
Originally Posted by
curious_fan
The information to be presented dealt with some recommendations Zico:
Licences were suggested at 3 years which I believe means if you dont have a licence starting 2017 then you can apply at any stage but wont be eligible to be invited into NewFm until 2020 but I might be wrong there.
Promotion/Relegation between NPL & NewFm to remain (albeit Jets can not be demoted that is as I understand an FFA directive) but will be based on a club championship format yet to be decided.
Only clubs with an NPL Licence will be allowed in NewFM, so every club will be eligible for promotion (or you wont be in NewFM).
How many teams in a competition will depend on approved NPL Licence numbers, and it has been said even holding an NPL Licence does not guarantee a spot in those comps, nor is there a guarantee NewFM will exist if insufficient numbers gain their NPL Licence. They listed a few pages of possible scenarios based on various possible licence holding numbers but basically no one will know until around Oct 2016 how many clubs will be in a position to play NPL/NewFM.
Ground Criteria as I understood was to be reviewed by Northern and hopefully presented next Tuesday but has not yet been released. FFA themselves do not give clear guidance on Ground/Facility criteria that I have ever found, issues like Player Races need reviewing as at some grounds it is actually a design issue because of placement of canteens and referees rooms. Imagine Singleton here....... how do you build a player race all the way to their referees room? Belswans how do you build one and still allow easy access to canteen?
Lighting SHOULD have been a concern for Northern many years ago but again clubs can not just front $150K in a year so that will be an interesting call. The standard across NewFM generally with lighting is exceptionally poor.
I think ground criteria may become quite basic at a compulsory level - Fenced Ground, Ticket Box, Dressing shed and referees rooms standards, first aid standards, duty officer numbers, scoreboard and a few others. Then a list of preferable items will be wanted to decide between clubs if needed - covered dug outs (not just seats on the sideline), player race, 100 Lux plus lighting etc
I think for some clubs the immediate issue to deal with is the additional junior sides they must have in place for 2017. It will mean being proactive in the junior community and also some serious diplomacy with surrounding junior clubs that may see it as "stealing" their players. But it also brings too huge issues into play - Volunteer numbers and ground availability.
How do Wallsend deal with not being able to access The Gardens on a Sat? Do you play games every Sunday expecting volunteers never to have a weekend off? Do you move them to another ground (not even sure Northern would consider this option)? DO you start at 8am and play seven games straight and finish 1st grade at 10pm that night?
Or can Toronto get approval for an additional 2 days a month access for games with league in charge of the ground?
What impact does losing Kahibah No 1 for an entire Sat every 2 weeks mean for the juniors sides?
It quickly becomes more than just about finding 15 players for each age. And that doesnt even consider the changes needed for clubs now suddenly needing C Licenced caches, a B Licence Technical Director, all juniors coaches needing particular levels as minimums. It is a huge issues for every club because suddenly they are forced to compete for a limited number of people who are qualified (and actually decent at the job).
To all Club Presidents in NewFM........ good luck this season, glad Im not you.