Meeting With Northern

[sammydog]

One of the new board’s goals is to abolish JDL and return to Zone SAP. Could a compromise work? Continue the JDL but then have Zone teams selected to play in the State Championships as in years gone by?

The Community State Championships were back last season. Only Newcastle, Macquarie and Hunter in it as a few false starts put off the other zones.

Plans to make it bigger this season. I suspect as word grows, so will the numbers of teams/zones.

Ive never heard anyone at the zones talking about taking about abolishing JDL/SAP and bringing it back to the zones. Ive heard talk of rationalising whats there, but not running it. Will be interesting to see what transpires on that front.

[sapdad]

One of the new board’s goals is to abolish JDL and return to Zone SAP. Could a compromise work? Continue the JDL but then have Zone teams selected to play in the State Championships as in years gone by?

Can someone explain what the difference is between these two programs?

[Aegon]

Can someone explain what the difference is between these two programs?

Zone SAP is where the associations (below) pick a squad or 2 squads and the teams play against each other.

Newcastle, Hunter, Macquarie + mid coast, north coast, nias, etc

Whilst I don’t believe JDL is perfect I 100% believe more players getting better training is beneficial in the long run.
I have personally seen the best players in under 9’s & 10’s be caught up to and in some cases overtaken by kids who were not even on the radar back then when it is time to transition to Jets/NPL.

Returning to Zone SAP and therefore reducing the numbers down to somewhere between 30-60 kids in the greater Newcastle/Hunter area would be extremely short sighted. It would just be a return to the way things were done previously.

[travellingman]

One of the new board’s goals is to abolish JDL and return to Zone SAP. Could a compromise work? Continue the JDL but then have Zone teams selected to play in the State Championships as in years gone by?

Talk about scaremongering.
The new board only got elected last night and have not made a statement on what they have in mind for the game.
They have however stated they will be consulting the stakeholders.

[ForeverRed]

Talk about scaremongering.
The new board only got elected last night and have not made a statement on what they have in mind for the game.
They have however stated they will be consulting the stakeholders.

They have made a statement

[Barry Dawson]

Doesn’t the statement issued on behalf of the new Board actually signal a show of no confidence in the existing Zone CEOs and administration - the groups they are supposedly representing?

The need for revamp and push in the grassroots areas that has driven this power play is directly related to the fact that current zone administrators have been asleep at the wheel for at least 5 years or more.

[samcan]

Can start by capping JDL fees. 9s to 12s $600. 1 team per club.

[northern_swan]

One JDL team per club sounds like a great deal until you look at that in detail.

An u12 JDL team will have 10-12 players. Where the top clubs have 2 u12 JDL teams, 20-24 players are in those squads. They will “lose” 2-4 players to the jets. That means, these clubs will have 16-22 players to select their 13s team from. The surplus will flow down the pyramid.

If each club were restricted to 1 JDL team per club, at the end of JDL, the NPL clubs would be looking to find 3-?players to fill their team. That could look like a club like South Cardiff developing a squad of 12 players for 4 years, only to have 6 of them go to Edgeworth forU13s (as an example)

On the other side, using the same clubs as an example, Edgeworth could have 22-24 u12 players, “lose” 4 to the jets, then direct 4-6 to South Cardiff, thus keeping all of the kids in the pathway.

[Aegon]

One JDL team per club sounds like a great deal until you look at that in detail.

An u12 JDL team will have 10-12 players. Where the top clubs have 2 u12 JDL teams, 20-24 players are in those squads. They will “lose” 2-4 players to the jets. That means, these clubs will have 16-22 players to select their 13s team from. The surplus will flow down the pyramid.

If each club were restricted to 1 JDL team per club, at the end of JDL, the NPL clubs would be looking to find 3-?players to fill their team. That could look like a club like South Cardiff developing a squad of 12 players for 4 years, only to have 6 of them go to Edgeworth forU13s (as an example)

On the other side, using the same clubs as an example, Edgeworth could have 22-24 u12 players, “lose” 4 to the jets, then direct 4-6 to South Cardiff, thus keeping all of the kids in the pathway.

Yup, agreed.

[sapdad]

One JDL team per club sounds like a great deal until you look at that in detail.

An u12 JDL team will have 10-12 players. Where the top clubs have 2 u12 JDL teams, 20-24 players are in those squads. They will “lose” 2-4 players to the jets. That means, these clubs will have 16-22 players to select their 13s team from. The surplus will flow down the pyramid.

If each club were restricted to 1 JDL team per club, at the end of JDL, the NPL clubs would be looking to find 3-?players to fill their team. That could look like a club like South Cardiff developing a squad of 12 players for 4 years, only to have 6 of them go to Edgeworth forU13s (as an example)

On the other side, using the same clubs as an example, Edgeworth could have 22-24 u12 players, “lose” 4 to the jets, then direct 4-6 to South Cardiff, thus keeping all of the kids in the pathway.

I agree with this.

[Hunter403]

JDL works well here in Newcastle as it is (generally) providing the numbers to feed into the PYL competition. As Northern_swan said, the ideal scenario is two teams per club, and it would be good to see that become the norm.
However, JDL seems a failure for the regional associations. I can understand why they are keen on the old system.

Perhaps the answer lies in JDL existing in Newcastle (incl Hunter and Lake M) and the old zone system in the regions. To keep the region's kids in a viable "league", each Newcastle zone could pick a rep squad from the JDL teams in their territory that play the regional zones. The more football the better. Play Saturday for Olympic and Sunday for Newcastle, Saturday for Weston and Sunday for Hunter, Saturday for Belswans and Sunday for Lake M. To keep the cost down, the Newcastle zones provide the strips (just like the old days) that the kids don't keep. One rego covers both and the associations finance the coach through general revenue. No need for separate training, look at it as just game training.

PYL club get what they want, and the regional associations get what they want. Kids get more games.

If the JDL is canned, I think the new board could well be short lived.

[sapdad]

If the JDL is canned, I think the new board could well be short lived.

While I dont know any of the behind the scenes stuff involved,the thought of even narrowing the talent pool in any way shape or form is a completely dumb idea.My son came through the 1st year of JDL and to see the differences from then til now has been eye opening.Mostly its the kids that werent world beaters in the early years but have stuck with it and are now getting chances at the best NPL clubs and Jets.The theres the kids that were the pick of the bunch back then that are now either back to the pack or have given up playing all together.Theres plenty of ways to make JDL better,cutting numbers is not one of them.

[travellingman]

My thoughts are that JDL should be capped at 1 team per club. Then open JDL up to Zone league clubs to field a team and have divisions with promotion/relegation.
This will maintain or possibly increase the number of players in JDL. Cap the rego fees at a reasonable figure to ensure that mums and dads aren't paying for the senior players match payments like is the current system.
Kids will always move from club to club until they find their level regardless of what mum or dads' aspirations for them are.

But maybe we all should just cool down and wait to see what the new board has in mind instead of surmising.

[Hunter403]

Can anyone copy and post the Newy Herald article from today about NNSWF?

[Aegon]

Can anyone copy and post the Newy Herald article from today about NNSWF?

Herald Link

New Northern NSW Football deputy chair Mark Trenter has the return of promotion-relegation, the involvement of homegrown legend Craig Johnston in a junior development revamp, and giving the Jets academy cheap access to the federation's Speers Point facility high on his agenda after Friday night's extraordinary general meeting.

Trenter was the only survivor of an overthrow of the NNSWF board led by five of the seven member zones. Chair Helene O'Neill was removed with a 16-1 vote after fellow directors Bill Moncrieff, Peter Dimovski and Mansell Laidler resigned.

Mike Parsons, who became chair, was elected as a replacement along with Paul Sandilands, Lisa Evans, David Willoughby and Lauren Edwards. Trenter, a former KB United player, was not targetted for removal.

Long-serving chief executive David Eland also departed after briefly attending the EGM. His employment's termination by mutual consent with the now former board was announced only via an email press release at 6:31pm, around which time he left the meeting. Trenter said "everyone was in shock" after Eland's sudden exit without notice.

Trenter said finding a new CEO was a top priority.

"I personally want to make sure we get a CEO that actually comes from a football background and has an affinity with the area," Trenter said. "David Eland is a great operator, but David Eland is not the right fit for Newcastle anymore."

The upheaval ended a 15-week battle started when the Newcastle, Macquarie, Hunter Valley, Mid North Coast and Far North Coast zones moved to oust five of the six NNSWF directors. That came a day after NNSWF-endorsed recommendations from an independent review were released to the zones.

Among the proposed changes was empowering clubs to move to an aligned administration structure under NNSWF which would effectively dissolve the zones who run community football.

Trenter indicated the review was the trigger for the overthrow.

"It was the whole process, and then coupled with getting nowhere with promotion and relegation," he said. "I think it was the icing on the cake, the final review report, but prior to that there was a lot of stuff going on."

As for the report recommendations, which were unanimously endorsed by the former board, Trenter said: "There's certain parts of that that have a lot of merit.

"But the one part that was a concern was it was like Russia taking over the Ukraine here. Bringing in all this new staff and company cars and running it from Newcastle. I thought, are they doing this bad of a job? Can we do it any better? The major subject about the review was the cost of the game, and it never got addressed once in the final outcome."

He said the board would look at streamlining measures.

"The zones are good at running community football but there's plenty to be looked at there, and it will be," he said. "For example, I can't see anything wrong with Macquarie, Hunter Valley and Newcastle merging. That would be significant. As directors of a board, we'd have to look at the capitalisation there that could be used for an astro-turf ground rather than these [zone] buildings that we don't quite know what they are servicing."

Trenter's focus, however, was football development.

He said the board would bring back promotion-relegation between the NPL and second-tier Northern League One from 2024.

"The clubs need at least 12 months to know what's happening and to get prepared for it," he said. "But there will definitely be promotion-relegation. There's going to be accountability."

As for a junior development revamp, Trenter wanted to bring "proper football people together" to help end what was seen as a "money-grabbing monopoly".

He also flagged free or heavily subsidised use of the synthetic fields at Speers Points for the Jets juniors.

"The Jets are a major customer of NNSWF, and I know there's been history of the ownership of the Jets, and sometimes they've left debts, but we should be, as a federation, supporting our national league team properly," he said.

"You can't keep thinking about the past.

"We don't want kids from our area going down the road to the Mariners. We want to develop professional footballers that can go on to the Socceroos or that we can keep in our region."

Trenter said "Newcastle can be a pilot for change" in junior development and he wanted to involve Johnston and others football experts locally and from further afield to help improve pathways and access to them.

He said he wanted to put football ahead of business.

"KPIs are not all about that," he said in reference to NNSWF's strong financial position under Eland.

"They are not all about finances. Up until today it has mostly been about finances and at the end of the day, it's supposed to be a not-for-profit organisation. I get sick to death of board meetings talking about how rich we are.

"But I'm very respectful of the way we need a clever businessman to transition that through."


Saturday:


The return of promotion and relegation between the men's NPL and second-tier Northern League One from 2024 is high on the agenda of the new Northern NSW Football board confirmed on Friday night.

Football Mid North Coast stalwart Mike Parsons was voted onto the board and elected the new chair at an extraordinary general meeting where Lisa Evans, Lauren Edwards, Paul Sandilands and David Willoughby also became directors. Mark Trenter, the only director not targetted in the overthrow, was elected deputy chair.

Parsons replaced Helene O'Neill as chair after she was removed from the board 16 votes to one. The other directors, Bill Moncrieff, Mansell Laidler and Peter Dimovski, resigned before the meeting.

It was announced via a statement about 6.30pm on Friday that long-serving chief executive David Eland would leave his position immediately after he and the now former board had come to a mutual termination agreement. Eland served in the role for more than 13 years.

The Herald understands Eland was signed to a four-year contract extension shortly before the zones' move against the directors.

Also leaving NNSWF is chief financial officer Annette Hervas, football operations administrator Margaret Wand and finance assistant Kaitlin Radstaak.

The campaign to overthrow the board started on August 23, a day after zones received NNSWF-endorsed recommendations for change from an independent review report into the game's administration and governance in the region. Among the recommendations was facilitating a club-driven move to an aligned structure under NNSWF which streamlined administration and effectively dissolved the zone bodies which run community football.

Despite the upheaval on Friday night, Parsons said in a statement that it was "business as usual".

He was positive about the opportunities presented by a change in leadership at the member federation.

"We wish to thank the members of Northern NSW Football for their vote of confidence last night," he said.

"The new Northern NSW Football Board will come together shortly to commence planning for season 2023, future structure and direction of football within northern NSW.

"At this stage it is business as usual, we have excellent staff within Northern NSW Football and much of the planning for 2023 is complete."

The statement said the new board have indicated their intentions to prioritise grassroots football, achieve a dynamic NPL structure with NPLW, NPL and NL1, with promotion and relegation, from 2024 and reassess junior development pathways.

Promotion-relegation was abandoned several seasons ago because of the small number of clubs in the second-division which met NPL criteria.

In a press release on Friday night, Eland said: "I have been fortunate throughout my long tenure to have been supported by volunteer directors who selflessly dedicated their time and expertise to the game's best interests. The current board is no exception. I respect their determination to address the challenges constraining the game's continued growth and prosperity.

"It has been a privilege to lead football throughout northern NSW. I'm satisfied that I'm leaving the member federation in a sound position. The last couple of years have been very challenging, however, I could not be happier with how the governing body responded to the unprecedented challenges of the global pandemic."

[samcan]

KPIs are a joke that only keeps suits in jobs. Have goals but drop the business façade.

Lower the JDL fees. They are part of the football disease.

[samcan]

One JDL team per club sounds like a great deal until you look at that in detail.

An u12 JDL team will have 10-12 players. Where the top clubs have 2 u12 JDL teams, 20-24 players are in those squads. They will “lose” 2-4 players to the jets. That means, these clubs will have 16-22 players to select their 13s team from. The surplus will flow down the pyramid.

If each club were restricted to 1 JDL team per club, at the end of JDL, the NPL clubs would be looking to find 3-?players to fill their team. That could look like a club like South Cardiff developing a squad of 12 players for 4 years, only to have 6 of them go to Edgeworth forU13s (as an example)

On the other side, using the same clubs as an example, Edgeworth could have 22-24 u12 players, “lose” 4 to the jets, then direct 4-6 to South Cardiff, thus keeping all of the kids in the pathway.

A fair assessment but.... this is why it doesnt work for me and dont fob this off because it isnt coming from the self important cliques which runs junior footy around this small town. Thats another poor topic.

Why should the "top clubs" have a monopoly on the top 24 kids so they can lose 3-4 to jets and still walk the NPL, when, 1 they dont all come from the local area and 2. continues to keep other clubs down. "Top clubs" have to learn what other clubs have had to endure. Develop their local lads, not have entitlement to other kids from other areas. Of course parents also choose where to walk but if eg Lake Mac/Rosebuds keep a good core of kids they will build strong clubs. And more importantly create challenges for all clubs every weekend.

Right now the top NPL youth 5 clubs have no real contest for most games of the year which apart from technique coaching is a major part of development we are missing.

[KITZ]

A fair assessment but.... this is why it doesnt work for me and dont fob this off because it isnt coming from the self important cliques which runs junior footy around this small town. Thats another poor topic.

Why should the "top clubs" have a monopoly on the top 24 kids so they can lose 3-4 to jets and still walk the NPL, when, 1 they dont all come from the local area and 2. continues to keep other clubs down. "Top clubs" have to learn what other clubs have had to endure. Develop their local lads, not have entitlement to other kids from other areas. Of course parents also choose where to walk but if eg Lake Mac/Rosebuds keep a good core of kids they will build strong clubs. And more importantly create challenges for all clubs every weekend.

Right now the top NPL youth 5 clubs have no real contest for most games of the year which apart from technique coaching is a major part of development we are missing.

so what you are saying is you support communism and kids shouldn't have a choice where they play? no one "HAS" to learn anything. if kids want to play somewhere let them.

[samcan]

so what you are saying is you support communism and kids shouldn't have a choice where they play? no one "HAS" to learn anything. if kids want to play somewhere let them.

That is the stupidest retort ive read on here. A thinly veiled strawman for a common sense approach. You shouldnt be around junior footy period.

[Bremsstrahlung]

A fair assessment but.... this is why it doesnt work for me and dont fob this off because it isnt coming from the self important cliques which runs junior footy around this small town. Thats another poor topic.

Why should the "top clubs" have a monopoly on the top 24 kids so they can lose 3-4 to jets and still walk the NPL, when, 1 they dont all come from the local area and 2. continues to keep other clubs down. "Top clubs" have to learn what other clubs have had to endure. Develop their local lads, not have entitlement to other kids from other areas. Of course parents also choose where to walk but if eg Lake Mac/Rosebuds keep a good core of kids they will build strong clubs. And more importantly create challenges for all clubs every weekend.

Right now the top NPL youth 5 clubs have no real contest for most games of the year which apart from technique coaching is a major part of development we are missing.

This is where we get into the quality vs quantity debate.
Is JDL a development league or an elite pathway?
If it’s an elite pathway - 1 team.
If it’s a development league - 2 teams.

I have no problem with any club putting forward a JDL team or even a youth team provided they meet whatever criteria has been set forward.
If clubs want to have 2 x teams so they can hope to retain the best 75% for their youth team, they should be able to. That’s sound investment in the future.
If clubs are happy to go with 1 team and try to get supplementary players from other clubs to form a youth team, that’s their prerogative. If players wish to leave your club to go play elsewhere, that’s their business and perhaps the club need to do more or aspire to be better to retain players.

Punishing “top clubs” for being desirable seems silly.
They don’t choose to have a monopoly, the demand to play for those clubs allows them to have the best.
Similarly, from these top clubs, there’s always a few every year that despise the way their child was treated, spent x years at the club, only to be told they don’t have a position as they’ve brought in somebody from another club. We’ve all seen and heard the clubs, it’s a risk you take when you play there
If you like how a club operates, play there.
If you don’t like how a club operates, don’t.