Is there a future for lower-tier football in Australia?

The NPL structure is hardly that different than the one originally proposed by the FFV, so to say it is just a re-branded league is factually incorrect. And describing the FFV's agenda as somewhat flawed but ultimately a good one is beyond absurd. The FFV have single handedly brought the game on the brink of its demise in Victoria. And its NPL version was an extension of that history of incompetence. A criteria that did not reflect any of the other NPL structures. You seem very ill informed, I suggest you do a bit more research before writing things which are plain incorrect. I will agree that your club South Melbourne did hijack the revolt against the FFV, and worked towards its own interests rather than that of the clubs as a whole whom they claimed to represent. You guys simply ended up jumping into bed with the corrupt FFV after you got the changes that were only in your interest. In terms of facilities, any such criticisms are valid. Many clubs in the NPL simply do not meet the criteria that was set by the FFV. Why should they get a free pass? we just had the St Albans Saints deducted 3 points from all their teams, seniors down to the juniors. This was due to failing to meet the criteria in regards to filling all their junior teams. Yet here you are saying that other clubs who have also failed to meet the criteria, in this instance in regards to facilities, that they should get a free pass. And you have nerve to pass judgement and speak of hypocrisy? ridiculous. Your comments are also disingenuous, criticisms about facilities are thrown across the board not just at the regional teams, as its the metro clubs who make up the bulk of teams not meeting the facility criteria.

Whatever could go right? Why always the focus on what could go "wrong"? Maybe you're too much like most strayan sockah fans, still scared of their own shadows! :) Has totally sapped any vision out of the game, post aleague. But yeah by all means enjoy your closed shop, uncompetitive cartel league. Us "free market football anarchists" can stick with the elite of the game, while all u wallow in your comfy egalitarianism haha...

Oh Christ - another free market football anarchist...... Yea, that'll work beautifully in Australia. Whatever could go wrong.

The greedy FFA also charge levies, are putting all sorts of restrictions on NPL teams. Making them have youth quotas etc. Talk about a cartel for to use the NPL clubs as youth comps for A-league teams. The FFA have made it abanduntly clear they don't want the old ethnic clubs back in the topl flight. They think the old ethnic clubs are bad for football in OZ, which is wrong. When Frank Lowy retires maybe there hope for South and Sydney United, but the FFA seem to think and make clear ethnic clubs are not good for football in this country, and they don't want them ever in the top flight all there actions show it. There not welcome in the A-league, that's the FFA's attitude.

Nail - Head

"Many have touted the NPL as a landmark moment in Australian football. However speaking to fans and reading releases from governing bodies makes something clear, in Victoria at least, the NPL has been nothing more than a re-branding exercise." WOW. I and my son are South Melbourne fans (of 8 years or so) and I am prepared to put my hand up an acknowledge that MY CLUB led a club revolt against the preferred FFV NPL model. Our litigiousness ensured that a somewhat flawed, but reformist FFV agenda for the NPL was reduced to a rebranding exercise and the token inclusion of a couple of non-metropolitan teams and some new FFA standards across a range of licensing criteria. Putting aside MY CLUB'S complicity in this opportunity lost, the metropolitan football community in general have taken it upon themselves to actively stigmatise and marginalise regional football clubs (old and new) as well as women footballers wherever they live. In fact just yesterday I saw a twitter exchange between senior people at an established metropolitan club attacking a new regional entity over the standard of its facilities on self-serving, narrowly defined grounds. Their logic was - stay out of State-wide football until you have the facilities - so that we can continue to invest in our facilities by being in State-wide football. What hypocritical, self-serving rubbish which puts the interests of football a distant second to the interest of ourselves. In summary - Victorian football blew its opportunity for reform because the powerful conspired to entrench their irrelevance with everyone but themselves. I love attending SMFC games in the winter and will continue to do so. I do it for the football and the time with y son. I don't do it because I believe the club has a benevolent, generous and positive contribution to make to reform. It clearly hasn't. When 1400 turn up for the "Melbourne Derby" at Somers St after we triumphantly claimed success in the demise of the FFV's preferred NPL model - is it not time for some self-reflection?

Unfortunately for me, the edited title of the article kind of has directed readers away from the actual message. As long as there is life at a club they can achieve anything. South Melbourne supporters are some of the few who understand this and appreciate their club's life rather than remain bitter about its past. The NPL example is used to show how there are many things out of clubs' control, and that running a league is a lot of hard work that requires more than re-branding and structural change. South has seen many of these changes in the past and survived them all because of dedicated fans and hard work. We need to take NPL changes with a grain of salt, remember many NSL reforms were said to create long term viability. If we don't critique and simply accept the top down structural changes we may cause the game more harm by ignoring problems in the system's implementation.

I was part of the recently scrapped VCL (scrapped for the NPL). When the VCL started over 5 years ago people rubbished it. By the time it finished people were breaking down my door to get in. The NPL Vic is not perfect but it needs time to settle and find its own space. The biggest problem, by far!, is the cost for kids to join a NPL Vic club. Good talent is being wasted because they cannot afford the fees. That is something that needs a serious rethink. Without lots of kids going through the NPL Vic system it will eventually collapse. Its not something that I want to see.

Regarding the headline "Is there a future for lower-tier football in Australia?". Of course always has been always will be. The real question is where will lower tier football be placed in the future in relation to the A-League ie will the gap in standard close sufficiently enough to form genuine 2nd division clubs? What evidence did we have prior to the NPL and FFA cup of the gap? Answer none. What evidence will we have after this year ? Answer plenty. Manny says at the end South Melbourne's future is in it's own hands. So given that this also applies to any NPL club throughout the country,how big can South Melbourne in this case get. Answer no bigger than it got in the NSL,its limitations were obvious then and their obvious now. None of the so called "Ethnic " clubs can ever be bigger than their limited support. That would apply to "District clubs" also ,only areas that can tap into large community support will ever stand a chance of being A-League clubs and even then the standard of football on the park has to be close to A-League standard. The A-League clubs have to constantly improve to keep up with Asian clubs who are not just sitting on their hands whilst we catch up. Allowing duds into the A-League to compete in the Asian Champions League is to be frank dumb. We need any new A-league club to hit the ground running as per the Wanderers otherwise were back to North QLD Fury and the KIwi mob. Can that come from the NPL or will the FFA have to manufacture one like the Wanderers say from the Illawarra or Canberra or will clubs like the Western Pride (Ipswich) or Northern Fury(North Qld) representing large geographical/Community areas be able to evolve into A-League clubs under their own steam? Currently Western Pride is doing poorly,Fury better, but overall this question is way too early to determine a definitive answer.

Manny, I think your last comment sums up my thoughts on the club. Maybe, the Heart being 'saved', and as a consequence, South's bids being rejected, has crystallized our views on the present. The club is doing pretty well at the moment. In fact, maybe better than at any time since the NSL ended. My personal journey in regard to South Melbourne is that I stopped supporting the club in the late 1990's. Although, more to the point, I stopped supporting the league for various reasons. The onset of the A League started the turn around in my thoughts towards the game in Australia. But it was only in 2012 that I finally returned. I would like to think that many other supporters would also return. Lets wait and see. Cheers

There's a future when all of Australian league football is connected via open and competitive promotion and relegation to the top tier. So no strings or conditions attached, just a clear and logical pathway for any team, any where to one day be able to PLAY their way all the way to ALeague. A foreign idea in the cartel world of strayan sport no doubt! Cant stress enough how important it is for the future of lower tier football for the connections between the tiers to be based on OPEN COMPETITION ON THE PITCH...ie u win in footballing terms over and above everything else....and not boardroom shenanigans and conditional entry. Unfortunately built into the NPL "model" are all sorts of regulations and conditions that are really unnecessary. So no surprise that taking the australian approach means the setup already needs deregulating!:) Let the clubs all pursue their own version of what works for them. Thats a petrie dish approach where they can be allowed to find their own way. This has not worked so well in the past as the divisions have never been connected up properly so the incentive of being able to climb to the top were not there. First step has to be to make the A-L a two division league, and i guess from there utilising a national playoff promotion format to connect A2 with all the state based NPLs. The game here has a lot of potential but imo its all wrapped up in a need for a complete change of focus from how sport here is usually "run". Move away from the top down, equalised approach of the eggchasing sports, to a more organic, grassroots based (and yes, unequal!) free market approach. Football already has the base there established and just waiting to be tapped into...it all just needs connecting up. It would actually be very easy to do provided the mentality at ffa level is conducive to letting go of the reins now that the A-L is established.

In what way did Victorian teams lead the pack? Sydney and NSW has by far the most substantial lower tier competitions and the restructure was needed to bring the lower leagues into the 21st century, it seems to have been a success, the game has moved away from its single focus on special interest groups and is becoming more reflective of the popular and widespread game that it is. The FFA Cup and the NPL have increased interest in the lower tiers immensely and with the $4 million sponsorship of the FFA Cup we are now starting to see real money and interest coming in for grassroots football. I understand that the NPL structure is different in Victoria but that is up to them to sort out, the game is moving forward with or without them. With the dominance of AFL in Victoria, it may be that Football is a game that is still a bit of a niche market in Victoria and therefore more inclined to remain focused on special interest groups, I don't know but it certainly isn't the case in NSW.

"Hopefully I’m proven wrong in the long term." Nah.. stuff that. Let's start whinging after 8 matches - it's all doom & gloom, unless it's perfect from Day 1. Yeah, I'm sure that's how successful people analyse their start-up organisations - if it's not perfect on Day 1, it's a disaster & we may as well give up & close shop.

What money, sponsorship and media exposure are you talking about? Clubs are paying more to enter the competition, drive sponsorships themselves and many clubs have resorted to covering their own matches independently via "insert team name here" tv, i.e. Hume, Pasco Vale, Box Hill, Bendigo etc. In the past all top tier matches where shown via highlights package on local TV. These days you can't even find the league in the results section of the paper, while local cricket, footy and lawn bowls still get a shout. I'm not saying clubs are worse off but if you think the NPL has substantially changed Victorian football you must be dreaming! Hopefully I'm proven wrong in the long term but don't forget this wasn't even the aim of NPL. It was to standardise top tier football around Australia and since Victorian teams already led the pack very few changes had to be made. The few standards implemented are similar to those of the VPL, and implementation has been poor. If you ever go to a Brunswick City match you'll know what I mean. Their stadium "upgrades" are nothing more then poor fencing. http://www.highway1.co.nz/uploads/6/4/7/1/6471244/__1510061.jpg

Just a quick shout out to all roarers. Keep in mind the editors do change parts of the article and this was not the original title of the post. Manny

I must say the NPL and the FFA Cup have provided me with more interest in the 2nd tier of Australian football that at any other time. Certainly in the NSL days and the A-League era up to now my interest has been more academic than emotional. Now I am interested. I can see how some of the bigger NPL clubs can feel as if it is a re-branding exercise as their governance structures and coaching standards have always been, by and large, at a higher level. The same cannot be said for all the clubs though, and this is the key of the NPL; to raise standards across the board. Good luck to South Melbourne, Manny, and thanks for the nicely written piece.

Manny There is a massive future for the lower tier ... but it will never approach NSL status... My guess out of the 100 teams only 7 in the NPL are arguably worse off... Brisbane Strikers, Newcastle Breakers, Sydney United, Marconi, Olympic, Melbourne Knights, & South Melbourne are well below their previous status ... for association rep teams ... and many old NSL clubs who struggled like , Blacktown Demons should do well ... With the AC and as time goes by the NPL will get stronger ...

"It’s scary to think that even now clubs, fans and even myself are unsure of who truly benefits from the new competition structure." You're kidding aren't you? What about money, sponsorship, media exposure? Are you really saying the lower tiers of football in AUS had it better in the past? Which years are you talking about? I'll review the media from those years to see what I missed the first time around.

The NPL hasn't been without its problems, but it's a great long-term idea. It isn't so much a 're-branding', but rather it implements certain criteria to pave the way for grassroots players. For example, the clubs chosen to be in the NPL weren't just selected because of their history or on-field quality; they had to be prepared to be in it for the long haul, committing to a whole range of things such as higher coaching licenses, facilities, etc. Give it some time. I like that the FFA is putting a heavy emphasis on the grassroots and younger players, because it will have a massive effect on the entire sport within a decade or two, if not sooner. As for your title question: Is there a future for lower-tier football, I'd say most definitely! If/when the NPL can have on-field quality that reaches the same level as the current A-League, then we'll know that we have a well constructed and highly competitive second tier. :)