2025 Premier Youth Leagues

[Hunter403]

I think these games and what you get from them depends on the attitude you take into them. For my part, the team I coach, have been told that the results here are not important. These are just training runs. We are trying to establish the way we want to play and we learn from doing something right as well as something wrong. We've had a washout and a draw. This week we will play a strong div 1 club. To me, this is a defence training exercise. Whatever the score is, we will learn from it and the score will be as meaningful as the score in a training drill.
Some teams / clubs take this preseason stuff as being important to win. My team just see it as extra training.
If I was leading by a cricket score, I'd give my team rules to make it more difficult, however each to their own.

[Hunter403]

Absolutely not, lakes should not change what they are doing, it was only a few years ago lakes were on the other end of double digits and since I was there I can tell you NO other club changed the rules for them - there was at least one game we had to continue without a goalkeeper because of the poor form of kicking him in the head after the whistle had gone, and there was no holding back then from said club.

What Wallsend should take away from this is that 4 years ago this was the position that lakes were in and now they have 13s coming through and playing in Div 1 grand finals.

While I am all for modesty in situations like this and not celebrating like wild animals when scorelines get out of hand I will also not forget how many players thought they had the right to tell my kid that he didn't deserve to play NPL because he was playing at lakes - most of the players who thought they were better and acted as such are no longer playing football 4 years later.

Should they have been put against lakes? that was probably an oversight in a club trying to rebuild. If everyone provides feedback to northern then maybe it can be looked at for next time around. But to insinuate lakes should behave differently then any other club would is ridiculous.

Ah, we got hurt so it's now our turn to dish out the hurt.

[sapdad]

I never said we put inexperienced adults in? Thongs? no uniform? described yourself?:

Last season during the double header an NPL youth game was played with the following events:
Clubs were given a few days notice that there would be no refs so they club appointed an experienced coach who volunteered because he had reffed at juniors before.He had no uniform,no whistle,no cards,swore at the kids like he did when he coached.His son (who was playing in the game)committed at least 4 yellow card offences that werent given that were so bad that the home coach dragged the player off the field because he could see the situation was getting out of hand and the ref was not up to standard (despite being a club appointed ref).His assistant on the near side had thongs on and used a bib as a flag and got just about every procedure wrong.The other assistant was an injured player from the home team,once again holding a bib as a flag but kudos to him he did a really good job.Meanwhile there were 2 NNSW qualified refs sitting in the stands from other age groups who the club didnt want reffing their own club because it might look bad.If you think parents are going to want to pay between $1000 and $2000 a year to watch that you are delusional.

[sapdad]

Said club WOULD have a ref that CAN DO the job that the kids cant ffs.
They would have far more control. There are decent adult refs around btw.

So you expect 24 clubs to have the following available each week?
*An experienced referee who is on standby to do anywhere between 1 and 5 matches, and if you count girls then add in another 4 per weekend?
*An experienced referee who is up to date on all the latest rules and interpretations.
*Someone who can log Squaddi results and teamsheets,and who will lodge red card reports where necessary?
*Someone who has all the correct uniform,boots,cards,whistle,flags,stationary to meet requirements?
Sorry mate I have bad news for you.These magic super refs you pretend to believe exist are not in fact out there.We have the current crop who are doing their best and should be given the respect of complainers like you.I know its hard for you to admit your idea is fanciful and yes we would all love it if Pierluigi Collina rocked up each and every week and did it for $50 but its not like that.Seriously the most delusional idea I've ever heard.Well done.

[sapdad]

Just one more thing on these terrible refs some of you are encountering.A good percentage of the time there are assessors at each game (especially with the younger referees).The refs then receive a report detailing decisions,game management,punctuality.One of the earlier reports my son got back in the day commented on his boots werent clean enough and paid attention to the angle on how he raised his flag as an assistant thats how much detail they went into.Maybe all these retired referees that think they can do a good job should apply to actually be assessors and help bring the next crop through.NNSW to their credit is doing their best,maybe some of the big mouths out there in the crowd can be more useful than calling them shit.Just a thought.Anyway I'll see you all back here later on when the inevitable abusive reply comes through.

[Addios]

Last season during the double header an NPL youth game was played with the following events:
Clubs were given a few days notice that there would be no refs so they club appointed an experienced coach who volunteered because he had reffed at juniors before.He had no uniform,no whistle,no cards,swore at the kids like he did when he coached.His son (who was playing in the game)committed at least 4 yellow card offences that werent given that were so bad that the home coach dragged the player off the field because he could see the situation was getting out of hand and the ref was not up to standard (despite being a club appointed ref).His assistant on the near side had thongs on and used a bib as a flag and got just about every procedure wrong.The other assistant was an injured player from the home team,once again holding a bib as a flag but kudos to him he did a really good job.Meanwhile there were 2 NNSW qualified refs sitting in the stands from other age groups who the club didnt want reffing their own club because it might look bad.If you think parents are going to want to pay between $1000 and $2000 a year to watch that you are delusional.

One occaision doesnt make it a standard. I'd take a reasonable club ref.

But lets get the asocciations to do their job first before we point fingers at each other. They should be trying better ways to improve this. They have done some and some arent working.

[sapdad]

One occaision doesnt make it a standard. I'd take a reasonable club ref.

But lets get the asocciations to do their job first before we point fingers at each other. They should be trying better ways to improve this. They have done some and some arent working.

Thank you,and thats the point I'm trying to make.For every bad young ref story theres a bad old ref story.NNSW are in charge and are trying to improve things every year.I just want people to lay off the young refs and let them do their best and to be honest the majority or coaches/parents and players do exactly that.

[Justafootballdad]

I also heard that 13s was 18-0 win for Lakes over Wallsend. I did hear to that Wallsend had an 11 year old play for them in both 13s and 14s games. Didn't come off the field in either game. If true I'm not sure coaching will be the issue, just purely team doesn't have enough good players.

[Box2Box]

Not sure what happened in 15s game Buds v Edgy but that was 16-0 to edgy. Buds only lost 2-0 to southy the week before and Edgy beat Valo 4-2. Players missing for the Buds or simply a gulf in class?.

[Taffy]

Not sure what happened in 15s game Buds v Edgy but that was 16-0 to edgy. Buds only lost 2-0 to southy the week before and Edgy beat Valo 4-2. Players missing for the Buds or simply a gulf in class?.

The coach has gone around handpicking to get the best players in the region onto his team and from what I hear refused to allow the best 1-2 to go up into the 16s because they were yet to have a full team. So wouldn't surprise me if it was a combination of both missing Buds players and a gulf.

[The Hacker]

The coach has gone around handpicking to get the best players in the region onto his team and from what I hear refused to allow the best 1-2 to go up into the 16s because they were yet to have a full team. So wouldn't surprise me if it was a combination of both missing Buds players and a gulf.

2 players aren?t changing 16-0 much

[Largesse]

2 players aren?t changing 16-0 much

Surely a product of decoupling? That buds team was very good in 12s and solid in 13s including winning div 2 after being in top half before the split. But every year 3 or 4 players, arguably their best, leave to play for a Div 1 team. The result? Blowouts and scrambling to fill teams as best as possible from who is available. They'll probably build across the year, get some results, then lose their best, again.

[Taffy]

Surely a product of decoupling?

I mean this sort of stuff was happening before decoupling anyway.

[samcan]

So you expect 24 clubs to have the following available each week?
*An experienced referee who is on standby to do anywhere between 1 and 5 matches, and if you count girls then add in another 4 per weekend?
*An experienced referee who is up to date on all the latest rules and interpretations.
*Someone who can log Squaddi results and teamsheets,and who will lodge red card reports where necessary?
*Someone who has all the correct uniform,boots,cards,whistle,flags,stationary to meet requirements?
Sorry mate I have bad news for you.These magic super refs you pretend to believe exist are not in fact out there.We have the current crop who are doing their best and should be given the respect of complainers like you.I know its hard for you to admit your idea is fanciful and yes we would all love it if Pierluigi Collina rocked up each and every week and did it for $50 but its not like that.Seriously the most delusional idea I've ever heard.Well done.

OMG you need to see someone about your pessimistic depression.
This is quite easy to do. Clubs have supports for the scary paperwork. Your lad can ref the girls no worries. Let the older teens or adults do the boys.
Each club has the means & resources to supply a ref. They are actually clever at keeping their club running and are brilliant at overcoming hurdles.
Dont confuse delusion with practicality. Best stay home and let the normal people do things.

[ForeverRed]

What a yawnfest, move on

[samcan]

No need to assume you can just ask me.My boys ref and play at NPL level.Ive never coached at boys NPL level or coached my kids.I am pro ref and have had more talks with parents on the sidelines about their behavior than I've ever had with refs in the middle doing their job.I have also spelled out the main reason why there are not enough refs (let alone experienced refs).They give it a go,they cop crap from people who have no right to abuse them and they leave because its not worth it.Your idea of highly experienced refs mentoring you refs is of course great but there arent any around to do it.All the pie in the sky wish list solutions are great,but the fact is most on here dont have a clue about how the program works and dont care to find out.Its just easier to critisise.Ive never said the refs are perfect (pretty sure one of my last posts about this issue says exactly that) but as was pointed out,neither are players/coaches or parents but only one group ever cops the abuse.Its unfair and any attempt to defend it is pathetic.So we can keep the same standards for parents and coaches and let them carry on however they want if they feel like their young superstar is being cheated out of a win because of the shit ref,or we can try and change some stuff to try and improve the experience for everyone.All I can say is that the refereeing situation is going to be the same for at least another year so if its all too much I can only advise parents and players to either step away from the sport to avoid the heartache or get yourself down to Speers Point,do the course and help out.

Wrong. You dont even know what ive done. Done the course, yawn. Youre one of those arrogant types who think they have the badge so theyre experts.
Pro Ref? Grand delusions right there. You cant even see how sad our refs are. Tear up your certificate champ. Pro Tip, if you ref well you cop very little.
btw crying about abusive parents doesn't fix inept reffing which is what we are discussing.
Starting to think your the cause of said behaviour. Reread my previous common facts about abusive people because your reacall is lacking.

[samcan]

What a yawnfest, move on

Tell him

[samcan]

The coach has gone around handpicking to get the best players in the region onto his team and from what I hear refused to allow the best 1-2 to go up into the 16s because they were yet to have a full team. So wouldn't surprise me if it was a combination of both missing Buds players and a gulf.

Yeah that didnt happen. Where did you get that from? 1 or 2 from community, 1 from powerhouse Weston, another from Belswans academy.
Think someone set you up.
Adamstown lost 1 of their best players to New lambton. NL have recruited well from "lower" clubs as well.

Buds need big changes to fix this.

[sapdad]

What a yawnfest, move on

I agree,besides,the problem has now been fixed it seems.Well done to everyone for a lively debate.Looking forward to no crying about refs this season now that we have all the answers.Back to the football.

[Game_over]

I spoke to a parent from the buds team, they only had 9 U15s available due to injury and illness, they have lost a number of the better players over the last 2 years to Div1 teams