Beer sales to parents perhaps.
(As well as the gate fees)
Would be nice if Northern put some "science" behind the decisions they make. The rate of change is too high, for no obvious benefit case ever being made.
Printable View
They put behind a lot of science for the current set up because they spent 18 months going over it, this decision is purely because clubs want to make an extra couple hundred dollars on game day. Probably to help their $180k/year player budget. The takings for the year might cover some one's match payment for a couple games.
If NNSW are serious about youth development they need to significantly increase the amount of games played for the season. They seriously dropped the ball this year.
.
My son played 25 games last year (14 in phase 1, 7 in phase 2, 2 in the cup, 2 in the finals)
This season a disappointing 16 (10 in phase 1, 6 in phase 2, no cup as they forfeited and they didnt make semis)
Not sure what happened with the cup comp this year, they must have scrapped it once the rain hit and washed out too many league games.
But seriously they need to play 11 games in phase 1 to sort out the three divisions and then play a genuine home and away phase 2 for 14 games (25 league games total). Then you have your cup and finals you are starting to get up near 30 games for the year.
16 games for a supposed elite competition is having a laugh.
Absolutely Box2Box...and a solution is so simple
Home and away phase 2
The thought of playing finals off of 5-6 games is ridiculous
Disappointed the Cup was quietly abandoned too...hopefully back for next season (with less forfeits)
I would like to see the cup kept but it needs fixing.They should get rid of NIAS/Mid Coast and NCF (from the cup) if they get washed out trying to reschedule games is really unfair to all teams.They should make room for more community teams and let them play each other in round 1 maybe give Div A teams a 1st round bye.Having a club like Jaffas or Magic playing a community team round 1 is pretty pointless for everyone concerned.Theres enough interest to make it fun but a bit more thought wouldnt go astray.
I would get rid of the cup and focus on home and away for phase 2. That is 25 games not including finals, which is a good number of games. Way too many of the cup games are so one sided anyways. We all love the idea of a lower tier club beating a div 1 team, but it is so rare in junior football. Far more likely of a 6+ goal flogging which helps no-one.
Fair assessment and approach
Although, it's a good challenge for those teams to set up a very strong defensive structure (if approached the right way)...introduces those kids to a higher level of football too. And gives more freedom to the kids in the stronger teams to experiment and explore.
(Spend all this effort to teach kids all these skills and then rouse on them for having a dribble and trying to take someone on)
So I haven't seen it as completely negative...maybe let them play a round against each other first though...good suggestion.
I do note that NIAS put in a very good showing against Jaffas this season in the cup game (13s)...don't recall if it was a 2-1 or went to pens, but was very close from what I heard...Jaffas 13s are now in the Div 1 GF...
It's a long way to travel those Coffs Harbour and Tamworth games! (How those parents do it every 2nd week is beyond me...very dedicated!)
Phase 2 should be reset to zero points as well to actually ensure competitive match play. Noticed those few teams who survive phase 1 only to be 15+ points behind with next to no chance of clawing their way back for finals. This may also prevent kids from jumping ship mid season.
I recently read Football SA who are changing for next year to follow our model with some differences. They have changed registration rules that you can only play for one Junior Premier League club per season, as soon as you play one competition match for a club and deregister and go to another club you can't play JPL only in community teams.
So Northern can change the rules if they want to.
I can see reasons why it could be reset but I dont agree it should.Div A should be rewarding premiers over the complete season.If the new registration rules that were just discussed come to into the program then that should eliminate most of the mid season recruiting.I wouldnt mind seeing an exception for any long term injuries to goalies though,its a hard position to play up in at these ages.
I was talking about the SA rules you posted about.I know they arent part of our program yet but it does seem a fairly easy way to prevent mid season recruiting.Id like to see clubs able to sign a goalie if theirs has a long term injury.In the 13s and 14s age group especially the physical difference between kids is pretty big and asking young ones to play up for an extended period isnt great.Ive seen JDL kids stepping up into 13s this year and its pretty scary how small they are.If clubs have legitiate long term injuries to keepers then bringing in an age appropriate one seems fairer to me.
I agree with this, or at the very least have an earlier deadline day. I see in the U15s that a team recruited in June a couple of very good players from Weston Workers when it was clear Workers were going to be relegated. It turned WW from a team doing very well in the U15s Div 1 to a team that missed the finals in Div 2. It fails the pub test for me.
As for the GK exception, I see sapdads point, but there are already rules in place for GK to play down if required due to injuries/unavailability.
Oh right I thought you meant Northern were bringing in some rules.
As for goalkeepers, these rules already exist, not just for U13s but also for all age groups. There were clubs this year dropping GKs from 14s and 15s into the year below when their current keeper was injured.
I can see the argument for U14s to drop into U13s but not for older age groups.
What happens if your parents move and you have to move
Not sure how geographically dispersed their catchment is...but thinking of FNSW imagine if you parents moved from Newcastle to Wollongong, and somehow you were expected to still play and train for Newcastle or be forced to play the "lowest quality" football (community) instead?
They need to stop and think about these things a bit
Promotion and relegation by team would stop those kids and parents feeling like they had to do something. That they were wasting a year of development potential (limited as it all is in NNSW as it is, with our shitty 16-18 rounds...and meaningless finals after just 6-5 matches in Div 2 and 3...poor kids!)