Australia doesn’t need a second division to have promotion and relegation, at least not in the short term.
The NPL national playoffs could easily be adapted to be a promotion pathway to the A-League – invite the winners of all capital city and regional NPL competitions to a playoff series to decide who wins promotion to the A-League.
Setting up the second division straight away may just be too ambitious. The current plan from the AAFC proposes this, with no promotion and relegation for the first five years.
They have it the wrong way around.
There should be no second division for the first five years of promotion and relegation. Having the second division with no promotion and relegation would take away the factor that makes it interesting in the first place.
So what are the alternatives to the AAFC plan?
Currently, there are nine Australian teams in the A-League. If the aim is to get to 12 or 16 teams, then up to seven NPL clubs could be promoted without having to even think about a second division. Or relegation for that matter.
Both relegation and the second division could be delayed for at least five years. While still stoking the promotion ambitions of the lower tiers of the game, that are just ripe for new investment and interest.
Promoting teams straight from the NPL playoffs for the early years would save the initial expense of a national second division. Then once the first division is set, look to introduce the second division. I would suggest within ten years at the most.
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Some NPL teams promoted directly would be outgunned and relegated straight away. This is part and parcel of league football as it’s played around the world.
Others may just surprise people, just like Western Sydney Wanderers did in its debut A-League season.
This is the lure of promotion and relegation. The surprises that come along in football which you just would never have expected, like Leicester City winning the Premier League.
The elephant in the room for any promotion and relegation proposal in Australia is the timing of the season.
The AAFC proposal seeks to establish a second division to run alongside the A-League from spring through summer and autumn but they have this the wrong way around also.
Over time, all levels of Australian football should be played at the same time. For a sport that has always been chasing that ‘synergy’ between professional and the grassroots, it makes sense.
The symbolism of the A-League moving into line with its grassroots would be powerful. But this is a medium-term question.
The A-League season window could stay as it is until relegation comes into effect, five years or more down the track. You can’t really have promotion and relegation between leagues played at different times of the year.
The opportunities for football through promotion and relegation are there to be taken. But a lower cost path is worth consideration. Delay the second division for between five and ten years and in the meantime, allow the NPL foundation of Australian football to prove their promotion merits on the pitch.
Just like the FFA Cup, top-tier league football should be open to any team from anywhere in Australia.
mal
Guest
Div 2 and the shape of it, is the hottest topic on every football forum. It should be brought in through NPL with top NPL teams NOMINATING for spots in A League if they feel financially able. Once 12 A League spots are filled, no relegation for ten years. In that ten years, nominations are taken from NPL teams, OR EVEN OUTSIDERS who have financial backers confident enough to make an assault on an A League spot. Relegated teams drop to their local NPL league. If only two promotion spots available, NPL winners who agree to an A League contract play off in an end of season competition .
Footoverhand
Guest
Spot on
Deir-ba-zor
Guest
some people want to follow a competition that is actually a competition.
Leonard
Guest
Hells bells! A set of observations firmly grounded in the geographical and demographical realities of our country! And when are added the cultural realities that (i) what is termed 'football' in most posts is still thought of as 'soccer' and that (ii) soccer has to share the Foot Ball marketplace with the three popular 'eggball' codes, much of the fantasising looks like little more than 'real' than the latest UN nonsense about the state of the world.
Gethin Perry
Roar Rookie
If we must accept that it's too hard to expand or create a 2nd division then how do we grow our game. Strengthen the NPL. Create more content. Work with what we've got and grow organically. How? The NPL finals could be transformed into the Australian Champions League. Rather than the current knock out format why not create a 16 teams comp with 4 groups of 4 - 1x Champion, 2xQld, 2xNSW, 2xVIC, 1xACT, 1xTAS, 1xSA, 1xNT, 1xWA, 1xNT, 1xNNSW, 2xQualifiers. The qualifiers determined through a knock out of the state NPL runners up. Home and away group games. Group winners qualify for H&A knock out stages, 11 to 12 week comp. Play during A league season and prior yo NPL. Create more content. Crate opportunities to raise the standard across all NPLs. Provide clubs a finance incentive to address.
League table speaks
Guest
Cool i thought i remembered a team going far in the playoffs from nnsw. Some decent showings in the ffa cup too. Maybe Central coast will end up in the Newcastle zone at some point. Budgie FC is practically in Lake macquarie. I'm about halfway between Broadmeadow and Gosford.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Northern NSW Football is a state federation with its own NPL like NSW Football, Football Federation Victoria. Edgweworth Eagles lost the NPL Championship grand final a couple of seasons ago. Mainly greater Newcastle and Lake Macquarie teams although the occasional Coffs area team gets close to the state cup playoffs.
matth
Guest
There is a problem with a professional / semi-professional second division in Australia and then a semi-professional / amateur third division with promotion and relegation up and down the pyramid and that is distance v population. the only country that would be comparable is Canada. Comparing ourselves to England's structure, for example, is silly. England has more than double the population in a land mass just over half the size of Victoria. Other European countries have similar size advantages. The travel costs to run a national second division and then a third division would be too high for the population available to actually watch the games and fund the player salaries, especially because the level of travel makes holding down a decent job pretty hard for the non-professionals. I would imagine the only way it would be sustainable would be with some sort of conference system, but unlike the US, we don't have the population centres around the country to have viable conferences without significant travel anyway.
Redondo
Guest
That's a good point Waz. I guess it highlights what many have already said i.e. the FFA should leave the A-League to manage itself and focus on Football. At the moment the FFA struggles to balance 2 competing priorities: Football versus entertainment.
League table speaks
Guest
Any arbitrary standard should be accessible to as many clubs as possible. I doubt we agree on how high the barrier needs to be. That's why i skimmed over replying to that part of the post.
saul
Guest
FFA is the issue they haven't planned for anything and have no vision what so ever. Who knows what the outcome would be, yours is a good guess. Lowy must go that's for sure, how is up for discussion. I can't see myself supporting Sydney United, Olympic, Hakoah or Bonnyrigg White Eagles.
saul
Guest
Agree dumb idea when you don't have a club from NT, Tas , ACT. Perhaps we could extend a olive branch to Barcelona, I've heard they're looking for a new league.
saul
Guest
I pay attention to you
Lionheart
Guest
You've pretty much ignored all that Waz said - there's got to be a 'club standard' set for promotion, in terms of ground and facilities, supporter base, player base and development, finances, access and so on.
Nemesis
Guest
"I bet if we listed out the number of NPL clubs that have their own stadium it would be something like 20%, or one in five/six. " In Victoria, I bet it wouldn't. But, if someone has definitive details I'll stand corrected. Of the 14 NPL Div 1 teams in Victoria in 2017, I would say the following NPL clubs have their own stadium, or management rights for own stadium Heidelberg Utd SMFC Bentleigh Greens Green Gully SC Oakleigh Cannons Hume City FC Bulleen Lions Port Melbourne Sharks Melbourne Knights St Albans Saints North Geelong Warriors
Marcel
Guest
I would expect any Second Division to dissolve into " Regional Conferences"....ie back to the state leagues within 5 years As for P+R...well the idea of the league being permanently anchored down by a revolving door of State League clubs going broke in front of 3k people just isn't the future that Im wishing for.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"but investors TV interest from there another story." Ratings are everything. Singapore could probably get better TV ratings than all the current A-League teams combined so it has to be considered.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"So every second week the Singapore team would make a 7 or so hour flight both ways to play in the A-League. Not likely." You're probably right. It'll ruin the Distance Derby between Perth and Wellington anyway. Singapore to Sydney = 6,302 km Singapore to Melbourne = 6,059 km Singapore to Brisbane = 6,150 km Singapore to Adelaide = 5,414 km Singapore to Perth = 3,912 km Singapore to Wellington = 8,527 km Wellington to Perth = 5,255 km
RBBAnonymous
Guest
A terrific post and one I wholeheartedly agree with.
Square Nostrils
Guest
Should add also at the end, players if good enough.