I don't think this is such a bad proposal. Not what everyone was hoping for but its a start.

Lay the foundations, a crawl before you can walk attitude.

In a few years When more teams grow ambitious, and the amount of interested clubs grows then we can look at expanding and a national second division on top of the two conferences.

With only up to 30 of the 120 clubs interested, this is the best way to be all inclusive, as pro/rel down will be hard/pointless if no clubs want to come up and a 25-30 team league is too much for a league that is going to start off somewhere between semi pro and pro(probably closer to semi pro in my opinion)

Restricting it to just NSW/Vic would be pointless because then we just end up with a HAL lite, where only those two states and their derbies matter, and you still have the rest of the country excluded and disgruntled. It also defeats the AAFC purpose of being a national representative of NPL clubs.

#PrayforFIFA

I like the conference idea but in my opinion it should form a semi-pro third division. A second division should be made up initially of 10-14 fully professional clubs. 

It's a second division, the quality won't be A-League quality, but it should be step up of the NPL. All the best NPL players into those squads to bump up that quality, with potential loans from A-League clubs also and of course any overseas players the second division clubs could sign. Should be following the same visa rules also, perhaps a maximum of 3-4 visa players, or a 3+1 rule to include an Asian player - or a 2+1 to give more Aussies a chance. There's a lot of ways it can be structured.

The third conferenced division clubs should come from the current NPL system and anyone aspirational, wishing to join the 3rd tier.

Planning for pro/rel from the 3rd tier to the 2nd should be happening from the start, with the aim to have it in place over x amount of years. Gives clubs enough time to meet criteria. 

As far as pro/rel from the HAL to the 2nd division, well I have no idea if/when that will happen. Hopefully within 10 years.

The whole concept of conferences seems like a step backwards from the national NPL. It just seems a bit like a diluted NPL which mightn't do a whole lot to improve quality. I get that the state based teams might see it as a step up, but unless there are measures to improve the quality of the play it will just be the same or worse football as NPL. Without a big jump in quality it won't succeed. There isn't a TV deal, or huge crowds for the NPL for a reason, and just taking more state teams and putting them into conferences isn't going to change that fact. The result will be that it will financially be unviable and collapse after maybe 5 years of struggling. The FFA can then hold it up as a reason against Pro/Rel.

In my ideal world I'd have a 14 team national professional B-League, with prescribed minimum stadia and youth development requirements. The bottom 2-3 teams have a play off with the state champions which they are from. The NPL still runs, the state leagues still run, but a higher quality, more attractive to punters, viewers, advertisers etc model is made that is a pathway to the A-League waiting for pro/rel to happen

Agree with most others on this page, a two conference system is doomed to failure.

Ostensibly it is being done as a cost saving measure, but all it means is more tin pot teams having to travel huge distances.

It's only viable if it's based around Melbourne and Sydney, with teams from Canberra and Wollongong also being in the mix.  Forget about tin pot teams flying the breadth and length of the nation to play other tin pot teams.  Doomed to failure before it even starts.

LOL! promise that azza isn't a multi of me. Just weird we post the same thing within a minute of each other.

Whether there are two three or four conferences is irrelevant as the real competition starts when the leaders of each conference finally play each other.
So the real question is whether we include more peripheral teams to get a larger overall competition of say 20 teams or whether we skip that and raise the starting bar,by imposing something like a $2mill budget on participating clubs.Thus probably reducing the eligible teams to less than 12.
Personally,we have talked about how important it is to make the second division and potential lower divisions inclusive rather than exclusive leagues.So starting with a conference system is not so bad.
The grouping of teams into conferences doesn't have to be state based.If you are a team from Qld,NNSW or WA,flying to Sydney or Melb is virtually the same cost.Similarly flying from Sydney to Melb and vice verca.As someone has suggested maybe away games could be grouped for teams having to fly,as they do in Super Rugby for away trips to South Africa.
Ultimately though the travel costs will be the governing factor.But if Qld can manage those costs in the npl,then what makes it any different for a Div2?the number of games?
Maybe the way forward is to work out funding for a 12 team Div2 with say 10 teams locked in by being fully self funded.The other two teams can come from a conference playoff,played in the Div2 off season.
So a Div2 could have 3 Vic,3Syd,2Qld,1SA,1 unknown.+ 2 conference winners funded by Div 2.

haha, great minds..

Without P&R, A2 loses it's major and only real drawcard.

Will much more likely fail and give FFA and the franchise fanboys excuse to ignore it for another generation

Is there any reason why the top 4 NPL sides from NSW &Vic couldn’t roll out an unofficial summer league in their off-season to test the waters? As we’ve seen from the FFA Cup, those that have qualified or have done pretty regularly have seen the flow on benefits the cup has produced. Which is why they throw the kitchen sink at qualifying for the Round of 32 to get the national limelight again with the enticement of a home fixture against an A-League side. Both Victoria & NSW have very strong entries that come from the top 5 in their current respective standings.

So could South Melb, Bentleigh, Hume, Heidelberg, Syd United,Syd Olympic, APIA & Rockdale set up a 8 team comp to remain match fit inthe off season and effectively start a champions league like scenario with ourtwo strongest state leagues?
The season would only consist of 14 weeks in total of x1 home x1 away fixtureswhich could be enough to test the waters.The most of having at least x3 home derbies should assist inoffsetting the costs that they will incur.
The benefits of keeping these players match fit in the summer could see them have a realistic chance of causing a cupset against an A-League side deeper into the FFA cup.

Unfortunately with the current FFA regime at the helm, theywill only sit on their hands on this matter until they have to actionsomething.It seems like a proactive and united approach from thisgroup of leading clubs may be the only way to get some proper traction and force some change.

NOTE: FFT doesn't like copying & pasting posts off word ffs

if they rely on fifa i doubt anything will happen then

QLD bout to announce the teams for their two tiered state comp in 10mins.

-PB

what is the significance of that?

So what are they relying on FIFA to do?

So it's all above board and FFA can't cry, breakaway competition, to FIFA?

Or something else?

well if its just permission im more optimistic

if its wanting the fifa to strongarm the ffa i doubt it

fifa have hundreds of federations to think about. Even if they weren't corrupt all the ffa would have to do is be diplomatic and bore fifa in their meetings and nothing will happen in 100 years even if fifa agreed with ffas critics (at least that would be my expectation)

Their bringing in pro/rel in QLD, first time since they launched the NPL model

Sorry. 2:30 im having the chat. Had a meeting at 10 but we rescheduled for this afternoon. Sorry to dash you lot.

no worries!
hope they act regardless of fifa (unless they are just looking for thumbs up)

So it will be a bit like the other states now then?

the conference idea is dumb. just have 2 divisions. 

Have the other States got woeful Crests as well 

I don't like the conference system either, but as a starting point, it is a starting point.

The reasons for the conferences seems to be for cost savings purposes.

So, start with the conferences with about 16-18 games a season, then as interest increases and more money around, have two conferences have a swap-over round, so you play each team twice in your own conference and then once in the other.  Will end up playing about 25-28 games a season.

The finals can be the top 4 in each playing off against the top for of the other, 1v4, 2v3 in a KO comp, so QFs, SFs and then the final irrespective of the swap-over round or not.

Will end up having a 2nd division champ.

The bottom team of each conference could be relegated back to their state league to be replaced by the feeder federations NPL champ.

Yep. Finally getting on board.

-PB

Gotta love a Magpies Crusader from Mackay and Whitsundays.



Finally someone to protect our heads as we walk down the street.

Gotta Love ROACHdale Rovers

I agree.  A conference system won't work for anyone but those in NSW and to a lesser extent VIC.  The main reason thrown around in support of a conference system is to reduce costs, but does it really reduce travel requirements for those in QLD or SA?  They still have to travel the majority of the season to other States.  And now they're not even getting to play against the best in the country.

I think we have the ability to have a national 2nd and 3rd tier, using a combination of existing and new clubs.  A two-conference second division would be a disappointing compromise for me.

Did you end up getting any response from higher up regarding your plan?

I spoke to a few people with more influence/involvement than I have. 

Not sure if anything will come of it, but they were supportive and said they would take it on board.

They basically have 5 years to get it right. The tv deal length is 6 years. Once negotiations start for the next tv deal a second division would have to be formed and popular (or popular enough) to get the A-League rights buyer interested. Of course some or all of FIFA, AFC, FFA and APFCA would have to support a switch to pro rel and agree to terms.

Gallop may try a 8 year tv deal next time around on his way out. Who knows?

The A-League would need 14 teams to have even games. This would mean games would overlap. It wouldn't be too hard to avoid having home A-League matches and division 2 matches in the same city on the same day, if that is a condition required/wanted and up to 3 teams from one city.