Like twisting and making up our own history flog? Your identity is known Pauli! The 'once rulers of Greece' that you refer to were Greek. The Slavic Macedonian society descended from the North, the Balkans. 

The people from the Balkans were Slavs, yeah? It is not 100% certain of the proportion of the descendants, some could have also come from Bulgaria and were observed as Slavs, sometimes called Bulgarian Slavs by European observers or Macedonian Slavs, but Slavs nevertheless. That's what I said "most were Slavs". In any event we weren't talking about back then / ancient times. We know Macedonia was one of the many states of Greece and a mighty big and powerful one at that. Through Alexander the Great, uniting Greece. I suppose I'm wrong in that too? lol.

WOW,................they did have a big hunk of Greece / Hellenic Republic but you seem to disagree for whatever reason.

What do you know flog? Both sides have claimed Alexander the great, to cut a long story short. You are neither Greek or North Macedonian, you are a wind up merchant. Leave the politics out of this forum because the likes of you will bring down the NST once it gets going.. Better people than you have found solutions to issues. Greeks and Macos are living in peace, even inter marry and visit each others homelands, None need YOU to come along and wind people up.

Well I'm interested in the history for a good reason that I live in the region, so that's why princess. I didn't post the article that referenced Hellenic clubs. I queried why Preston Macedonia was omitted as a Hellenic club when the history of Macedonia proves otherwise. Perhaps the origin of the paper report might be a clue? Talk to them. I've raised quite a legitamate question.

Gotta love it that in order to prove how bad the ethnic teams are and how they steal the focus away from the football, we need some skip to google European history and explain it all :D

I've been reading up on the history for months. Loving it as I've said so many times before. Anyway, what's this about a skip? I'm no more, or just as much as, a skip as you are.

Keep in mind folks, that Neos Kosmos article articulated that they were being happy for the five teams, being in a position to compete in the NST, catering to they're own audience, and it was taken by some to mean something else sinister.

The last 6 odd posts have been gold ! 😄

Yeah.  Who expected the old NSL to come back so fast and passionately?  :D 

I might make a point that will surely be missed:  The NST is not the old NSL.  It is not the A League.  It isn't even defined yet and people are already ridiculously distracted by stuff that genuinely doesn't matter. :doze:

Typical social media I would say .

James Johnson on Cronulla's NSD bid: "It was one name that brought a smile to my face when I saw it – it caught me off guard, actually. I’m pretty excited, and I think we should be welcoming this."

Sutherland Sharks a club with heritage back to the 1930s as a football club and that has been in the state league system in NSW since 1947 is certainly a welcome addition to the NST EOI list.  Sutherland Shire has 8.5% (19,500) of its population as registered footballers which is the highest penetration of our game that I have come across in Australia.  If the club can satisfy the financial requirements of the league it would be great to see them successful in their bid to join the NST.

This has been one of the most educational few threads Ive read on this site.... Im gonna have to do a little more research to keep up.........

Yup...... agreed.

We hear more from the fa this week right?

Not sure...... I thought the next "milestone" was April/May..... 

No set dates for anything

Currently sifting through EOIs to find whether any need rejecting before RFP gets fully underway.

I hope they publish the list of shortlisted respondents to the EOI at least..... Maybe we can ask them to clarify if Bentleigh Greens is a Greek, Cypriot or Turkish club depending on international law and the conventions of the sea while they are at it? 

It seems to be vitally important to some of our resident ethno-political historians.

Forget pro / rel gents.

The cunce are selling new licenses for Canberra and Auckland for $25 million a pop.

That's the end of that. The only hope now is the NST becomes as, if not more, popular as the A League and they're dragged kicking and screaming.

Doubt it

its up to the fa and if there are at least some clubs in the nst getting bigger crowds than the weakest a league sides i expect p and r happens within 5 years

if the a league didnt expand then probably you have a period of promotion until you get 16 teams in both leagues. 

There's no chance any owner will shell out $25 million and accept a possible relegation. ZERO! 

And having to have to 'protect' NZ teams so they can't be relegated is even more evidence it won't happen. 

I know there's glass half full and glass half empty types but this is not a glass half full situation.

If we get 400 extra professional footballers playing a "full" season in Australia, then we might start regularly winning games at World Cups.  

Where's the $25m figure come from ?


Nevermind, found it.  Rugari article

Wow !

James Johnson confirmed that liscenses do not protect teams and it wont be the apls choice what happens. My guess is James johnson will work out a compromise where liscensed teams cant drop below the nst since he seems a conciliatory bloke

the odds of a fully professional club getting bigger crowds than the weaker a league clubs not having promotion available to them are zero in my opinion

grazor, can you find any article that quotes the FA/JJ can over throw the APL operations regards their league despite them being under the FA umbrellla ?
In 2021 JJ wanted them to play in the winter and they said no, he can only ask but can't make them do anything like below :
"The majority of club owners have declared summer as their preferred option for an A-League season, despite FA CEO James Johnson’s wishes for a winter model."

The only card the FA have......
Under the new model, Football Australia – as the game’s regulatory body with a ‘good of the game’ responsibility – has wide-ranging powers to protect and preserve the financial integrity and transparency across the professional game. 

Look, I hear this often that in the agreement somewhere, the FA has broad powers over the A-League.
The reality?
Nothing happens without the consent of the bigger clubs.
You can now throw foreign merchant banks into the mix.
It is not a coincidence that the APL announces the sale of new licenses on the eve of the new NSD.

Certainly going to be interesting to see how all this plays out in the coming years, seems to me that the old soccer v new football rivalry might even be exasperated in the coming years with the increased profile of traditional clubs playing in a competitive national league again. As I’ve stated previously,  it’ll likely make the cup even more interesting as the gap between the two on and off the field becomes closer. the battleground between the two parallel universes of Australian soccer if you will.