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Issues with funding and the competition structure mean the format for next year’s Southern League is yet to be finalised as this year’s competition comes to an end.
New Zealand Football’s shift to a winter-season National League will see Cashmere Technical, which won this year’s competition, and Coastal Spirit leave the Southern League next year to play in the national competition, after finishing as the two best-performing teams over a five-year period.
Christchurch United could yet join them, after winning the first game of their promotion playoff series 3-0 against Western Suburbs on Sunday. They meet Western Springs on September 19.
Next year’s regional leagues will sit a tier below the National League, with cost a major barrier.
The tier-two competitions will not be cost-equalised, meaning every team across the country will no longer pay the same entry fee as they have in the past.
Last year that fee was around $14,000. Next year it could be as much as $40,000 for Southern League teams.
Travel requirements are far lower for clubs in the Northern and Central Leagues, which are nearly all based in or near Auckland or Wellington.
“There are so many variables at play, including how to pay for it all,” said Mainland Football chief executive Martin Field-Dodgson.
There are two main proposals on the table. One would see eight teams from around the South Island play a triple round-robin, with 21 games in total. The other would see two pools of eight teams, split into the top and bottom halves of the island.
The two pools would cross over at the end of the competition.
The Star understands clubs’ preference is for a South Island-wide league featuring the top eight teams.
They say it would provide a higher level of competition and better prepare them to bid for promotion to the National League.
An eight-team triple round-robin format would likely feature the same teams as this year, without Technical or Coastal.
If Christchurch United also earn promotion, one of Timaru’s Northern Hearts, Halswell United or FC Nelson would claim the final spot.
A league with northern and southern pools would have to take in up to nine teams from the Mainland Premiership, Nelson Bays Division 1 and Southern Premier League, a level below the Southern League.
Christchurch clubs would play in the northern pool alongside teams from Nelson and Timaru, while Dunedin, Wānaka and Invercargill clubs would feature in the southern pool.
“We’ve had some feedback from clubs around the eight-team, triple-round-robin format, but there’s a massive question mark about who’s paying,” Field-Dodgson said.
“We’d be expecting clubs to pay an entry fee of between $30,000-$40,000.”
New Zealand Football has guaranteed $250,000 in funding to be split between the men’s and women’s leagues. Field-Dodgson said that would not go far when covering multiple flights for teams of 18 people every weekend.
“You’re still going to be looking at a sizable entry fee, or a massive increased investment from NZF, or funding from other sources.”
Field-Dodgson said the league was “well behind the 8-ball” from a timing point of view.
“Ideally, if you’re flying, you’re wanting to be booking those flights now. If you don’t, they’ve just doubled in price.
“Everyone understands the urgency of time needed, but that’s weighed off against what’s reasonable and practical.”
He said Mainland Football, in combination with Southern Football, was in constant discussion with clubs in an effort to get everything across the line.
“It’s taking up a fair bit of time, which is needed, because we need to get something sorted.”