It seemS Mr Nikou tailors his opinions depending on who is hosting him and his tremendous gastronomical appetites. The reverse was expressed at a few NPL grounds around Victoria last year ;)

Have the geographical spread people actually looked at a population map of Australia? 1/3 of Australians live in Greater Sydney or Melbourne.

Half the places you dummies suggest can't even keep a team in the NPL and you think they'll last longer then a season in an NSD lol.

I'm with you bud..... enough waiting around to FIT the foreign franchisee model,of acceptance... If this NST or NSD or whatever they chose to call it is the highest league tier nationally that a club can be promoted to on sporting merit. And it links to the majority of leagues and clubs throughout Australia, then that is the first division in my books. As Arthur cheekily inferred above, the franchises will already be in the pyramid via their respective NPL squads. If they chose to focus on this aspect of their club, treat the competition with respect by fielding full age squads and pull out of the series of entertainment "encounters" that the APL tragically calls a "league", then WELCOME.... It will be great to compete against them on equal footing. 

40% actually which means 60% of the population doesn't live in Sydney or Melbourne and those 60% have as much right as anyone else to be represented in the NSD.

Looking at regional population centres the places that might be able to support a club are:-
Queensland could have a club in Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.
New South Wales could have a club in Newcastle and Wollongong.
ACT could have a club in Canberra.
Victoria could have a club in Geelong.
Tasmania could have a club in Hobart.

Say 5 of them get up then there is the 5 mainland state capitals to share the remaining 7 or 9 spots in the competition.

Geographical spread isn't a stupid idea at all in fact the opposite is the case if we want to grow the game across the whole country.

Agree.

Cricket national teams are stronger as the game has become more widespread. All states have teams playing at the highest level.

His point is still valid.  40% concentrated in two cities is one thing, 60% spread across a whole continent is something else again.

Anyway, this idea that a certain place "deserves" a team is actually part of the problem.

In a full pyramid, the only team that deserves anything is whoever can earn it on the pitch.

Couldn't agree more.

The Geographical Spread plan by the AAFC is just to get things started, P&R will change the make up from then on.

The alternate is to fill the starting 12 with NPL clubs that also didn't win their League.
Apart from being unearnt on the pitch, how the fillers are selected would be an unnecessary bun-fight.

Just get it going and let P&R run it from then on.

I take it then that you don't think that any clubs in Sydney or Melbourne deserve to be in the NSD because of the population concentration there.

When you are starting a competition and there has been no opportunity for clubs to show football merit to win a spot then it is normal to accept bids that are in the best interests of the success of the competition.  What constitutes "the best interest of the competition" needs to be transparent in the bid documents so everyone can shape their bid accordingly.

Once the competition is up and running and P/R is in play then football merit along with the other requirements to obtain and hold a licence will decide who is promoted.

I think you are making a lot of assumptions before a ball is kicked. The best interest is the best clubs playing in the best competition, not forcing something that doesn't fit.

Given the Cap has been virtually rendered pointless by the 2 marquee rule today, not much point half the Franchises bothering anymore

Western United and Macarthur Rams are what you get when you try and geographically 'represent' an area. Friggin basket cases both of them.

Despite Melbourne Storm being in the NRL for decades they are yet to even have a miniscule toehold in Victoria besides expat NSWelshman and Bananas going to their matches.

Ditto taking the State of Origin and the Wallabies to places like Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. Waste of time that has done nothing to grow the game and has simply denied fans the opportunity to see these matches in states where people actually play the game.

My take is invite bidders and take the best 12, 14, 16 teams that meet the criteria and go from there. It's inevitable that the wealthier clubs are going to have a head start and they're going to be predominantly from major centres and so what?.

Given all things being equal on paper between 2 competing bidders then maybe, MAYBE, think about geographical representation.

Under the AAFC proposal there is no bidding process

Well western sydney is another example to be fair

in any case p and r will take care of who is represented

i hope we one day manage a semi pro third division to go with two pro divisions as i honestly think its too hard a landing to go from a national comp to a division with 90 clubs in a country as spread out as ours

No bidding

Page 23
 "Widest Feasible Geographic spread " & qualification through
Competitive football matches

Does anyone know the other 2 models theyare discussing on top of the aafc endorsed one and the champions league one? (Boo to the champions league model unless its a bridge to the 2nd div)

the only other possible model i could imagine would be some hybrid between an spl system and a conference system to cut travel time. Maybe split into two leagues with the most geographically close teams play a short home and away season. Then for the second half of the season the top teams from each conference go into a champions bracket and the bottom into a relegation bracket

I'm not sure why you think I am trying to force something that doesn't fit.  I am simply stating that a regulatory framework will exist for the league that will cover the non football merit requirements for annual licensing of each club.  In May this year FA issued club licensing regulations, based on the FIFA and AFC regulations, that at the moment cover the ALM and ALW competitions and they made it clear that the licensing process will also apply to the NSD clubs.

As far as locations "deserving" a club my point is that no location "deserves" a club over another simply based on population of a larger region.  If population is to be one of the bid criteria then it is the population of the area/constituency served that is the important fact.

What are the best clubs?  In a P/R system the best clubs are those that don't get relegated plus the clubs that earn promotion as long as they each can get licensed to compete.  In setting up a new competition it is not so easy.  Someone has to assess the bids against the criteria advised prior to bids being received.  For me the large regional cities with no current representatives in the ALM have to be a good chance if they meet the criteria.

a2 league is the most popular option so far for the name of the nsd

That is a nonsense.  Set up the competition based on the best bids and then let P/R sort it out after and short steadying period for the competition.

Nothing wrong with Macarthur as an area for a club.  Good population, huge population growth, 20,000 registered players that is growing at a rate greater than most locations in Australia with a new local club being set up every couple of years and growing to 800-1000 players in 5+ years.  If there is a problem it is the ownership charades.  Despite that the club has performed well on the pitch.  It will be interesting to see how attendance goes this season as it will be the first season that the club will have been without covid restrictions.  The SW of Sydney was the worst affected with covid shutdowns in Sydney.

I don't believe there are too many clubs in the big cities that will be able to add another $2.5m+ pa to their current spending and that will make the larger regional cities possibilities for inclusion.  As I said in a previous post places like Gold Coast (650k), Greater Newcastle (610k), ACT (460k), Sunshine Coast (350k), Illawarra (300k), Greater Hobart (250k) and Greater Geelong (250k) might be able to fund clubs.  If 5 of them get up there is still 9 spots for big city clubs in a 14 team competition.  Say 1 in Brisbane, 1 in Perth, 1 in Adelaide and 3 each in Melbourne and Sydney.  Of course the quality of the bids will determine the actual spread and P/R will settle what the natural spread is.

Is the system in Brazil one of them?

oh what would that be?

Bad Luck

We've already got a league where bullshit on paper and a fat wallet gets you in.

It is explained pretty well in wiki.  It has the state pyramid and the national pyramid separate and clubs play in the state competition and the national pyramid in different parts of the season.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_football_league_system

Oh interesting 

wonder what model works best in oz? My main desire is that we eventually increase the number of full time positions in australia. I doubt we beat the gg until we have over 150 full time aussies playing

Wow. Presuming that's legit, that's very interesting indeed. I wonder why it isn't more widely known?

I asked Nikou the question at a plenary session at the Football Writers Conference in (I think) 2019. He agreed in front of a packed room that no club with a licence could be relegated before 2034. As you can imagine, it caused instant pandemonium.

Wow again.

It is widely known.
Has always been known, we all know it, but equally, most of us think it's meaningless.
For example, if the current Chair has said many times that the investment made by owners to date takes priority over everything, then it effectively means that it doesn't matter what's written in the license agreements (in relation to P&R), there is already an understanding between owners and Chairman (and probably the CEO as well to be frank), that they will NOT be subject to relegation before 2034.

'bidding' as in meeting the minimum competition requirements with regards lighting, ground, financials to suport team, sponsorships, media etc and then selecting the best 'bidders' from them.