Why the NPL beats the A-League

Waz - hate to bring it up but do the people who write to these columns really comprehend the finer detail in what is loosely termed pro/rel. In the EPL for instance the team that gets relegated immediately come under a plan devised to keep them out of the courts and soothe the players union. A relegated team is awarded, yes awarded, a sum of 30 million GBP which is intended to help them retain contracted players and re- build for a promotion attempt next season. If they fail, that amount drops to 20million GBP for their second year in the lower league and then,should they "fail" again, the last payout drops to 10million GBP . Can you imagine, $AUD 120 million just for just being relegated???. That sort of money would keep the whole HAL going for 2/3 years. cheers jb

500? That's optimistic!

And up against APIA next week.

Good to see Wollongong open their season with a win.

"Contrast that with the abrupt loss of former A-League clubs like the Gold Coast United, New Zealand Knights and North Queensland Fury. Gone – in a heartbeat." Not quite - well not the Australian two, and definitely not in a heartbeat. They both played in the NPLQ. Fury folded just late last year, as you can imagine the travel bill for a NQ team in the NPLQ, whereas Gold Coast United reformed last year and play NPL.

The problem with pro/rel is not necessarily the A League itself, the bigger problem is there isn’t a second division to relegate in to. I don’t think there’s a league system anywhere in the world that relegates from a fully professional league in to an Amateur league (which is essentially what the NPL is). This country has been making excuses over a second division for years, decades even, but until one is up and running we can’t have pro/rel sadly.

Funny enough I'm more interested in watching the NPL these days, agree both should be celebrated but the a-league there is something wrong with the product as many people don't want to admit it. Last night was the perfect example of why we need promotion and relegation, dross sides should get punished instead they stay up every year and we reward mediocrity, this doesn't work like this around the world but we accept it why? I have a feeling we have soft standards for performance and then we get surprised by players that have played in Europe saying its more harder? Supporting a club is all about connection to your area, your community and what it means to you for the benefit of the game, this has been lost in the a-league in the last couple of years. So yes the NPL might not attract the corporate attention but it seem to be more attractive to the a-league these days in my eyes due to the dullness and how boring its gotten with the same teams and players you see in an a-league game. It's also refreshing to see communities that care for the sport and you don't get hassled by a cop or a security guard too when trying to enjoy the experience without paying an expensive ticket to boot. Football should be a simple experience. By the way some of these comments below are disgusting and perfectly describes how fragmented the fans have been with football in this country for a long time. Instead of unifying we still want to divide it. How sad our game has become.

I dont know of any social media that highlights this. There are bigger costs in tennis because the parents hire personal coaches for their kids, but even in that there is no obstacle you don't have to pay big money to enter the top level competitions. Other sports I don't see, and in the sports that have a hard time getting kids to play say in rugby codes, they offer money to the good kids , and same goes for AFL the money comes in very early. The other thing is usually the people now at the NPL clubs on the boards, administration, coaches have kids in the club and are working to make sure they get favourable treatment as well. Then of the little spectators most are the family of the kids. There is nothing wrong with all this except no one is worried anymore about finding talent in Australia anymore because thats a long shot and a gamble, whereas the money from parents in this country is both substantial and regular as clockwork.

Same old story, you get a little bit of incorrect information and base an opinion on it! Find out what really happens! These kids your talking about are not after a game on a Saturday Morning. These are the Elite of our sport. Elite because of their ability! If you genuinely look at the Elite of Any sport you will see similar costs involved. Don't believe what you read on Social Media, get involved, find out for yourself!

The NPL is the number one problem this country has, what really changed from the old days is not the introduction of the A-league over the NSL, what has changed is the financial center of football has moved from the top level to focusing on kids and extracting money from their parents which is the biggest sports industy in this country. Even at the local cafe you see advertised these camps for kids. so what kids used to do for free go down to the local park and kick a ball, now parents are paying for at exorbitant rates. The NPL has the double whammy, there is the thousands of dollars for a spot, and then you have additional levels of favouritism so if your the one whose parents pays for the academy, then you have the parents who pay for the academy and the overseas tours, then you have the one who not only pays for all of that but sponsors the clubs. So even in the case of the kid that is the best in the side, and pays the rego fees, they can be either be played out of position or left on the bench to cater for the others who spend more.

Well said JB, the author is obviously a fisherman.

Waz - A bit of care needed here. The info I get from people involved in the NPL is that there are NPL clubs in the south who are paying players four figure sums to play in their league. How is this possible you may ask? Remember it doesn't cost these same identities around $15,000,000 just to get ready to participate in the HAL. so, as you say, money,or should I say lack of it, is still the main obstacle to HAL growth. Cheers jb.

That is probably the commonsense approach to take towards the debate between the benefits of the Npl v the A league.

Enjoy your day. Come back and tell us what it was like. Cheers.

I’m happy you’re happy with the NPL - it sounds good what they’re doing. On the other hand, what is it about the A-League that makes so many people want to tell everyone else why they don’t like it?

It’s great that NPL games are now broadcast free over multiple social media outlets, we want to build these clubs back up to where they used to be, so that once the 2nd division is ready these clubs are ready to jump in and take full advantage. I’ll probably wander round to Lambert Park to watch APIA. But let’s take off the rose tinted glasses, the A League is fine, it’s certainly not excelling at the moment but that’s okay, just support your team, watch some games on TV and let others worry about things out of our control.

This article has been put together with the writers tongue firmly cemented in his cheek. The NSL "backslide" actually began much earlier than the league's demise in 2004. Some 18 years before then the first cracks appeared when the best team in the country was withdrawn from the league by the social club in the background of the club's existence. That withdrawal was activated by the fact that that same social club had forked out $300,000 to the football team the previous year.It was not prepared to carry on with such largesse. The 2 teams the author mentioned, Apia and Marconi were set up with the same structure, the Italian migrant community throwing their weight behind attempts to create a "home for home " environment in their very successful, poker machine backed, social clubs, where a constant flow of funding was outsourced to "soccer" spending. Apia were the first to show the tell-tale signs when they withdrew from the league for a season or two,while Marconi had wisely embarked on a novel way of raising funds due to their participation in the overseas "transfer market". What the writer should never forget is that when the HAL was started there was nothing to stop the likes of Apia and Marconi coming up with the $7,000,000 needed to participate. I'm afraid that was a step too far for the controlling interests in those same social clubs, potentially changing at every AGM, to commiting social club money. Cheers jb.

Enjoy the game with the other 500 fans who may turn up. For all of the "failings" of the A-league there'll be 5k fans watching the 2 most poorly supported clubs, 25k for the best.

This article sums up was wrong with football in this country when we had the NSL, and what’s still wrong with it now we have the HAL. The NPL should be commended and celebrated, even with most clubs holding Amateur status they still create a worthy competition. And so does the HAL. Both should be celebrated

Dont forget to take your national foreign flag