Keyser Söze wrote:Why on God’s earth would the FFA install Sydney Rovers in the 2011/2012 competition AND start an A-2 League the same year?? Or within 5 years for that matter.
I believe its a condition of entry to the Asian Champions League that competing nations must have promotion/relegation systems in place. The A-League was given special dispensation due to being a new competition but I believe that runs out in 2012, which would probably be why this date keeps coming up as a 'rumoured start date' for the 2nd division.
I suspect that the FFA have been making a lot of noise about this in order to convince FIFA (re the world cup bid) and AFC (re the ACL) that its a genuine plan - but that they will seek another 5 year 'pass' to give them more time, which would take us through to 2017...
Lowy has said, "Promotion and relegation is the lifeblood of the game, so we can't ignore it and we won't ignore it" and "By the time the (2018) World Cup comes there will be promotion and relegation."