Guys i have been told by a friend invovled in football at lower levels that the talk at the moment by the FFA is

Eastern Sea Board Comp

1 Team from Queensland
1 Team from Canberra
1 Team from Tasmania
3 Teams from NSW
3 Teams from VIC
1 Team from Reginal VIC

10 Teams and starting in 2012

Exciting times ahead for existing and foundation clubs

If youre a foundation club then youd be an existing one, wouldnt you?


Either way... wont happen

I think a second division is a nice dream, but I don't think Australia has enough supporters and money to sustain that many clubs.

Sure, Japan is a country with 40 teams that have pretty solid support despite football being a considered a second-rate sport, but they've got a population of 128,000,000.

I have been told by a friend invovled[sic] in football at a very high level that you are full of shit.

Not sure that Reginal[sic] VIC would be classed as Eastern Sea Board either.

Anyway, thought you were banned.

very strange you lot, i thought a forum was a place to disucss ideas, news and issues in football.

The second division is much needed to introduce more hardcore fans to the game to show the a-league mob how its done as they do not get it and the poor player development can be seen on the pitch.

All my friends are sick of the a-league no passion and not interesting.

The passion in the NSWPL is much higher and more interesting to watch

this has been discussed on countless occassions

I think the game really requires a new dimension and I am aware that there have been discussions behind the scenes by the state feds - however clubs have not been engaged as yet

Truth be said - there are probably only 6-8 clubs not currently in the HAL capable of playing in any national comp at the moment

However the pressing matter is that unless FFA implement a cup comp by 2012 - we stand to lose 1 of 2 current ASIAN club spots

On another note - if FFA implement promotion and relegation in some shape or form - we can gain an extra spots

One thing is for certain - stakes could not be higher

Interesting times ahaid

Edited by chris: 19/4/2010 04:24:05 PM

What friends ?

Hmmmm.
It could happen but then how does promotion and relegation work?
obviously Perth and Wellington could not be relegated as they then could not ever gain promotion. and after all that is the sole purpose of a second tier in Aussie football.

fixed: you got those two confused
heres my take on it the ffa will sell 5 licenses to join the A-league
1 license will goto FNSW
1 license will goto FFV
1 license will goto FQ
1 license will goto FW
1 license will goto SAFF
once they own the license it would be their duty to sub-let it to the clubs in their leagues

P&R would be upto the license holder

Maybe they could have no relegations or promotions and just make the 2nd tier division similar to the one the AFL has in place?

The VFL (Victorian Football League) acts as a reserve competition. Each AFL team has an alliance with a VFL team. For example, the Western Bulldogs have an alliance with the Williamstown Seagulls and North Melbourne have an alliance with the Werribee Tigers.

Perhaps Melbourne Victory could have an alliance with South Melbourne, the Melbourne Knights with the Heart, Sydney FC with Sydney United, etc etc.

And these NSL teams could play in an A-League second division with no promotion and relegation? Just serving as a platform to the A-League?

People may not know this, but the teams in the VFL today were originally part of an Aussie Rules Competition called the VFA. The VFL and VFA were great rivals for many years until the VFL turned itself into the AFL and basically put the VFA out of business. The AFL/VFL did not want to kill off these old teams, so they basically purchased the VFA and rebranded them the 'VFL.' Why couldn't the A-League do something similar with the old NSL teams and just call them A-League division 2 and make them feeder clubs?



That said, if a club can support itself financially and cover the expenses of the players salaries, hotels, plane tickets, staff and administration, I think they should be granted an A-League license.

And THAT said, it would split the supporter base of the A-League sides and perhaps trigger the extinction and weakening of clubs.

It's a nice idea, but you've seen some of the animosity towards the A-League from fans of State clubs, on these forums. To be moved into a competition to become basically a reserve side for the A-league, I don't think many of their fans would go for it.

It also raises the other issue that, there may be 3 really strong sides in the VPL, who deserve to be in this 2nd div, but there's only 2 Melbourne A-League clubs. Who of the VPL sides misses out?

I didn't watch it, but I'm told that Bosnich was on Fox Sports last night and said that his main priority with regard to his position at Sydney Olympic was to get the club ready for the 2nd division... Can anyone confirm that he said that?

If so, it's very interesting that a member of the board of an existing club would make such a comment on a national tv show.

Essentially Bozza said that he's been learning alot from his new role at Olympic, and with regard to the '2nd division' he said alot of the state league clubs are looking to 'get their house in order' so that they are ready IF the 2nd division ever comes to fruition.

So really he was diplomatic about it all.

He did have a very direct swipe at Kevin Muscat, but thats a different story altogether.

Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne are the only two big clubs in Melbourne I know of. Who are the third?

Their fans wouldn't go for it, but I don't think they have many options. They seem to be the only small pocket of fans that want to keep the club in the main league. Mainstream fans don't seem to give a rats.

If you're talking about Fox sports fc i dont think he said anything about olympic. From memory they spoke about muscats acl comments and had some interviews with kenny sampson and that aussie journo in England. I may have missed a couple of minutes but cant recall bosnich saying anything about it


Edited by starvinmarvin: 21/4/2010 03:09:02 PM

Sounds about right. Cheers for the clarification.

Just picked Melbourne as an example, could be any city. You understand my point though? On top of that, with teams gone into a 2nd Div, what about the teams that become stronger in the State Leagues? You could have a side in Victoria, who are stronger than half the sides in the 2nd Division, but they can't join because their isn't another Melbourne side to link with.

I think this topic should be moved to Australian Football section for greater discussion..

And whilst we're at it, I would rather see a second tier of predominately regional broadbased teams...spread the footprint.

Nah, I think this is the 3rd time the same poster (under different names) has started a thread with the same rumour.

The subject comes up regularly enough in Australian football through regular discussion without having yet another stand-up row between the 'tribes'.

As we've discussed previously, I favour a model which combines pre-existing clubs and new franchises - with the emphasis on economic viability rather than geographic diversity. If we can find viable bids in Darwin, Albury/Wodonga, Cairns, etc., excellent - but if we can't, it's cutting off the nose to spite the face if we turn our back on viable franchises within the cities.

fair enough.

I guess for me, as we have discussed previously, we only really get the one chance to establish a second tier comp and it needs to be done right.

If we go with some existing teams, call them what you will, we need to allow room for these untapped markets( Darwin, Albury and Cairns etc...) to be included in the future.

I also believe whilst promotion to the A-League may be technically possible, and I guess for the second tier as well for that matter, in reality relegation will be unlikely as it would be disastrous financially for many of these clubs.

My bad I forgot the world only consists of Melbourne.
No mate you forget that the VFL does not go outside of Victoria.
I know the WAFL takes AFL players but it's a completely different system to the VFL reserve club one.
And again you fail to mention anything about what clubs like North Queensland, Perth and Wellington would do. THE WPL plays at a completely different time to the A-league season.

Now that you mention it, the newly formed Gold Coast AFL club is playing in the VFL this year. The Sydney Swans also had an alliance with Port Melbourne for a while there on account of the NSWAFL competition not being up to AFL standard.

Aside from that, yes I am aware that a world exists outside of Victoria, and no, I am not Melbourne centric. In fact, seeing as my AFL team is the Sydney Swans and I have to put up with all this boggerball taunts on a daily basis, I think I have quite an open mind.

I thought I would just throw the idea (An second division A-League based on the VFL) out there as a possibility. Maybe the WAFL or SANFL have better setups, I'm not sure.


Australia (And New Zealand) is a pretty massive place. Maybe a second division would be feasible if they created a second league consisting of NSW, Victorian and Queensland teams only?

I have a question to ask. Pardon my naivety here, I was too young to care about finances when the NSL was top flight, but - was the NSL not financially viable?

with the NSL, a lot of the ethnic clubs where supported by large profitable social clubs, so yes they where viable, however a lot of other teams where very much on struggle street, and teams went belly up every couple of years.

The league, as a whole, wasn't financially viable - mainly because the game's administrators were a joke. Most of the clubs were able to keep going through the worst of it - and more importantly in the context of this conversation - they've kept going through five years out of the national competition.

I can't comment for Melbourne Knights, Sydney United or Olympic, etc., but I can say with full confidence that South Melbourne would be able to support themselves in the A or A2 league were the opportunity ever to arise.

I'm all for a diverse league with teams all over the country - but a couple more sides in Melbourne and Sydney wouldn't hurt that - particularly if they are financially secure.

I think there is scope within Melbourne for additional teams, especially in a second tier comp, the problem that I could forsee is that the two most likely clubs in that regard...Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne are both quite close geographically to Heart and Victory...one would think there is a great opportunity for a club in the eastern suburbs at some point.






Edited by Joffa: 22/4/2010 11:03:03 PM

All you 'second division', 'a-league is boring' 'we need relegation like eurupz' ballsacks need to wake up and smell the coffee... a second division is NOT FINANCIALLY VIABLE.

It is NOT a realistic short-term option. We just don't have the population, supprt base or money to support it.

Please shut up with all this second division bullshit and stick to supporting your local a-league team.. goddamnit!

bloody naysayer. [-x




;)

Erm...

If over a hundred clubs can survive as semi-professional outfits in the current environment with no support from the FFA - what makes you think that a dozen of them couldn't step up and do the same in a national competition, with the only additional costs being for travel..?

Oh, and read the thread - no one is asking for relegation, several have stated outright that relegation (and promotion) shouldn't be a factor.

Edited by Benjamin: 23/4/2010 12:25:56 AM

It's viable. I even think its a must, simply for the additional spots we'll have in the ACL. Asia is the future.