Big changes for NPL, WSL
FOOTBALL Tasmania have released the NPL TAS and WSL fixtures for the 2020 season, which will introduce several changes compared with previous years.
Most notably, the leagues will focus on “Club Match Days”, which will see a large majority of NPL games played on Saturday afternoons.
The decision is a result of an independent review in September that aims to see NPL clubs host more triple-headers across the Southern Championship Reserves, Southern Championship and NPL.
“We’ve consulted widely through that [competition review] process and ... worked very closely with our clubs and stakeholders in terms of where we’ve landed with these competitions,” Football Tasmania CEO Matt Bulkeley said.
“We’ve staggered the kickoffs so there is some spread in that respect but the preference was, again, to have that kind of big match day and not have too many stand-alone fixtures which, the feedback was, we’ve had too much of in the past.”
It was also announced that the WSL will play exclusively on Sundays where possible, with the promotion of the women’s game a key focus for 2020 amid Tasmania’s inclusion in Australia and New Zealand’s joint bid for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“We’re moving to ‘Super League Sundays’ as we’re calling it, so essentially almost all WSL will be on a Sunday with the exception in 2020 of Ulverstone,” Bulkeley said. “Essentially what we’ll have is youth girls’ football leading into senior women’s football and then obviously the WSL.”
With the merger between Clarence United and the Hobart Zebras leaving the WSL with only five teams, University Soccer Club will return to the competition while the NPL remains an eight-team league.
In the NPL teams will play each other three times across 21 rounds, starting in March, with two opening matches that see the reigning champions Devonport Strikers hosting South Hobart at Valley Road and Olympia facing Riverside Olympic at Warrior Park. The WSL will be a 20-round competition meaning teams will play each other four times.