2024 Zone League 1

[The Hacker]

I must say I am absolutely blown away to read 8 consecutive posts of the highest logic this forum has seen for some time, possibly ever.

This is very much along the lines of my personal (not club views) of the promotion/relegation situation. It's certainly not straightforward, even before ground facilities and club finances enter the chat.

I do like the idea that clubs indicate at the start of the season if they have the intention to be promoted should they finish in the top spot/top 2. I would be very curious to know which clubs currently in ZL1 do have ambitions to be in NL1 in 2025?

I must say, it would be great to see an inner city club with a large junior like Kotara, Mayfield, etc to go to that level. I feel they would be an attractive option for players simply due to their location alone.

Your right. Common sense is running hot.

There is a heap of inner city clubs in NPL but none in NP1 it is very unbalanced. Mayfield have so many juniors.

Are the Suns wanting to go up. Have most clubs come around to it?

[ExWhistleMan]

[QUOTE=Lofty;271844]I must say I am absolutely blown away to read 8 consecutive posts of the highest logic this forum has seen for some time, possibly ever.

Crazy what happens when a referee gets involved..........

[Zonal Marking]

[QUOTE=ExWhistleMan;271846]

I must say I am absolutely blown away to read 8 consecutive posts of the highest logic this forum has seen for some time, possibly ever.

Crazy what happens when a referee gets involved..........

Don?t forget that I was the first one to mention optional promotion from Zone league 1 to NPL 2 though

[Lofty]

[QUOTE=Zonal Marking;271848]

Don?t forget that I was the first one to mention optional promotion from Zone league 1 to NPL 2 though

Now, now, it's not a competition to see who was the most sensible first...

But yes, due to pretty much all the previous points made, it makes sense to make it optional. It doesn't rule out promotion between the grades, but some clubs just aren't set up to make that jump. There's a lot that would need to be put in place for clubs to be able to do so.

[anfield]

I think clubs should have the choice if they go up or not. This year someone really needs to be promoted to give NL1 ten clubs. So highest rank team that wants promotion goes up, simple.

In the meantime , The federation should work with clubs to make promotion as attractive as possible. If it is to keep third grade, maybe clubs could look at bringing in zl3 squad and relax the rules for players to move up an down between NL1 and Zone.

[Zonal Marking]

Who do we think would want to go up from the current division? Suns and Dudley are the two powerhouses of the comp but I get the impression they are both comfortable where they are.

Could see other big clubs like Mayfield, Kotara and Warners Bay possibly being interested though.

University used to play in the old 2nd division so it might interest them.

[The Postman]

Correct me if I?m wrong, but the Competition Fee to enter Zone League is around $5000 and I?ve heard that NewFM is $35,000?

I?m no accountant but I can?t imagine many ZL clubs having the ability or WANT to pay that kind of money.

[straightred88]

Correct me if I?m wrong, but the Competition Fee to enter Zone League is around $5000 and I?ve heard that NewFM is $35,000?

I?m no accountant but I can?t imagine many ZL clubs having the ability or WANT to pay that kind of money.

35k surely not - that?s ridiculous if true

[riverboy]

Correct me if I?m wrong, but the Competition Fee to enter Zone League is around $5000 and I?ve heard that NewFM is $35,000?

I?m no accountant but I can?t imagine many ZL clubs having the ability or WANT to pay that kind of money.

Pay $35000 to a bunch of people pretending that they can run the game.

Or pay $5000 to a smaller bunch of people that clearly can't run the game.

[ExWhistleMan]

I think it?s pretty clear that no one is except clubs that have made a conscious and concerted effort to go all the way to NPL will want to go above ZL.
You don?t just need juniors to go to NPL, you need a PYL program. The costs and extra administration involved in running and maintaining PYL compared to community youth would be to big a burden to bare for community clubs that are run on an oily rag and generally off the backs of one or two passionate, committed and motivated individuals. I mean I?m sure the administrators don?t expect all clubs to want to do it, which is totally fair but why then force them to play in a competition where they aren?t eligible for finals.
The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if they are thinking long term and are happy for the existing ZL clubs to separate between clubs with ambitions and clubs without and the ones without desire to play NPL will all just go back to AA. Some clubs/squads will just be collateral damage.
Anyway time will tell after the inevitable happens. I for one suspect that the quality of AA/A is going to get a lot stronger over the coming years.

[ExWhistleMan]

Correct me if I?m wrong, but the Competition Fee to enter Zone League is around $5000 and I?ve heard that NewFM is $35,000?

I?m no accountant but I can?t imagine many ZL clubs having the ability or WANT to pay that kind of money.

I really hope you are wrong. Forcing clubs into that is ludicrous.t

[straightred88]

I think it?s pretty clear that no one is except clubs that have made a conscious and concerted effort to go all the way to NPL will want to go above ZL.
You don?t just need juniors to go to NPL, you need a PYL program. The costs and extra administration involved in running and maintaining PYL compared to community youth would be to big a burden to bare for community clubs that are run on an oily rag and generally off the backs of one or two passionate, committed and motivated individuals. I mean I?m sure the administrators don?t expect all clubs to want to do it, which is totally fair but why then force them to play in a competition where they aren?t eligible for finals.
The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if they are thinking long term and are happy for the existing ZL clubs to separate between clubs with ambitions and clubs without and the ones without desire to play NPL will all just go back to AA. Some clubs/squads will just be collateral damage.
Anyway time will tell after the inevitable happens. I for one suspect that the quality of AA/A is going to get a lot stronger over the coming years.

Exactly their plan imo

[Eastwest]

More interestingly will be the fact that promoted clubs forfeit their registrations with their Zones/ Interdistrict. Therefore joining Premier Competitions under NNSWF. Since NNSWF does not allow dual registrations between zones and premier comps, the promoted clubs will be forced to register their quotas of 36 players and only these will be eligible to play in the NL1. Gone will be the days of Third Graders/ All Age players standing by. The work around to this is to have clubs with juniors in the PYLG they can call on, e.g U18s.

Solution to this would allow 2-4 extra players to register who don't have affiliated juniors. Maybe age limits? Signing players mid season cant work as nearly all players at that level are taken

[Eastwest]

Pay $35000 to a bunch of people pretending that they can run the game.

Or pay $5000 to a smaller bunch of people that clearly can't run the game.

This is the biggest cancer of football in NNSW.

[Eastwest]

Yeah that's getting pretty full on and changing the fabric of teams/clubs.

Maybe the one jump that should be optional is the jump from ZL1 to NL1, particularly as that is where the administrators and frameworks change.

In my layperson opinion, promotion to NL1 should be only be via winning and wanting to go up. However I think clubs should have to nominate whether or not they would go up if they won the league before the season starts. This would allow both the club and competition administrators to know where things stand in real time rather waiting for a club to dillydally making the call after they've won. You'd expect there would be people in each club that want to do both so I think aligning and committing to their ambitions before the fact is a must.

How about we still have certain clubs nominate who want to go up.
At seasons end the highest club on the table who wants up gets to meet with NNSW about the possibility of promotion, discuss finances, criteria etc and then have a 2 leg playoff with 2nd last if viable. Of course this opens the door for NSW to say no quickly but its one option.

All finals series stays as is.

[ExWhistleMan]

How about we still have certain clubs nominate who want to go up.
At seasons end the highest club on the table who wants up gets to meet with NNSW about the possibility of promotion, discuss finances, criteria etc and then have a 2 leg playoff with 2nd last if viable. Of course this opens the door for NSW to say no quickly but its one option.

All finals series stays as is.

I like that idea but I?d rather a single game at a neutral venue. Double leggers take the intensity out of it.

But that?s better than giving the team that limps to 4th in NL1 the chance to be promoted off the back to a couple of good games at the right time. That?s worse than the team that limps to 4th winning the gf and been remembered as the best team for the year.

[Goatscheese]

Correct me if I?m wrong, but the Competition Fee to enter Zone League is around $5000 and I?ve heard that NewFM is $35,000?

I?m no accountant but I can?t imagine many ZL clubs having the ability or WANT to pay that kind of money.

You're wrong, honestly the amount of misinformation people spread about anything football related in this town is absurd, even more absurd that people believe it.

It's about $13,000, that does include some fees a zone league team has to pay anyway such as the Australia Cup Levy.

[Goatscheese]

35k surely not - that?s ridiculous if true

The only ridiculous thing about is that people believe it even NPL clubs are charged a lot less than that

[Goatscheese]

There's a lot that would need to be put in place for clubs to be able to do so.

Such as?

[Goatscheese]

Why I am posting this on the ZL1 thread, is this leads to the potential if that the winner if ZL1 in 2024 has no juniors affiliated juniors (i.e. the two strongest and most consistent teams for some time) they will be forced to play in a league where they aren't even allowed to participate in the post season.

While on face value I think the administrators have done a good job and no system would please everybody, I think this kinda takes the fun out of ZL1 a little. It would be hard to be motivated to win a league if you know the 'reward' would be being forced to play in a comp where you are ineligible for finals.

Let's be honest it's unlikely the clubs coming up are all of a sudden going to be top 4 in NL1. The same goes for current clubs in NL1, Wallsend have no youth teams and after last night's performance they could end up missing out on the playoff series.