Comments on: Football NSW Letter to Premier and Super League Clubs

By: Rob V.

Rob V. — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:08:37 +0000

There is very little hope of the AWD comp officially reappearing at the Nationals in 2010 due to the “short amount of time” to organise it, specially the other states!

However, steps are being put in place for it to be an integral part of the competition in 2011′ and there is still a little hope for an exhibition game in 2010…

Who can forget the grand final in 1992 between WA and Victoria at the AIS baskekball court with over 2000
(two thousand) people crammed into the joint.

By the way, WA just got up 1-0: blame the Vics coach…

By: Dkennedy

Dkennedy — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:43:19 +0000

Anyone else find it frustrating with all the outdoor superleague/premier league trial matches (x12 for some clubs) for the upcoming 2010 season.. its already a struggle and makes it hard to retain players for matches due to all the trial matches being played now.

By: stegness

stegness — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:00:11 +0000

unbelievable!

another futsal flame war?!!

AND what the heck has happened to that review thingo?

By: Gadget

Gadget — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:47:39 +0000

Ian, they were good times & you & I both know that this stopped prior to FFA taking over the Nationals. Football NSW included a disabled competition comprising 6 teams in their recent State titles. It was great to see them playing again. Hopefully this will lead to bigger & better things. We shall wait & see.

By: F.Sala

F.Sala — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:32:26 +0000

I would rather my son daughter play in a sport which has a future…….its not an elite world…apart from myself there are very few elite contributors to this site! So Justwondering enjoy Nsw V NSW (there’s nothing wrong in that). Years ago we had a disabled competition at “FFA” Nationals in Canberra, perhaps that was ‘canned’ because the players weren’t ELITE enough ?
Was that the first nail in the coffin ? Was banning Vikings the 2nd, 3rd and 4th ???

By: Gadget

Gadget — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:19:54 +0000

Before Vikings decided to go autonomous teams from QLD, VIC, WA & (TAS I think) did play at FFA Nationals. The QLD Men’s & Women’s teams were always competitive however they didn’t select “elite” junior teams. QLD decided to regionalise their junior teams to ensure players got the opportunity to play regardless of how competitive the teams were. Each team actually had 2 or 3 good players on average. If they had decided to select a QLD rep team first & then regionalised I am quite sure they would have had at least one competitive team in each age group. WA only had Men’s teams attending for 5 to 6 years??? It took them 4 years before they won a game but they started to come good towards the end. At last years FFA Nationals WA brought junior teams as well as a Women’s team. VIC Men always made it through to the Quarter’s but rarely progressed from there. However their junior teams, especially the boys, were very competitive over the last 3 years. TAS were just beginning so I am not sure if they did come one year or not. I do know they came to a School Nationals at Windsor one year & didn’t fare too well. Anyway the FFA National’s do cater more for the elite whereas the Vikings Nationals cater more for participation. This is not to say that Vikings do not have some good teams. To the point however, “dual registration” can only apply to affiliated members of the FFA & Football NSW so there really is no issue as Vikings are not an affiliate. As Ian (F Sala) rightly points out in another thread, they can’t stop you playing netball, basketball, volleyball etc so if they go ahead with this “threat” then I think they will only bring on legal actions against them. As for Damian Briggs Ian, I am sure you are right about the lamb to the slaughter. It is a shame that the “real” people behind the letter didn’t put their name to it as this way they avoid all the crap.

By: justwondering

justwondering — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:35:21 +0000

I thought Victoria would be strong at Vikings Nationals also, but I went and saw the standard and WA looked the second best side and they were along way behind the standard at FFA Nationals. Yes QLD, WA and VIC would probably have finished 4th, 5th and 6th at FFA Nationals but not too far ahead of ACT Colts and Northern NSW.
No matter what competition the NSW Thunder and ACT Cobras played in, they would be the top dogs, with Lightning just behind.

This mainly is due to the fact Sydney has a good competition (of course could be better but is well ahead of other states) played on courts near the same size as you play on in Canberra and in professional matches.

By: ronaldo9

ronaldo9 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:30:01 +0000

Western Australia and Victoria in last years Mens Vikings Nationals Finals would easily be able to compete with the best in the FFA Nationals!

By: justwondering

justwondering — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:23:07 +0000

I can see where you are coming from Baking Beans. We could have that if Vikings would align themselves with FFA. Vikings teams attended the FFA Nationals a couple of years ago and obviously weren’t happy with coming down the bottom so decided they would make their own where their teams have a better chance of winning.

As p forbes stated, right or wrong, for the sport to progress we need to align to the governing body.
Futsal is my choice of sport but believe it or not, Vikings people find this hard to do, FUTSAL IS A SUMMER SPORT TO HELP FOOTBALL.

Your idea of FFA Nationals having each state with elite sides and Vikings running a “2nd tier” competition for development is great.

I wouldn’t have a gripe with Vikings at the moment either if they would just admit that THEIR NATIONALS IS NO WHERE NEAR THE STANDARD OF CANBERRA. The problem is that they go on with this thing that they have real variety, the problem is most of the variety should not be good enough to play at a National Championship.

Yes there are the select few that choose to play futsal and only futsal, but the rest play futsal to improve as outdoor players, while being able to play for their state in a fast paced and more exciting version of the game.

Hopefully this changes, but until football in Australia grows, FUTSAL in Australia will never grow.

Vikings can pick all there Australian representative sides that they like, in the end if you can’t afford the money you can’t play. If they are really keen on starting rep sides throughout their age groups, take the hit and pay for the kids to go overseas, don’t expect them to pay $5000 to represent their country.

By: Baking Beans

Baking Beans — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:41:24 +0000

JustWondering having never attended either Nationals, being completely neutral with no affiliations and based purely on your information presented, from my perspective I have the opposite view that I would like to go to the Vikings Nationals, to see a competition where sides are from a wide range of areas across Australia in a truly national competition(regardless of the standard), not just a few select east coast sides predominantly NSW. Futsal it seems is nothing in Australia outside NSW so the development of all regions outside should be priority, bringing a higher level of competition to new Australian markets promotes growth and a higher level of competition down the track, Mediocre teams you outlined would go and see the standard required from the top sides, the ability, the determination the tactics and bring them back to those clubs to improve… that would never have a chance of going courtside at the FFA Nationals.

That said there is of course a need for an elite level of competition, which the FFA provides at an excellent standard, but strategically in the long term Vikings Nationals surely creates growth in the Futsal market at a faster rate?

From an strategic view i express the opnion that the Vikings Group have got their objectives correct in how and what they want to achieve, in a better model than that currently available by the FFA.

If only they could get along, I wouldnt mind an Elite Nationals League (Played in Nationals format run by the state body… 1 team from each age group from each state) with a Nationals Underneath run by Vikings as a growth competition as a pathway for players to the elite level.

Ive written this quickly without re-reading for ‘futsal-correctness’ etc etc, expect a lot of flaming from the usual suspects, but i ask you to be mature and responsible in your responses, out of respect for others. As sometimes I am embarresed by what is expressed here on this site. ‘Then why stay?’ do you ask? Its because i say it in the hope that people can benefit from the site rather than reading trolling and flaming from both sides of the fence. I am much happier standing on top of the fence thanks guys! =D enjoy your afternoon! its a beautiful day.