one foot in the door with a HAL game each week, I'm thinking we'll probably see a 'game of the round' and also a highlights package that shows if not highlights of all the games, perhaps just those featuring HAL participants? Somehow I can't see Fox Sports being interested, however I'm happy to be proven wrong. ABC maybe? Thoughts?

Edited by ccmpete: 14/1/2014 11:45:14 PM

I can honestly see many of the big matches out rating many A-league games, even in peak NRL AFL season.

It is also interesting to think that (for example, they are not my team) Sydney United could win NSW Premier League and then the National Premier League Final (like they did last year. when Victoria didnt enter). They could also win The Waratah Cup (Our knockout cup), then the FFA Cup (dont bet on it), therefore winning the 4.

How much notice Australian football will pay to this while we are getting bent over by Spain and then trying to look the goods against Japan a few months later it is hard to tell.

My question would be would this be a completely open draw or will there be conditions like we have in world cup draws.

such as would A-league teams face other A-League teams in the first round.

hope its not the case.

Will the pairings be completely state based as possible to keep cost low?

Example the SA NPL qualifier plays Adelaide United in the first round etc.

If an A-league team is drawn against an NPL team I hope they play that game at the NPL's surburban ground.

I think it would be nice for a completely random draw, including first team drawn as home team.

But realistically I would like to see a random draw and the home team decided based on cost and potential crowd, facilities, etc.

Depending on the broadcaster I'm sure there will be some grounds that won't be up to scratch if being televised and will need to be played at bigger grounds.

Probably most likely considering that we are playing in winter so a lot of these suburban grounds might not be up to scratch.

As much as I am taken aback about the number of the NSW teams at least we have a cup comp going and judging by the way Adelaide United thumped the SA NPL sides in the preseason past I am for one ok for now just getting one NPL team.

I agree that hosts should be decided after the draw in order to consider the viability of the stadium and choose the one that's best with preference for the suburban ground

I think as a general rule, if a match is between an A-League and an NPL side, the A-League team should host it.

Decide on stadium yes, but not on the host. Whoever's drawn out first should be designated as the 'home' team and play in a stadium as close as possible to wherever the home team is based. E.g. if a Tasmanian team drew any team from the mainland I'd like to think the match would be still be played down here (just moved to a ground like Aurora if need be) and not moved interstate completely.

Agreed, first out of the hat, hosts the game.

IMO, it should be at their home ground if possible.

I hope when it gets to the QFs and SFs they are on a two-legged basis. At that stage they should all be A-league teams, bar maybe one or two lucky state teams. Shouldn't be too much to cover the away costs for a state team. Heck they'll probably be so many from NSW it'll hardly feel like an away game anyway.

Final to be held at home ground of team with best record from the round of 32.

There's 6 games from there to the GF. Should be enough to work out who had the best record over those 6 games.

But what if- for example -a state team from far North NSW without an appropriate stadium is drawn to host Melbourne Victory?

Then it's a direct choice between holding the game at Hunter Stadium in front of 3/4000 people (at best) vs. playing it in Melbourne in front of five or six times that amount.

Please no. [-o<

Straight knock-out Cup is the way to go (and I'm certain the FFA will agree).

More exciting and more upsets.

Just saying HA for those games to make the cup a bit longer.

Extra 7 games with and 5 without during the season.