Well done Priest.

You've now shown yourself to be the arrogant snob I suspected you were. At least everyone can now see what you really stand for....certainly not the improvement of football across the board.

Basically you have your vested interests (presumably your old club) and that's where you're coming from. That's cool. Just don't profess to care about the good of football.

No need for further comment from you mate.

Thats probably a lessor known conditions the FFV has placed on the "revolutionary" changes they are implementing.

It probably not a good idea especially as Gippsland will not have representation in the NPL due to lack of interest but also Warrgul Utd and Morwell Pegasus will be pushed out of the Metro Community leagues thus making the games development at a decent playing standard uncertain.

Well that is just fucking retarded. Ballarat Red Devils, North Geelong Warriors, Morwell Pegasus, etc. have been part of the metro pyramid for donks. Why undo all that work?

Hopefully Surf Coast and Galaxy both get in. Watch them Socceroos roll in =p~

[quote]“In the presentation slides from the FFV … I think on page 24, [it says] all regional clubs will not be allowed to put in teams into the Melbourne competition.

“So teams like Ballarat Red Devils, if they don’t get a license in the NPL, all their juniors would have to go back and play in the Ballarat competition. Or if Geelong didn’t get a license in the NPL, all our kids would have to go back and play in the Geelong competition.

Galaxy NPLV bid spurred by youth
By Donald Sutherland June 6, 2013 Leave a comment



Greater Geelong Galaxy Chairman Joe Madunic says he is motivated by the fact local junior footballers could look elsewhere for elite competition should his consortium be unsuccessful in its National Premier League Victoria (NPLV) application.

Speaking exclusively to MFootball, Mr Madunic also said his entity has received support from “traditional” clubs within the local region, a stance quite different from the metropolitan area.

“We’re a new entity, and we’re working towards getting a united bid for Geelong and we owe it to our kids basically to say hey, we’re going to do this for you guys so we can nurture talent and nurture good coaches and nurture good football in our region so we don’t miss the boat and be left behind,” Mr Madunic said.

“That’s probably one of the major reasons why we are actually going ahead with this bid and I think we’re getting a lot of support because of it.

“I think everyone is coming to the realisation that being excluded out of the NPL will pretty much shut the gate in terms of the next three years of football development in Geelong.”

The Galaxy chairman outlined the landscape of Geelong’s football community, where the ‘big’ sides play in FFV metropolitan competitions, saying that if a Geelong side wasn’t accepted into Victoria’s top tier, young footballers would go elsewhere.

“Over the journey, the local competition has been up and down. Most clubs who are FFV affiliated or clubs that are basically playing in Melbourne as a senior club try to get their juniors clubs through at some stage, and that’s been pretty good for player development but it’s got to a stage now where with the new NPL requirements that juniors will not be allowed to play in Melbourne as of 2014.

“In the presentation slides from the FFV … I think on page 24, [it says] all regional clubs will not be allowed to put in teams into the Melbourne competition.

“So teams like Ballarat Red Devils, if they don’t get a license in the NPL, all their juniors would have to go back and play in the Ballarat competition. Or if Geelong didn’t get a license in the NPL, all our kids would have to go back and play in the Geelong competition.

“Traditionally what’s happened in the past when Geelong teams haven’t been allowed to play in Melbourne, players will go up the highway and find a club in the western suburbs somewhere where they can ply their trade and even some coaches have moved up the highway.”

Mr Madunic, who is a passionate supporter of North Geelong Warriors, said he was empathetic to particular metropolitan clubs who have snubbed the new competition due to the licence structure.

“It is a bit of a cultural change, it’s moving away from tradition but they’ve got the opportunity to work out if they want to keep their traditional club’s name, colours, heritage, history, culture – whatever you want to name it.

“Some clubs feel that their clubs culture and tradition are above the NPL, and in some cases, I do agree with them. Melbourne Knights – 60 years of history, North Geelong – 45 years of history, do they want to put all their eggs in one basket and go in a new direction? That’s a big call to make.

“A lot of those metro clubs … the Victorian Premier League clubs, they’ve been clubs for a long, long time. You’re talking about the Oakleighs, you’re talking about the South Melbourne Football Club, you’re talking about the Melbourne Knights, you’re talking about clubs who have been around ever since post-war migration in Australia.

“They’ve got a lot of tradition; they’ve produced a lot of great players – not just for Victoria but also for Australia. So I can’t say much for them, I can’t speak on their behalf but I do understand why. I honestly, as an individual, do understand why they might not want to take the plunge into the NPL because they’re protecting the community club that they are.”

Madunic, who was also secretary at North Geelong Warriors when they were State Champions, acknowledged the financial burden an NPLV license could incur, but said it was something his group had to address in order to provide opportunities for the young Geelong-based footballers.

“The other side of it is the cost factor and charging fees of up to seventeen hundred dollars,” Mr Madunic said.

“Yeah, it is a concern for some clubs, and in the climate of sport and finding dollars through sponsorship – yeah, they are challenges but they are challenges that we in Geelong definitely have to have a decent crack at because if you don’t have a decent crack at it, like I said, we don’t want to be left in the wilderness and we’ll have a mass exodus of players going up the highway to chase their dreams.

“We’re working through that (sponsorship) at the moment. We’re talking with external stakeholders; we’re working with internal stakeholders. We have got a little bit of backing from the local region within our organisations here.

“We’re pretty confident that we can cover the criteria that’s there. We’ll know a little bit more once the expressions close … and we’ll know a little bit more in the next phase once they start releasing more information about the application process itself and what the FFV can do to help us in a lot of the strategic areas.”

The chairman of the bid also revealed that the Greater Geelong Galaxy identity, which was born out of the Victorian Champions League, would exist for one season before a vote would be put to its members to change.

“This new entity, if we do get the NPL, will run for one year or basically for one cycle. Once the membership and the governance is up, then the members will decide which way they want to go in terms of ownership, in terms of colours, in terms of name, in terms of the board structure and things like that.

“So we’re doing this as an interim measure until the governance up and going, until we get the membership base up, and until we get an AGM where obviously the members will vote what direction they want to take the NPL licence if we are successful in getting one.”

Arthur, I don't know what Perri is talking about.On face value it seems worrying but he is one person, not the whole FFV Board.

Thats the ramblings of a FFV Director who just stepped down, don't feel left out cause no-one else knows what his talking about. But he did have direct involvement in the the FFV's version of the NPL. Which is the issue at hand.

[quote]Secondly, you seem to be suggesting we create another FFV to replace the current FFV. And what happens when that board starts to develop new and fancy ideas we don't like? We go for another league with and FFV Mk III?

Arthur, I don't know what Perri is talking about. On face value it seems worrying but he is one person, not the whole FFV Board. Secondly, you seem to be suggesting we create another FFV to replace the current FFV. And what happens when that board starts to develop new and fancy ideas we don't like? We go for another league with and FFV Mk III?

Firstly I refer to the thinking of the former FFV Board member who believes this

Joe Perri firmly believes that the sport and the Federation’s ambitions would be better served if the competition was restructured and the men and women’s senior / reserves leagues were replaced with ongoing age groups i.e. Under 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and so on.

and I ask you is the FFV have the competence to run the NPLV?

Secondly an independant Board and staff could be appointed to run the NPLV if the FFV had the concerns of the competition at heart and operated with a greater level of humbleness.

How the fuck would you know? Do you personally know every board member of every VPL club? I can guarantee you, that the clubs would run the league 1000 times better than the FFV is at the moment.

Arthur do you believe that the competence exists within the club structures at VPL and State 1 and 2 in order to run the leagues themselves? I am not confident that the level is there across the board to do this at this time. In my view we simply can't avoid the governing body running the leagues at this time.

A tough choice indeed but what's the alternative? Youth development in VIC is piss poor, ad-hoc, hit and miss stuff.

Something has to give.The NPLV is one serious attempt which at least makes logical sense.

Priest, SydneyCroatia,

It aint over until the fat lady sings guys.

If there is enough desire from the clubs that put in an EOI I believe that things can change if they need to. And with a new CEO there is a ready-made, face-saving way to do it. No one can say, "You said you wouldn't change". So if you want to have a chance to push for change then inside is where you needed to be. From the outside little will be achieved....not least because you will be seen as recalcitrant.

It's even harder to understand when one considers that there was nothing about the EOI that tied you down to any further obligations of any sort.

I don't buy the line that the Knights didn't have the resources to be part of the next phase of the process.

Don't get me wrong, you may be right that nothing will change. But it's a big risk they've taken.

If there is enough desire from the clubs that put in an EOI I believe that things can change if they need to. And with a new CEO there is a ready-made, face-saving way to do it. No one can say, "You said you wouldn't change". So if you want to have a chance to push for change then inside is where you needed to be. From the outside little will be achieved....not least because you will be seen as recalcitrant.

But it's not about the senior teams of these elite clubs; it's about increasing our strike rate in respect to identifying and developing talent which will move beyond the states. In Australia, with our small population, limited resources and the dominance of the hand-ball codes we cannot achieve this in the same way that it is achieved overseas. That's just a fact of the lay of the land. So the powers that be have come up with this approach. It may not be the best approach and will definitely need to be tweaked as we go forward but it's certainly better than what I've seen around the traps at this moment.

Clearly one of the key consequences will be that the current VPL competition will change. The emphasis will not be on the club and the fan who comes to watch their VPL senior team. It will be on the development of young talent.

Another consequence will probably be that the quality of the senior squads/teams will suffer over the short to mid term because of the point system. We will lose experienced players to the lower divisions. But I think with time this will come around again and perhaps surpass what we have today because the quality coming through will improve and cannot all go to the A-League, even in an expanded form. The talent of the pool of top tier state players will, over time, get much better even if they are younger.

So in the end what does this all mean?

The new elite NPLV clubs will be different beasts to the current VPL clubs with a different focus. Or at least two very distinct areas of focus. The quality of senior team football may/will suffer in the initial phase but will probablycome back better in time.

The clubs who opted out will unfortunately play no role in making it a better process over the next few years and in correcting the NPLV's initial shortcomings. In time I think they will probably regret their decision and their members will not forgive them.

Media Release

Wednesday 5 June 2013

FFV APPOINTS NEW CEO

Football Federation Victoria (FFV) today announced it has appointed Mitchell Murphy as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Mr Murphy who has a Master of Business Administration was appointed after an extensive recruitment process by the FFV Board and recruitment firm Derwent Executive.

Mr Murphy has more than 15 years’ experience in senior media management roles in Australia and New Zealand and during that time has worked closely with elite sport including football.

He has covered three Olympic Games (Sydney, Athens and Beijing) as a writer and editor.

A former Editor-in-Chief of Fairfax Community Newspapers in Victoria, Mr Murphy spent four years in New Zealand as General Manager (Auckland) of Fairfax Media before taking up his current role as Executive Director (Publishing) of The Newspaper Works, the peak media industry body for the Asia Pacific Region.

“I have been passionate about football for a long time and as the father of a son who has played junior football for the past five years, I understand the issues for parents and grassroots participants,” said Murphy, who is the uncle of Matildas star Katrina Gorry.

“I am excited to be joining FFV at a time when football is on the rise, with a record A-League season on all fronts. With the leadership David Gallop and the FFA are providing and the anticipation of the AFC Asian Cup in 2015, I believe we can further grow the game in Victoria.

“I am also particularly excited to be involved in the National Premier Leagues Victoria launch.

“While all businesses face hurdles, and FFV is not without challenge, I will be particularly focused on ensuring our financial performance is strong to enhance our services to clubs and players and to keep the costs of participation in check.

“My approach will be collaborative with our members and stakeholders. Football has grown 56 per cent in the past 10 years in Victoria and to ensure that continues I will listen to the views of everyone involved with the game.”

FFV President Nick Monteleone said that he was delighted with the appointment.

“On behalf of the Board and the football family we welcome Mitchell and look forward to a new and exciting chapter for football in Victoria,” said Mr Monteleone.

Mr Murphy will take up his position at FFV on 1 July.

I've never got a response from a brick wall so I don't bother trying to get one anymore. You seem to know the Knights have got it all wrong anyway so nothing to discuss.

Just waiting for you and the rest of the experts to say I told you so, once the FFV moves the NPLV goal posts.

No, forums are about people with NFI getting to have their say to some sort of an audience.