Quote Originally Posted by The Hacker View Post
They had to have application underway and ground work in place at season start. They were probably best situated to do this with the junior club of 700 plus players and an appetite between the juniors and seniors club. The federation could see that it?s very achievable

I will be interested to see how future clubs that may get promoted such as Croatia, Suns, Uni etc that don?t have juniors go about it. Will the federation just accept a club saying they will have PYL the following season from scratch?
Is it realistic to think a club could actually set up a PYL program from scratch in a year with zero junior base.

Croatia look the most likely to come up and I think most people would agree the federation might be reluctant to accept an application from a club without a proper home ground yet. If that?s the case in the short term I think it?s tough on the club to be forced up but then can only go as high as 5th. They have been back for what 4yrs realistically they are still establishing the club to ensure it?s here for the long run in senior football then to expect them to in the space of a year set up a premier youth program is really a big undertaking.

I think all teams promoted from ZL1 to NL1 should have a 2 or 3 year window where they have time to get PYL in place but in those years if they make finals they can play in them.

The federation want the best teams in these top 2 comps of senior men?s football but then have the caveat of needing jnrs to play finals. In 5 years time there may be 5 teams in a comp eligible for finals. That would be a bad look.

I?d be interested other peoples thoughts cause with Dudley safe it means an NL1 team from last year is getting relegated so all of a sudden after 1 year or promotion and relegation this comp has 2 teams from ZL1 in it and next year could be another ?established? club relegated for a team with no junior program
I think eventually things will settle in and balance themselves out as teams go and up down, players will move around.

Let's assume Southy get relegated, and Croatia come up. How many parents will be happy forking out thousands of dollars for the Southy Youth Program to be in 3rd Division (even though it seems to be going quite well). And yes, I know any club can have the Youth Licence next year, but you are silly if you think where First Grade play doesn't come into account for kids and parents when it comes to wanting to play for a club.

Those kids will leave and filter into other NewFM clubs. I would imagine if Croatia announced that next year, they would be having 13s > 18s, they would have NO issue filling those teams.

The easiest way to have a successful Youth Program is to have a successful First Grade - just look at Toronto, they were in danger of folding for several years, could barely fill 2 out of 4 youth team. Then First Grade turn their fortunes around and now they are very established in the younger ages.

I see no reason why Croatia can't do the same - they just need a proper field. Can someone with some knowledge of the Croatian Wickham Sports Club tell me why can't they use any of the fields there? Seems like a pretty obvious solution, must be something standing in their way.