diego's son wrote:
diego's son wrote:
As discussed, many issues:
1. Having a professional team in the league might mean no more pokie money for anyone.
2. Having a professional team in the league might make a whole lot of young players ineligible to play American College sport if they want to go to that way in the future.
3. Having a professional team in an amateur competition is likely to rankle with FIFA.
4. There is supposed to be a 30 day stand down when moving between a professional and amateur competition.
Now I think points 3 and 4 are pretty easily overcome.
Point 1 is a major one, and would require the Department of Internal Affairs to take a position one way or the other.
Point 2 is inescapable. The NCAA are unlikely to bend their rules just for our benefit. We'd just have to make sure we were honest with kids before they played NZFC that it might invalidate them if they wanted to play College soccer down the track.
Tim Myers for example. Played for Waitak yesterday against TeeDub. Might have College on his radar. If he'd been playing in a competition with pros then NCAA rules would make him ineligible.
Boys,
I know I was being a bit cheeky before, but what's the deal with the US College sport pathway being so critical to NZ? Is there some US/NZ deal here? There's a few NZ player in the MLS, so I am wondering why point 2 above is so critical.
Genuine inquiry. No bull.
massive chunk of current and recent All-Whites/Nix have done a stint in US college system. Good coaching and better opportunities than what they would have gotten in NZ (Prior to Nix)
To be honest USA Soccer has probably done more for NZ football than FFA has all told.
Now I will throw a deliberate comment here! I raised elsewhere the idea of Oceania (or NZ) if it wishes joining CONCACAF. It's left field, but may solve the confederational issues for all.
If NZ and the US work so well in soccer terms, what is stopping NZ (and Oceania) getting US Soccer Federation support for a move to CONCACAF?
It's an option.
< id="gwProxy" =""><!--Session -->< ="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" ="">
This is interesting but not on really. NZ needs to stay in Oceania because quite frankly the Fifa Club World Cup is now largely financing the NZ Football Championship. Pokie and trust money is diminishing and the current clubs would not be able to participate if it wasn't for the $145,000 each has received from Auckland City's success in the CWC. Remember the CWC id pumping in exces of $1 million a year into the NZFC, much more than pokie/trust funding.
Thanks for your kind word Smithy, I appreciate it. I know I'm not popular on this forum but I'm trying to come at these threads from the point of view of a NZFC supporter in Auckland, with all that entails. I like to think I'm raising a few valid points amid the jousting.
The view from up here is that the NZFC is dying from a spectator point of view at the same time that the Phoenix are soaring. I think there is a relationship, although I know I'm going to be howled down for even suggesting it. But look at the facts- four years ago Team Wellington was atracting crowds in exces of 1000 at Newtown Park. Last weekend a crutial game between TW and Waitakere United atracted a mere 175, while two days before over 14,000 went to the Caketin to see the Phoenix. I don't understand this. You were at both Smithy and DC, why is this happening? Stu Jacobs and the boys are a good team to watch, surely anyone in Wellington really interested in football would go to both games?
Without City, which itself is only keeping up a regular support base of 500-600 and is the best supported club, the NZFC would collapse I believe. Without the CWC funding we won the competition is certainly no longer viable. Canterbury and TW almost pulled out of the competition this year because of funding problems and Waikato and WU have returned to playing in open fields to cut costs.
I wouldn't mind the Phoenix sucking up most of the media attention and spectators if it was allowed to play in the A League on the same basis as the other teams. But it isn't, as I've pointed out earlier. No reserve team playing in the A League means no pathway for young NZ players into the A League. So we're in danger here of sacrificing the chance of the NZFC surviving (and believe me if we lose the CWC it's gone) while the FFA dictate that the Phoenix can't really provide a pathway for more than two or three of our established All Whites, who would probably get contracts with other A League teams if the Nix didn't exist anyway. I think the trade-off favours the FFA too much at the expense of the NZFC. I know you guys won't agree but this is the prevailing view from Kiwitea Street. We're a damned good little club trying to survive in a harsh local environment with little or no media exposure (even when we beat the champions of Africa) and frankly we see the Phoenix as sucking too much of the available oxygen out of the air with too little return for NZ football.
I'm not trying to rain on your parade to be a jerk, I'm trying to find ways the NZFC can survive and prosper. The whole idea of a Nix reserve/youth team in the NZFC doesn't fly for several reasons Smithy has explained. It has to be in the A League but FFA/Aust govt. won't allow that for obvious reasons.
The American college system shouldn't be providing a pathway for NZ players into the AW. That should be the job of the NZFC and the Phoenix surely.
So win the A League with your import-dominated team and then demand a level playing field from the FFA.
That is the most clear post you have made,and you do bring up some very interesting points without having a go at anyone etc. I think everyone agrees with you that we need a youth side,its too hard to bring through NZ talent otherwise. The media oxygen as you put it,is a good point also,and if we are stealing NZFC thunder then thats not so good,though i see no real evidence to support this correlation,and tend to believe (from a biased point of view,but yours is biased too) that this isnt true. Even if it was,I think we are also creating more oxygen and hype/interest around football that the NZFC could never really reach in the short term. But as you say,at the expense of a pathway for young NZers,is it really worth it in the long term?
as its very subjective without any real evidence of a correlation other than timing. 
