2014 NEW FM League Thread

[curious_fan]

But don't forget, for over 70 years the Jaffas were a club who did not fit that "ambitious" description really. The club has only in the past 5 years begun paying players, it was never a strong financial club, it was ground shared with cricket until less than ten years ago.

The upgrades were heavily driven by Newcastle Football association in fact wanting a Home ground venue for their junior rep sides.

What Sneddo and other have achieved in the last 5 years is quite staggering but that doesn't devalue the club having played in the second divisions for some decades prior without being in a position to push for promotion as seriously.

And I think those old enough would never want to see another Croatia occur within our club ranks again and they were probably the pin up club for ambition for those 4 years they were rising through the ranks, it was just a very sad and deflating ending for many involved.

[sancho_theswan]

Without this sounding like a Belswans bashing and again I'll say that I'm on the outside looking in but to me if you can't fill the required criteria or have any plans to fill the required criteria then why are you and these other clubs still in the NEWFM? For me a club with this attitiude (and I'm not bagging you as it's very considerate of the junior club you spoke about) should be playing in the ZPL.

You have given legs to the argument of bringing ambitious clubs who have the required facilities, junior base and strong commitee to be promoted in the place of clubs like your own to be relegated to ZPL or ID's league.

I'd never for one minute suggest that you would get on here and try and bash up a club! Hell when have you ever had a go at a club over facilities, committees, junior bases, "ambitions" or merging or the like!

[sancho_theswan]

But really, if a club has management plans in place that see the improvement of its grounds and facilities as the major priority and are working towards these then I don't feel that you should be punted out of a competition. Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was Magic or Jaffas or any other club. It isn't easy for "most" clubs in the current environment and the NPL criteria has made it difficult to achieve licence status, but I think most clubs would be working towards attainment of an NPL licience... they are just not there yet.
By the way, just as a scenario..... say Valentine win promotion this year and they are in a good position to do so then I guess everyone in the NPL will again be complaining about going back to Cahill Oval - even though it fits the criteria (and i'm not having a shot at Valentine here).

[Imyourhero]

With the final stretch in sight, who do we think has the mental strength between the 2 front runners to hold on for the title? Or do we think it will all come down to goal difference?

[curious_fan]

With the final stretch in sight, who do we think has the mental strength between the 2 front runners to hold on for the title? Or do we think it will all come down to goal difference?

I want to say Maitland, because of the two I think they are the better placed to be as competitive as you can in that first season. But as far as who will actually get there, I dont think it will be GD but rather an upset (be that a draw or a win) from the other clubs that will be the eventual difference and I think the difference will be no more than 3 points.

GD is playing on some minds though, the last Maitland v Westy Graham Law was pushing Maitland every second, I mean I think it was 6-0 up, it had had a torrential downpour at half time and was still raining 25 mins into second half and Ben Martin sprinted about 20 metres to get the ball out of the back of the net to restart as quickly as possible.

[RedMexican]

Hopefully Maitland.
The club culture they have up there is absolutely unbelievable From 19's to 1st Grade everyone gets along so well.

Plus Grahams football philosphy is top notch

[curious_fan]

Are you serious???? This is laughable

.......... todays Newcastle Herald has Alan Nesbitt directly quoted as confirming the expansion of NewFm by two teams is on the agenda of the meeting of NewFM Club presidents on July 2nd.

Oh dear... it seems I was serious.

[sancho_theswan]

.......... todays Newcastle Herald has Alan Nesbitt directly quoted as confirming the expansion of NewFm by two teams is on the agenda of the meeting of NewFM Club presidents on July 2nd.

Oh dear... it seems I was serious.

Good! More teams in the comp! I hope they are "ambitious" clubs. Let's wait and see how they go when they have to perform player restructuring.

[NewFM 2014]

So if newfm goes to a 10 team comp that will likely mean the comp goes from 21 games to 18 games thus meaning even less football and repeating the same problem that exists in NPL (Old NBN) in that it is over before it really gets going.

We need to be looking at extending the season in the newfm and NPL not decreasing them. 18 game is a bit of a joke to be honest and makes me question why clubs run with squads in excess of 20 players and also makes you laugh when you hear coaches moaning about the odd back up game midweek or players getting rested ... really rested in an 18 game comp why ?

I am not saying i know what the answer is as I dont , but i do not believe that an 18 game league campaign be it newfm or NPl is best way forward.

[Imyourhero]

Have to agree there

[cobra23]

why dont we do what the a-league does , have 3 rounds = 27 games

[Thomas477]

How many night games would that result in though? It can't just be a case of saying we're expanding the season by 6 weeks.

[Imyourhero]

I don't know if the comp needs expanding, 21 rounds is pretty good. Just bring in promotion/relegation for newfm/zpl, if the criteria was changed.

[Zico]

.......... todays Newcastle Herald has Alan Nesbitt directly quoted as confirming the expansion of NewFm by two teams is on the agenda of the meeting of NewFM Club presidents on July 2nd.

Oh dear... it seems I was serious.

What are you on about you goose?

I was actually calling for clubs that are serious about improving being given the opportunity to play in NEWFM and the deadwood relegated to ID's. Read the posts prior to stinging your fingers on the keyboard.

[outdated]

Thornton 2-3 singo
We desearved.the win, but poor refing cost us
Our keeper sent ofg for defending himself

[curious_fan]

why dont we do what the a-league does , have 3 rounds = 27 games

It is a question that is raised from time to time for decades, the length of the competition is not only a question that is based on games played.

Some grounds are not available for football due to summer competitions until certain dates, and as much as we all love to complain about that Councils will not change. So clubs such as Olympic, Cardiff, Charlestown, Thornton, Singleton, Valentine all have time issues they can not control as to when they can play the first and last games on their grounds.

Some grounds become unavailable in late Feb/all March due to winter grass being sown, something being more heavily promoted to LMCC clubs more and more at least. Toronto's home ground is a good example of why it is worth considering at present. Even with two sports sharing it it had better grass recently than at this time in a long number of years. You start the season early on these and by round 3-4 clubs have to vacate for 5-6 weeks.

Club volunteers are also a real consideration, the guys running your gates and duty officer roles, secretary's and presidents, the wives in our canteens, our groundsman for those that have them are all giving up, in some cases considerably more time than just a few hours on game days already. Are they able to or willing to put even more time into running clubs and game days.

Playing surfaces, how many complaints are already made about poor quality at times, remember for each round your throwing sometimes another 40-50 guys training twice a week on those grounds which will also impact of its quality.

How early do you start pre-season if the competition starts early? What about guys playing a summer sport being at a disadvantage because they may miss a training or trial because they play cricket or are with the family on holidays?

I am sure players would love a longer competition, but there is a lot more to consider in terms of impact than just the players.

[NewFM 2014]

It is a question that is raised from time to time for decades, the length of the competition is not only a question that is based on games played.

Some grounds are not available for football due to summer competitions until certain dates, and as much as we all love to complain about that Councils will not change. So clubs such as Olympic, Cardiff, Charlestown, Thornton, Singleton, Valentine all have time issues they can not control as to when they can play the first and last games on their grounds.

Some grounds become unavailable in late Feb/all March due to winter grass being sown, something being more heavily promoted to LMCC clubs more and more at least. Toronto's home ground is a good example of why it is worth considering at present. Even with two sports sharing it it had better grass recently than at this time in a long number of years. You start the season early on these and by round 3-4 clubs have to vacate for 5-6 weeks.

Club volunteers are also a real consideration, the guys running your gates and duty officer roles, secretary's and presidents, the wives in our canteens, our groundsman for those that have them are all giving up, in some cases considerably more time than just a few hours on game days already. Are they able to or willing to put even more time into running clubs and game days.

Playing surfaces, how many complaints are already made about poor quality at times, remember for each round your throwing sometimes another 40-50 guys training twice a week on those grounds which will also impact of its quality.

How early do you start pre-season if the competition starts early? What about guys playing a summer sport being at a disadvantage because they may miss a training or trial because they play cricket or are with the family on holidays?

I am sure players would love a longer competition, but there is a lot more to consider in terms of impact than just the players.

Good post and very logical reasons why it does not happen. I just think NPL in particular needs more than 18 games . I guess NewFM at 21 is better but if they change it to 18 same as NPL that will be non benifical to the comp i feel.

[punter]

Good post and very logical reasons why it does not happen. I just think NPL in particular needs more than 18 games . I guess NewFM at 21 is better but if they change it to 18 same as NPL that will be non benifical to the comp i feel.

Promote valo and maitland to npl to make a 12 team comp.
Promote 6 zpl clubs to new fm to make 12 team comp.
22 games is a good amount of games to play with promotion and relegation.
I would even consider leaving npl clubs in npl and make other clubs apply to replace a npl team if they are running last each year or facilities drop off or don't improve.
Start p and r from new fm down so the clubs who are successful on the park get promoted.

[sancho_theswan]

Promote valo and maitland to npl to make a 12 team comp.
Promote 6 zpl clubs to new fm to make 12 team comp.
22 games is a good amount of games to play with promotion and relegation.
I would even consider leaving npl clubs in npl and make other clubs apply to replace a npl team if they are running last each year or facilities drop off or don't improve.
Start p and r from new fm down so the clubs who are successful on the park get promoted.

Come on guys..... this won't happen. The old NPL was reduced to 8 teams due to what was considered the lack of quality players in a 10 team comp so I very much doubt that the fed. will increase the number of teams to 12. Same applies in NEWFM. It was promotion / relegation of 1 team at the start of the competition. Nothing has changed as far as I know, except for the "secret" move to bring NEWFM up to 10 teams in 2015. An 18 game season isn't ideal and I agree with that but it's better than playing 3 rounds surely.

[Leftback at Home]

An 18 game league season + Cup + 4-6 Trials (maybe more) + Finals for those who make it, that's 23-30 games a year already. That's in a 6-7month time span, which doesn't take into account inevitable washouts to fit in mid-week somewhere. That is a tight schedule & if you look at the maths EPL is 38 in 10months (3.8/month) so for a 6-7 month season 23-27 is about the right fit. If you need more then that go play Friday nights as well, or indoor or create your own mid-week pick-up league.