Central Coast - State League 2006

[kevrenor]

Central Coast United FC are not in the new NSW Premier League for 2006 - will they apply for NSW Winter Super League?

Sydney United in, Bonnyrigg out - Sutherland In, St George Out, etc. What a battle this is going to be - well before a ball is kicked!
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A new dawn - the 2006 NSW Premier League competition

OFFICIAL TEN TEAMS TO CONTEST 2006 PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON

Soccer NSW is proud to announce the 10 successful teams to gain entry to next season's New Look Premier League competition, commencing January 28, 2006.

After careful deliberation, the Board of Soccer NSW has decided the following ten clubs best met its selection criteria.

The ten teams are:
Sydney United, Marconi Stallions, A.P.I.A. Leichardt, Manly United, Bankstown City Lions, Parramatta Eagles, Sydney Olympic FC, Sutherland Sharks, Wollongong Wolves and Blacktown City Demons.

The 10 successful clubs have been granted two year tenure in the Premier League, commencing 2006. Should a club be unable to fulfill their obligations for any reason during this period, the Board will have the right to remove the club from the competition.

The Board of Soccer NSW and its football committee came to its decision after evaluating each club on a range of criteria. The set criteria were outlined in the Application documentation and Business Plan which was made available to interested clubs on 8th August.

Furthermore, the ten teams successfully met Soccer NSW regional criteria with the New Competition boasting 1 to 2 teams representing every geographic region of Sydney. These regions include the Central West, Central East, Far South, Far West, North and South West regions.

Whilst Soccer NSW acknowledges the impact this decision is likely to have on unsuccessful clubs, it also recognises the verdict was necessary in order to raise the quality of the NSW Premier League both on and off the field.

Indeed the decision hasn't been one Soccer NSW has taken lightly. The organisation is aware of the frustration and anger that may be caused as a result of the decision. However, in order to deliver on its promise of establishing a more professional league, it is the belief of Soccer NSW
that the tough decisions had to be made sooner rather than later.

Soccer NSW cordially extends an invitation to former Premier League clubs to participate in next season's Winter Super League and invites them to apply for Premier League admission in 2008 when two more clubs may be added to the current ten-team competition.

[omni]

How can it be the NSW Premier League? Now surely it's the Sydney Premier League.

Disgraceful SNSW - And it's called Football you Idiots, there's no S in FIFA!

[offtheball]

As far as I know Central Coast had no desire to be in the premier league next season. It was trying to compete in this league last season that sent the club broke

[marinermick]

PRESS RELEASE CCSA

Soccer NSW cuts off Regional NSW.

16th October, 2005 For immediate release.

In response to the Soccer NSW decision to select 9 of 10 teams from the Sydney Basin to participate in its new look Premier League Competition, the CCSA believes that the Central Coast’s position as a Soccer force has been seriously jeopardised. While Central Coast United (CCUFC) participated in the State’s top competition this year, the club and players have been effectively been relegated from the Premier League by this decision.

The CCSA believes that this decision will have wide ranging ramifications for the Central Coast in terms of player involvement, playing facilities, commercial support and sponsorship. The decision effectively removes a vital development path for all aspiring soccer players in Northern NSW, leaving such players and their families with no choice but to endure the cost and time required to travel to and from Sydney.

“Soccer NSW had better start the process of changing its name to Soccer Sydney as it has excluded one of the fastest growing centres, the NSW Central Coast, from its upcoming Premier League competition”, said Geoff Johnson President of the CCSA. “We believe this decision is insular, self serving, out of touch with the wider community and continues to represent all that holds back the code in this country.”

All of the statistics point to the viability of and even the necessity to maintain the strongest soccer infrastructure possible on the Central Coast. The region is one of the highest growth centres in NSW, it currently has more registered soccer players than any other sporting code and is directly connected to at least 1 in 7 family households. Such numbers are driving the CCSA and local Council’s planning to cater for double digit growth in player numbers over the next two years. “This is why the abandonment of the region by Soccer NSW is so hard to understand”, said Geoff Johnson.

Central Coast Mariner’s Executive Chairman, Lyall Gorman, expressed his full support for the Central Coast Soccer Association’s commitment to pursuing this matter to its fullest, stating that, “Central Coast Soccer Association is one of the largest participating associations in NSW and its members fully deserve the capacity to have a pathway within its region which caters for the needs of the ever increasing pool of talented players who participate in football on a regular basis. To have this pathway diluted through the recent decision of Soccer NSW does not serve the best interests of the 14,000 registered members of the Central Coast Soccer Association and may precipitate a forced player drain of talented players to Sydney clubs at a critical stage of their development. Attach this to the cost, time and general resourcing implications that will be forced on families and it is clear that we do not have a decision that is in the best interests of the Central Coast. The future of football in Australia is about providing equitable development opportunities for all participants and this decision clearly falls well short of that”, Gorman added.

It also not clear as to why Soccer NSW has decided on a 10 team competition instead of the originally proposed 12 team competition. “If Soccer NSW does not see any merit in reviewing their decision and expanding the competition to the 12 teams originally proposed, then the CCSA would like to see the FFA through the A-League, accelerate its plans for a feeder club network and/or U18/U20 style competition”, said Michael Keech, General Manager of CCSA.

In what seems like a contradiction to the importance State and Federal Governments are now placing on Regional Australia, Bob Graham, Mayor of Wyong Shire Council and Patron of the CCSA is as perplexed by the decision as his community colleagues. “Soccer NSW is a recognised State Sporting Body and receives significant funding from the NSW Government, and the Minister for Tourism Sport & Recreation must look very closely at an organisation that exists largely because of tax payers but is only interested in serving the needs of a major city. If the same were to apply to other government investments – water, electricity, etc there would be a major investigation”, said Mr. Graham.

Ends

For more information please contact
Michael Keech
General Manager
Central Coast Soccer Association
Ph: 02 4362 2216
Fax: [phone]
M: 0421 698 154
E: [e-mail]

[offtheball]

Obviously with the release of the above letter, it confirms what many have always suspected. I have no idea!

[omni]

Spot on - the should change their name to Soccer Sydney or perhaps Football Sydney but the Federation will never get it's act together.

[Rowdy]

Does this now mean when our kid's go to the state titles next year as the "Central Coast", because they just played at them in the school holidays as: "Far North Metropolitan", you know, as in Sydney Metropolitan.

What are we Mr Tom Dumbanus(Soccer NSW), arthur or martha???

[roarmeat]

CC United do not deserve a place, they are disorganised rabble and always have been...Coasties in disguise!

[offtheball]

Roarmeat a good description of CCSA as well it seems.

Re the SYL for 2006 CCSA website says that the trialists will be notified by mail by Nov 11th.

Problem is it seems to be different for every team. Some kids were cut weeks ago, some were told they were in weeks ago and some are waiting for the letter.

I have been involved in selecting kids rep teams and it is a difficult job with invariably many disappointments.

But the process must be transparent with everyone knowing criteria, procedures and the time frame up front.

This has never been the case at Coasties, CCU or now CCSA

[shelleybeach]

wish they'd bring in promotion/ relegation and an FA cup style knockout

[froggy]

cant do

It requires organisation

[Sam]

I think Central Coast Football should have a revamp and get some new people at the helm. As for SNSW....crap!

[marinermick]

sam said:

I think Central Coast Football should have a revamp and get some new people at the helm. As for SNSW....crap!

they have

most of the staff have been there less then two years

[jollyroger]

i have offen read the NSW soccer website and attempted to understand how it is all structured. I really have no idea.

I know the NSW premier league was restructured and CC umited were booted out. I can only imagine it would be for financial reasons. I would imagine we would meet every other important criteria such as location, representation etc.

While restructuring is important, i think the bigger picture should have been considered as well.

By this i mean the relationships and progression paths from the state league to national league. At national level we have no reserve teams and no junior teams from which young players can be developed and passed through a system.

While i acknowledge alot of positive things are happening in football at the moment. I think develpment paths need to be established and clearly defined.

[MsCanada]

change takes time and unfortunately people's bad experiences, either consciously or unconsciously, bias them and prevent an open mind. As marinermick stated, staff at the CCF is nearly entirely new and as with any new office, things are a learning curve.

I know the coast has had some bad experiences in the past but seriusly, give things a go and they're likely to work. Consider things a failure before they begin, and you may very well make them that way. Food for thought.

[forzamariners]

Come join the party that is Northern New South Wales soccer federation(