How many teams should be in the new APL for 2004-2005? I believe it should be 14 teams, 13 from the old NSL and a new team to make 14. Reducing it to 10 would mean 3 clubs to fold and I am sick and tired of clubs coming and going! If a new team is made to make 14 it should be one that folded to be brought back to life such as West Adelaide or Canberra.
If it was to be 14 then West Adelaide should come back (read tribalfootball.com). If it is 16 then it should be West Adelaide, Canberra and Eastern Pride(Gippsland Falcons) Reducing to 10 is a stupid idea because 3 teams as i have stated before would have to fold and enough is enough! no more clubs folding! I am sorry to say maybe the Football kingz need to be looked at more closely as i am uncertain that they could garantee a future in the NSL/APL maybe in the NZ league. But that is for another post isn't it crowdie?
What is the Aussie attitude to the Kingz? Ignoring the "we are better than you" banter that the two countries love throwing at each other how to Aussies see Kiwi teams playing in their leagues i.e. Warriors (League), Breakers (Basketball), Kingz (Soccer)? I know that a number of Aussies play in the NPC (Union) here and nobody bats an eyelid at it. Crowdie.
In 1999, 2000 & 2001 Soccer Australia conducted financial suitability studies and the Football Kingz missed the cut completely, Canberra and Brisbane also missed the cut. Because they promised the Kingz a spot Canberra were kicked out. A bit sad really. I am not a kiwi basher don't get me wrong crowdie, I visited NZ in 2000 and i saw the Glory play the Kingz and i am sorry the crowd...well where was the crowd? My vist was fantastic and I saw the 1-1 draw with the men in skirts However the Kingz are not going forward at all, they have a good squad who play for the all whites but they aren't doing well, strange eh? They aren't going backwards either but just filling in a spot in the fragile NSL is dangerous. If the kingz are booted out like so many other sides. SA & SNZ should make a play-off tournament. That would be fun! Back to the APL having 14 would be good for the launch season but i believe it would be best suited to 16 teams with a new structure cup tournament that has been missing in action since 96/97. Keep those views on the APL rolling! By the way Crowdie my previous post was not a direct attack on you personally but you are the 'kiwi guru' in regards to soccer in NZ here so I refered the situation to you! Hope you didn't mind!
Dear Glorious_Fan, The Kingz are in the early building stage that the Warriors were in for so, so long. The Warriors only really started performing last year!!! The Kingz has some advantages over their Aussie counterparts (just like the Warriors) that will eventually see them start to perform (just like the Warriors): 1) Big youth base - soccer is the most popular sport here for people 16 years and under. It has taken along time for soccer to overtake rugby union and these youngsters will become the senior players of the future. 2) Kiwi identity - the Kingz are trying to focus on giving Kiwi players an opportunity to perform in a professional league (remember that there is no professional league in NZ). This generates a real sense of identity for the club with New Zealand players. This means the the path for players here is: Midgets -> Youth -> Northern League (or equiv) -> National League -> Kingz 3) TV rights - Sky TV (a pay TV channel) is a shareholder in the Kingz (they used to own the club) and all the Kingz games (including the away games) are shown live here and the money goes to the Kingz - it doesn't have to be shared between a number of clubs as happens in Australia. Once the Kingz start performing the fans will return. I really believe that the future for both Aussie and Kiwi teams is combined leagues. We tend to both be good at the same sports: Netball - 1st and 2nd Rugby Union - Both top 3 Rugby League - 1st and 2nd Cricket - 1st (Aussies) 4th or 5th (Kiwis) and we play sport the same way. We need the domestic soccer players in both countries to be as good as possible. The UEFA and USA supporters seem to want to take Oceania's WC automatic qualification spot away from us and we can't afford to let that happen. I believe that Australia will qualify for the 2006 WC (if you field your full strength team) and I will be up watching and cheering for your team. What is good for Aussie soccer is normally good for NZ soccer. Crowdie.
It's better to start off with 10 teams to begin with. Working with that small number of teams for at least a couple of years would help give the APL some credibility. The smaller league would no doubt give the APL a chance to enforce some financial regulations on the club.
APL Yes 10 would be good but there will be 3 teams that will be kicked out! That isn't fair because they are really focusing on sydney giving up 3 sides. The sydney clubs have long history dating back to when they were in the state federation before they entered the NSL. So kicking them out would not be fair. (come on sydney-siders back me up here!) with 14 then there will be now byes and the league could easily manage on 14 teams.
Considering the fact that the Eels RLC have thrown in the towel relating to the Power, there would likely 12 for next season.
A chinese consortium have expressed interest and are set to take out and buy the Power, which is good news. I still think that it will be 14. Don't forget to vote!
APL well there is currently 13 in the NSL and West Adelaide have expressed interest to re-enter the NSL as they have been working on a framework to enter the NSL to be successful and to be economically sound. That is what I believe will be the 14th team in the NSL. I have heard rumours that Canberra have spoken to Soccer Australia for the Cosmos or another Canberra side enter the NSL. There are other rumours floating around about folded clubs re-entering the league.
I heard that the same chinese company that wanted to put a team into the NSL for 1 season, However Soccer Australia has most likely blocked the idea. The chinese company has decided to buy Parramatta as the PRLC are pulling the plug on a successful club. COME ON PARRAMATTA FANS STAND UP AND BE COUNTED!!! Don't Forget to VOTE!!!!!
New NSL before APL Soccer Australia launched a new format for the 2003/2004 NSL season. Apparently it involves relegations/promotions. here is the link http://www.socceraustralia.com.au/public/article/show.asp?articleid=6353&menuItemID=
Should the Apl have promotion and relegation for the team that finishes last? The winner of the state federation that the relegated team is from could step up. What do you think?
The rumour that I heard was that another Brisbane team was going to make up the numbers in a 14 team comp. Personally, I'd rather that it was Canberra that got its team back. It would be better to have a prof. team in a region that has none first, before doubling up.
APL Yeah that is actually confirmed rare Spirit fan! A group of Canberra businessmen have already set up offices and are establishing kit and name designs. Personally they should reinvent the Cosmos, that suits Canberra so well in my opinion. Yes the former NSL club the Brisbane Lions (original lions not the afl one) Are making submissions. Goto http://www.tribalfootbal.com and then to Aust/NZ newswire to check it out.
Yeah, definitely. I reckon promotion/relegation creates a lot of interest at lower levels. That way every club, no matter how small, can dream that one day - maybe one day - they can make it to the big time. Grassroots interest is increased, and local support for the smaller clubs can flourish. Another thing is when it's a closed system it's just not as dramatic to finish last - if you're not going to make the cut you can practically forfeit your games till the end of the season.
That sounds all well and good but Australia IS the size of Europe and that is tough. We don't have the support like...........AFL but there is a strong love for soccer which is strange soccer is "weak" here in Oceania. Thinking about it I believe that relegation and promotion should not go ahead in a new competition as we are not ready for it. But a cup should take place again i believe.
A regional cup would be great as well. We've already got the OFC Champions Cup, I suppose. But is that on every year? I'm not sure of its structure. This is something that I'd like to see (maybe it exists. If so - it needs more publicity and TV coverage): top 3 Oz teams top 3 NZ teams top 2 teams (18 teams - 2 groups, top 5 of each?) of each other OFC nation play off for 10 spots. Adds up to 16 teams. 4 groups round robin. Top two of each group qualify for knockout Finals stage. Home and away legs. The whole shebang. It would give the island teams games against higher quality opposition. The aim would be to generate public interest, give players diverse experience and (maybe) lessen the gap between different comps in the region. Now we just need some billionaire backer to come up with the idea, get all the competitions to cooperate, find useable dates for the comp, get someone to buy the TV rights... ok, it's just not going to happen.
NO NO NO NO New Zealand teams they have their own Chatham Cup. We need a new one that can have tradition. But if u are talking about a champions league then yes i beleive that should be used as the format but of course they would modify it slightly though.