That's plenty. ;)

Just three, I think.

Then that is a disgrace.

Any team can apply to join the NPL at any time. League position not of importance.

Irrelephant as that was when it was when it was first established. Now it is known, teams should have the right to go up and down regardless of league position.

League position had nothing to do with whether teams were accepted into the NPL or not. Plenty jumped the queue as it were.



South Melbourne, then fresh air, then Miron Blieberg's Oakleigh, then Heidelberg (who had spent the previous season in a lower division).

I don't see a problem with this.

They should be included into the state competition at least. If they reach the point of qualification then why should they be omitted?

Take MV. Do you imagine Muscat would go easy on an opponent in a match? Likewise the youth would be keen to impress and give it their all.

A Victory/City A would go better than an NYL side tbh.

Which looks like the medium term intent. Clubs constantly complain about the NYL black hole they throw money into - mainly travel expenses. This will however be at the detriment of youth development.

We need a NYL and NPL participation not only to maintain 12 months of football for up and comers but so that they face quality opposition their own age!

In all honesty they could probably just do away with the NYL as a national league and just leave them at NPL level.

-PB

Didn't know about this until now, but this is a massive step forward for football in Australia. Good job. Can only hope that each NYL side gets to play week in week out against sides other than other NYL teams.

Who came first, second and third?

I know Sydney United came lower in the NSW PL.

However, SU played far better against SFC this year than they did against South Hobart last year. I think Rudan's coaching is starting to take effect against higher quality teams.

The Greens' game plan and style of play, showed they can play at the higher level. Some teams cannot rise to it, even though playing competently at a lower level.

It doesn't seem to make sense, but it is true. The Greens controlled passages of the game, which I've seen no other NPL teams do against HAL opposition, apart from Sydney United, to a smaller extent.

Yet Bentleigh finished 4th in the NPL, 23 points behind the winners... And the side that has been playing in the last few rounds of the cup hasn't been as good as the side that played in the league (DeVries and McGrath departing leaves a big hole in the forward area).

Edited by Benjamin: 13/11/2014 10:10:52 AM

Correct, it was determined that City and Victory NPL1 sides will play all their matches as "away" matches.
The one time they will meet the will depend on which team is allocated as the "home" team.

I think we are all jumping the gun here and should probably await further clarification before getting too excited. I for one am looking forward to this and would like to see how it would take place. Would be disappointed if City was western conference and victory east. :(

They're just playing away matches.

I thought all Heart and City NYL games are at Epping? The vast majority of the last few years of Victory's were all at Lakeside, and a few at Port Melbourne's ground.

Edited by paladisious: 12/11/2014 08:18:54 PM

It's a possibility that they will only be playing away games (except when they meet each other). This was the custom of the NTC/VTC side while they were in the VPL.

This was a common sense approach.

Putting MC/MV NYL teams into NPL1 gives them a chance to build up to the top tier if they are good enough to do so.

The interesting thing will be what grounds they both use to play home matches. Currently both seem to use a variety of grounds for NYL season matches from what I have seen.

Both MC and MV will be expected in coming years to begin having junior sides in different age group tiers, so this is a good foundation to build from.

Would imagine no.

Roar NYL took part in the NPLQ qualification phase.



-PB

Hmm that's an interesting point heni! But can see it not happening

Does this mean the City and Victory NYL teams are eligible for the FFA cup?

So potentially the could play their senior teams in a fixture?

They were leading their division until the last couple of rounds, but couldn't make it across the line.

Kontra said:

This is a joke. Existing clubs were threatened with expulsion if they didn't accept Victory and City being in NPL.

NPL has strict rules for every other club about junior teams being filled, with clubs even being docked points because of it, yet Victory and City can just compete without any of these conditions.






To me the greater good of the game, is accepting City and Victory youth teams.

NPL is a feeder to HAL.

Apart from Bentleigh last night, and possibly Sydney United, I've seen no NPL teams across the country anywhere near good enough to play HAL.

Fair point.

However, with experienced HAL players , like CB Roddy Vargas, a midfielder, Leigh Broxham, a target forward, Danny Allsopp, and maybe an experienced keeper (for one half of a game), these guys could organise a youth team by coaching on the pitch .

We'd prefer it this way. The battle for promotion will be great and we'll be able to earn our way into the top tier.

I would have thought they did but if I recall, they werent in a promotion position regardless. The argument will go on for another day

Surely they'd be considering three vertical divisions of 12 teams now.

SooOo0Ooo00ooOOOOooOoOOoOoOoOoOo00oo0OQ maybe NPL next year?

At the time when applications were asked for Preston was approx $150K-$200K in debt. They were not in a position to apply.

This year they have paid off all debt and if they have a good season in 2015 they will have money in the bank and maybe get their junior program upto scratch.

Possibly with 3-4 quality players they would survive, I have seen enough Victory Youth practice matches this year to say they are best served being in NPL1, they can develop at a better level where they can actually dominate games with possesion.
Being in NPL they will be forced to play a much more counter attacking and defensive football.