That's what I mean. Will it be the same clubs again next year? Will another club like say New Lambton, or Nelson Bay be given a chance if they can fill all teams? If at another club's expense, on what basis... 1st grade performance?... depth/capacity to fill all teams?Originally Posted by Thomas477
At the start of last season Merewether were approached by a group of 7 ex Lake Macquarie players who carefully explained under what conditions they would play for the club, including that we would have to take all 7 (and ditch some of the players we already had in the squad). Our answer was no (and credit to Marc Hingston) for not being tempted.
The addition of the lower grades is important in terms of developing a club culture, and providing a pipeline of players who want to play first grade. Then if you have a chunk of players leave, you have a chance of at least fielding a team, probably young and develop them.
Thornton have a very young team, and in 1 to 2 years they will be very competitive.
Those early years can be characterized as WPL 1st grade players believing that it should be the same as the mens NBN league, except there were not the old boys around to help out, and no one was paying to see them (tried that in the first year I think). Most of the clubs that dropped WPL teams in the early years did so because it was just too much work.
Relegation would be the worst thing NNSW could introduce. Give us time to build something worth while.
Would be happy to see Nelson's Bay replace FMNC!
Answer is simple - because NNSW Football is involved - so in general nothing makes sense.....
Good comments LTTG, agree about the development. Where are those LM players now?
Would be good to know if NNSW have a clear direction they can convey for the WPL... Anyone?
Disagree about FMNC though, are you referring to the travel or their playing? I think they have a good set up and talent pool. They play good football from what I've seen, not just kick n chase. Cudos to their families who travel so far so many weekends, distance vs competition makes it hard. I wouldn't be arguing if there were more games played up there.
Introducing the 14 and 16 girls was a great idea. Valuable experience for the girls and a chance to play in 18's and First Grade further down the track.
Expanding the WPL to 8 teams. Not such a great idea.
It has stretched the player pool too far. I would rather see 6 Clubs, and a strong competition, than 8 Clubs and have 2 or 3 Clubs struggling.
There should not be massive goal blow outs in a competition that is supposed to be the feeder for Emerging Jets or W League.
Personally, I think that all the free regos under the sun, don't make up for having enough quality coaches. I think that has been proven at one particular Club in WPL this season.
Players will go where they get good coaching, and a winning mentality, and where they enjoy playing. The competition needs good coaches to survive. But that is a long term project and we need to encourage the young coaches coming through. More coaching courses or a few "master classes" from NNSWF wouldn't go astray.
With the question about the demise of previous Clubs like Broadmeadow, Lakes and Cardiff, the answer is simple. The women's teams were felt to be too expensive to run, and as they were affiliated with "mens clubs", they lost the support of the Male Club Committees and were shown the door.
Sad but true. Most of the big name male NPL clubs are only concerned with the men and boys at their Clubs.
That's why WPL is now affiliated with Junior Clubs and not the NPL Majics or Olympics.
Women should stick to working in the Canteen and leave the football playing to the men, hahaha. I think that's how it goes?
Good on Merewether for showing some loyalty. Not much around. FMNC should stay in. I don't mind a trip to Port Macquarie and the girls up there deserve a chance to play at a higher level. It's not too far for those from Nelson Bay to take a drive across to one of the established WPL Clubs if they want to play WPL. If someone from this years WPL drops out next season, and NNSWF decides to leave the competition as 8 teams, Nelson Bay may have a foot in the door, but lets leave FMNC in as long as they want to be there.
And WPL also needs to be able to play their games. This current situation with fields out of play every week is beyond a joke. Surely the cricket pitches are not that precious? I remember playing on fields with cricket pitches, back in the dark ages, and they seemed to survive the wet and football boots.
i agree that it is a good move for the younger age groups to be included in some form of criteria for these clubs to be in the league, but at what point do they say that quantity of players is affecting the quality?? why couldn't they keep the 6 team format and then set up a 14's, 16's or 18's comp locally that the clubs with the capacity to field teams in that ages to play in? you keep the player base condensed at the 1st grade level, making it higher quality and more competitive, and also provide a competition for the "better" up and coming players to play against
i hope marc laughed in their faces!!! rudeness and arrogance like that is shocking
i also wonder why teams have folded in the past? recently it was lakes, but teams from the original competition years ago like broadmeadow and cardiff are no longer around, anyone got any light they can shine on this?[/QUOTE]
Cardiff folded for two reasons.
1-ground wasn't up to WPL level we were told, some of the more higher profile clubs used to whine like cut pigs, good enough for ZPL, not WPL.
2-the WPL were running at a loss made even worse when we moved the games to Edgy for the year, ground reasons, club still wanted to keep the WPL, just wasn't viable on how the comp was run back then.
There is no easy fix as the comments say, AAW-A grade has some very good players, we have a team playing there currently who have risen from B grade and are travelling alright. Uni, Mayfield and Cessnock are the teams to beat, if you take the best out of these teams you would have more than enough players for a strong 8 team WPL comp, but as the ZPL is, players play lower for various reasons, work, family etc.
Bottom line there is no easy fix, just have to make sure junior programs are in place and wait for the players to develop.
definitely agree that there are some good players in the all age leagues, that going off what i have seen from the WPl games, would easily out play girls already in that comp. my understanding though is, that they come back to all age cause they enjoy it more and like some of the coaches in the leagues
Seems like the WPL is treated with some contempt by seniors then. That's a shame, doesn't help with bringing in juniors. Surely after this year NNSW must realise there's just not the depth for 8 teams. If they persist there will continue to be lopsidedness with the stronger clubs attracting the stronger players.
If Nelson Bay join, there may at least be a chance of playing some games on their sand based fields
with a bit of luck, i am hearing that newcastle football is pushing for the ZPL to come back in, so they just need clubs to express an interest in joining and they would be very happy to take new clubs on boardSeems like the WPL is treated with some contempt by seniors then. That's a shame, doesn't help with bringing in juniors. Surely after this year NNSW must realise there's just not the depth for 8 teams. If they persist there will continue to be lopsidedness with the stronger clubs attracting the stronger players.
If Nelson Bay join, there may at least be a chance of playing some games on their sand based fields
Quite a few things I want to respond to but as I don't want to spam the forum with posts I'll put it all on the one
The competition has been watered down, 1 team with the expansion of the age groups would've been sufficient and kept all teams competitive. As it stands there is at least one team in each comp that is being blown out of the water and some comps have a couple. A bit too much to expect it to go from 6 to 8 plus the girls in the Emerging Jets still out of the talent pool meant some teams just have players for numbers and it is evident when you watch them play.
Free rego means you only have players playing because they didn't have to pay and not playing for the club and their teammates. Also doesn't help that one club offered all their players free rego plus payment and then told the juniors that they now won't be getting their payment. That's going to hurt the club in retaining players.
Don't know about Cardiff but Broadmeadow no longer have a comp because they don't give a shit about women's football (they won't even support girls teams in U6 comps) and generally have a poor opinion of women in sport in general. They gave no support to their women's team and would prioritise their junior ID teams over the WPL team. The players and coaching staff had enough and left and Broadmeadow didn't care to retain them or take replacements.
Did hear a rumour that Lambton Jaffas Juniors were looking at fielding a squad should one of the current clubs drop out.
Why? FMNC are performing quite well at the moment and may even make finals and if their 18's stick around then they will be stronger over the next couple of years. Granted a number of the players that play in their 18's games are part of their 1st grade squad but still.
Should WPL be even playing on grounds that have a cricket pitch in the middle? A number of grounds are pretty crap and don't even fit into the original requirements which Northern allowing to happen is not allowing the sport to advance. Adamstown is the only one fitting in with the original requirements with Warners Bar and Wallsend ticking a number of boxes.
Agreed though the amount of wash outs this year is unreal.
So the WPL final is being played at Magic Park, is anyone else pissed off about this? Not only will a club that is against women in the game getting to host the match but they will also get to make a sizeable amount of money off the parents and players including no doubt charging entry.
Is someone at Northern looking out for their mates or are the people who make these decisions at Northern just don't think?
I'm pretty sure there's no thought process, also the should be no entry fee allowed although nnswmagic will do their best to squirm as many dollars possible
Well we'd have to find u/14s, u/16s and u/18s team, given we only have 2 W A/A teams, but the highest is in D grade though. Plus no all girls junior teams. In addition Harry Edwards struggles to cope with the number of teams as is, let alone another 4 state league games each week. In short, little to chane of that ever happening. Would've thought Kotara South, who have a number of junior girls teams or maybe even a Macquarie club like Dudley or Swansea.
Plus btw the juniors and seniors are the one club.
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Don't know about Cardiff but Broadmeadow no longer have a comp because they don't give a shit about women's football (they won't even support girls teams in U6 comps) and generally have a poor opinion of women in sport in general. They gave no support to their women's team and would prioritise their junior ID teams over the WPL team. The players and coaching staff had enough and left and Broadmeadow didn't care to retain them or take replacements.
Hahahaha... How misinformed you are, as a former committee member of Magic who was in the committee when the girls were playing let me clear up a few FACTS...
1. When Northern NSW asked clubs if they would like to host a women's team we duly obliged when so many other clubs totally refused. Where is you criticism for those clubs who have not even attempted to field an WPL women's team?. At least we gave it a go!!!
2. Prioritise? can you provide examples... And wet weather wash outs is not an excuse at the time we did not have lights.
3. All we asked for the women was to be SUSTAINABLE... within the admin and coaching group the club was totally committed to maintaining the women if they could from their contacts and social circles bring in sponsors to cover their costs to within $1000-$2000 of total expenditure. Inevitably our current sponsors took up the slack on top of their support on the Mens senior side of things. In the 3 years the Magic WPL was playing they found 1 external sponsor (not currently sponsoring the men) Resco Services... who did not even pay their sponsorship. Financially yes the girls were becoming a drain as the girls were struggling to engage with the community to bring in support to cover the cost of regos, gear, training facilities etc. In the end football is a business if a team continue to lose vast amounts of money it will not be around for long.
4. As someone that has seen both sides of women football as a spectator and administrator i will state that the women's game at the time had huge credibility problems... the teams and players of the time held no allegiance to the clubs they played for... it was just a coloured shirt to them... whole teams would chop and change every year searching for the thicker carpet. At magic the first season was fantastic and the girls engaged well with the club and were indeed successful, during the second and third seasons a toxicity had developed between the girls and the club which was fostered at the time by the then manager Marilyn. The club would organise social functions and the girls would not attend, presentations nights that the girls "could not attend"... a whole team cant make it to a presentation or season launch?... what a load of shit... Classic case of shitting in the bed you sleep in...
I will provide an example where the girls decided to run a breast cancer fund raiser after one of our home games... 6 womens team participating on the day... raffles and auctions to take place at 5:00pm after the main fixture... after the final whistle everyones gone home... a function for breast cancer ran by the girls for a girls cause... the club has catered for 120 as directed by rsvps from the girls... where are the girls? 20 WPL players and supporters stayed behind from 6 teams... Our men at the time were playing against Valentine at belmont and managed to get over 40 players and supporters back in time... it was quite embarrassing... in the end i think we managed to raise a thousand after the club committee purchased a few auction items... then manager Marylin hits us with a $600 bill for 17 pink socks purchased from the hockey centre?... thats nearly $40 a pair WTF?
5. The decision to pull the team from the club was not made entirely by the club, during the third season it had been leaked to the committee that the team had agreed to disband with marylin taking up an admin role at Adamstown and then the other 5 top players going to lakes to be player/coached... when confronted with this marylin and the coaches would not deny this but where then asking for more investment int the girls to cover extra gear?. Its not good to speak ill of the dead but the shit that has been fed to the girls painted the club to be an ogre that didnt want them... which was untrue... in the end the team splitting up proved a convenient excuse... and exposed womens football in newcastle at the time to be just a saddle club filled with girls jumping on one horse to the other. Imagine if you were running a club and before the season had finished your coach and manager had joined committees of other clubs and started tapping up players to join another club and leave you in ruin. The girls had shown their true colours and the club was quite happy to not renew its WPL agreement. AT LEAST WE GAVE IT A GO!!!!
6. Magic don't give a shit about women's football? We host the W-league taking time from upgrading facilities and the ground in the summer time to work for the girls to deliver a top product our girls from NNSW can be proud of... They (magic committee) dont get an off-season... Anyone who goes to the W-League games and sees how hard the Magic guys work to ensure the facility and hospitality is top notch for our local and visiting supporters will clearly identify with this... And i guess NNSWF sympathises with this as when it has been taken away from Wanderers the product delivered is sub standard at a "WPL" venue... and this is why NNSWF have probably made the decision to grant this years WPL final to Wanders is that its the best all round package... And to correct you again NNSWF get the proceeds to GF's not the hosts...
7. As for the future... would WPL come back to Magic... we discussed at the time if NNSWF had made it compulsory for all first division clubs to have WPL teams we would jump into it no holds barred... but until that happens if you would like to see some girls running around in a magic shirt i suggest you go to Myer Park on Saturday morning and see our community junior girls having a kick they might not have a girls teams in every grade but tell me a club who does.
WPL... Always the victims...filled with excuses and assumption and lacking substance and conviction in solution. Until women's football comes out from under the shadow of mens football and drops the victim mentality it will not be a sustainable proposition outside of the NNSWF ran emerging jets program... and we will continue to see teams form and fold every season... im not sure how it is going this year i havent been able to make many games but the young girls coming through need to stick it out and show faith in the clubs that have provided for them.
Magician, are you telling us that Magic do not get a single cent from hosting the WPL final?
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The statement by "Goatscheese" implied that Magic would "make a sizeable amount of money off the parents and players including no doubt charging entry"
Magic has not hosted a WPL grand final before so i'm not sure how they would be able to comment on how much money is made on the day. And i will restate that NNSWF collect gate takings... Maybe they (NNSWF) are trying to maximise their profits by hosting it at the most crowd comfortable venue...
Maybe someone from Adamstown who has hosted nearly every semi final and grand final of the WPL can explain how they have invested their profits made from the day.
Gate takings yeah, but what about the food sales. You can't just say that you're doing it out of the kindness of your heart when you're making money from it.
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