interesting.Originally Posted by Aegon
The more I see the more i feel there should be 1 team per club but ensure all npl clubs enter including girls teams.
Thats at least 25 to 30 teams
interesting.
The more I see the more i feel there should be 1 team per club but ensure all npl clubs enter including girls teams.
Thats at least 25 to 30 teams
I tend to agree, however I know the club Jr is at is only opting for 1 team.
I think it will be interesting though in under 12’s if the Jets cherry pick the stronger “clubs” how they will go recruiting replacements if they have dropped kids in the past.
HV have two girls teams playing in the sap comps an U/11’s in the U/9’s comp and an U/12’s in the U/10’s comp. Currently HV only keep their girls for two years before they go and trial for the WPL at 13. They are looking into the possibility of changing this and keeping the girls for another year so the step up from small field to full size isn’t as great as it currently is.
Under 11's in the 9's. Completely makes sense now. Some of our boys looked like dwarves compared to them.
Olympic and Magic 9s and 10s played again this past weekend and again there was some great talent on show. Really good matches and some terrific goals. A number of headed goals from corners in the 9s. Unheard of at this age. Great skill across both 9s and 10s.
Don't they play every weekend?
Ha ha. Six games per season too much for you??
hmmm So we actually triedNPL: Youth development set to stay at local level, but at what cost?
You would be hard pressed to find a football person in the Hunter who doesn't think our best juniors should be competing regularly against the state's elite in Sydney.
But without intervention from FFA, it appears unlikely to happen anytime soon.
The Newcastle Jets Youth team and underpinning sides have been competing against clubs in the Northern NSW state league/NPL since 2012. Younger teams play a year or two up in the NPL Youth.
Their female counterparts, though, have been in Sydney's NSW NPL Women's competition since 2015.
NNSW Football and the Jets have lobbied Football NSW for the boys to follow suit and join Central Coast, Western Sydney and Sydney FC with youth teams in the metropolitan league.
However, the addition of the Jets would invariably mean another club missing out. Politics and restructures - the NSW NPL men's will expand to include a fourth division in 2020 - have left Newcastle out of the equation.
Jets chief and youth coach Lawrie McKinna discussed a potential move with Football NSW last year. McKinna would welcome a spot in NPL 2, where Central Coast Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers academies compete, but he said "nothing had changed".
"We spoke about it the year before, but we would need to come in too far down the leagues," McKinna said.
"It wasn't even offered, it was just spoken about, that we maybe would have to come in at the fourth division and work our way up. By the time you do that, you might lose four or five years development so it's maybe too big a hike."
The short-term pain, though, could be worth the long-term gain.
Sydney's NPL Youth 1 and 2 leagues are packed with 26 and 18 teams respectively. In the NNSW NPL, the Jets sides play a year up in under 13, 14, 15 and 16 groups, and two years higher in the under 18s and 20s, in an attempt to improve competition.
It has brought mixed results and arguably poor returns in player development when compared to eras before the A-League when the Hunter's best prospects had weekly competition outside the region instead of now playing local clubs and in an eight-game summer NYL.
This year, the Jets under 12s have won 14 of 15 games in NPL under-13s, scoring 117 goals and conceding 13. The under 15s have scored 89 goals and let in 20 in the under 16s. They recently beat Charlestown 22-0.
"We play a year up now, it's competitive, but some of the games blow out," McKinna said. "When you look at the girls program, we get double the amount in the national teams identification process than we have with the boys and you can attribute that maybe to the girls playing in Sydney."...nh
Doesn't sound like we tried hard enough. Needed to be knocking on the door constantly. Not just speaking about it last year, that means we have done nothing for last 6 months.
Plus, surely starting at bottom of NSW leagues is better then winning games 22-0 in local league.
got that right. We need to be there.
Amazing, Sydney has 3 NPL divisions with a 4th coming and we can't arrange 2. Amazing that they have all of those facilitates to meet NPL standard (heavy sarcasm here).
The simple fact is that NNSW football has mismanaged the region for years and we have a lot to catch up on.
Start at the beginning. Make SAP (or equivalent) compulsory for all NPL and NL1 clubs. It should also be compulsory that they have women's teams.
Go to 2 x 8 or 10 team comps (preferably 8 playing 3 times) If that doesn't meet the FFA criteria for calling the comp NPL, then don't. Northern League 1 and Northern League 2 will do. Who cares about a name.
Give all clubs notice that promotion and relegation will begin at the end of the 2022 season
Give up on the fantasy of enclosed single use single grounds. What we have is what we have and Lake Macquarie Council want all grounds multi user. Alternatively, if you are dead set on this course, talk to the Council and negotiate.
Put all youth NPL and NL1 teams in one comp split into 2 pools and mix it up each year. No promotion and relegation for youth. Accept the fact that until the SAP comes through, there will be blow outs. The pain for the next few years will be worth it as the kids come through SAP.
Do whatever it takes to get the junior jets into the Sydney NPL. Absolute waste of time them playing up here. If NSW football are worried about some local club missing out, then get the FFA involved and look at the bigger picture. What are we trying to achieve with youth football? We are sifting through thousands of kids looking for that diamond that will go on to play at the highest level. If we exclude regional centres like Newcastle then it is a disgrace and short sighted.
Ok, soap box away...
"It is not that I am afraid to die; its just that I don't want to be there when it happens" - Woody Allen
Sounds like someone is missing taking his frustrations out on a Friday night....
Middleby Gone
Lawrie Out
Soap box warranted.
I agree with every word you said. Especially the part about SAP and Womens teams being compulsory for all.
Apparently I held them back...Sounds like someone is missing taking his frustrations out on a Friday night....
"It is not that I am afraid to die; its just that I don't want to be there when it happens" - Woody Allen
yeah again, im a fan of this.
plus, some clubs already treat their SAP kids as part of the bigger picture. I know Edgy invited their SAP kids to the seniors function last year (im sure that was the presso). It made them all think how cool it was to hang with the big boys, and that they could be right there if they continued. It would also obviously breed some loyalty on the players part to maybe want to be at Edgy long term instead of club hopping year to year.
Ive also seen Magic use their kids as ambassadors for the club and a few other clubs use their SAP kids to walk out with their first grade teams and play mini games at halftime at the games.
All of these little things build loyalty, desire and a sense of purpose to the whole thing. It would probably come as no surprise that these clubs going the extra mile are also the clubs doing the best on the field too.
and trust me, Plague Jnr getting to be in the sheds after the game and sing the team song with the first grade team had him absolutely buzzing. again, it was players/coaches only in there, no parents. he had to earn the right to do it by being in that SAP squad. it meant something.
Totally Agree.
I hadn't seen this, in what capacity was it? Great Idea IMO.
Northern Inland (Tamworth) have advertised on their FB page asking for expressions of interest for NPL Youth for 2020.
Haven't they already tried this and pulled out weeks before the comp started?
Good luck to them, I hope they can get a team in and be competitive.
Does anyone know what the pathways are for boys to play State football for NSW? What ages do kids compete at State level? Are they selected into NNSWF or Newcastle Football teams first? Or are there a series of open trials?
I’ve tried Googling this but can’t work out if how boys become available to play State level rep football.
Sounds like the school system?
I think the highest was NNSW as that’s our state federation. In the past NNSW teams would compete at state championships. Not sure what happens now.
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