League bid reliant on performance
The chance of Manawatu’s return to the national league will rest on the performances of Palmerston North Marist in the Central League this year.
New Zealand Football will open applications for places in the premiership for the 2018-19 season at the end of the year.
And Palmerston North Marist football committee chairman Jason Flynn would not rule out the club putting in a bid this time around.
But he said it was important to ensure the team would be competitive first.
‘‘The most important thing for us is that we have our development men’s and women’s competing at the top level,’’ he said.
‘‘We have both men and women in the central league. They are going to be playing at the highest level that they can short of the national league.
‘‘But we will need to have success in that competition for us to bid for a national league contract for 2018-19.’’
When New Zealand Football announced an expanded league in 2015, Marist put in an expression of interest.
That came after Manawatu United threw their support behind Marist, believing the bid needed to come from a strong club rather than a tiny franchise.
But Marist ended up withdrawing their bid with Flynn saying there wasn’t enough time to be properly prepared.
That spelt the end of Manawatu’s involvement in the National Youth League with Manawatu United bumped from the competition with the requirement for all youth teams to have national league teams as well.
Manawatu have not have a team in the top level of New Zealand domestic football since Youngheart Manawatu were axed from the national league in 2013 due to poor performances.
Youngheart Manawatu were later rebranded as Manawatu United.
Flynn took plenty of lessons from the Youngheart Manawatu situation.
He was one of their founding board members and spent time as their chairman.
But he remained confident there was enough talent in Manawatu to sustain a team.
‘‘We do have the talent in the town, albeit needing a few extras to come back in. But right now we are losing players to other regions in the national league and the Phoenix Academy,’’ he said.
He said it was important to ensure there were the right development set-ups at the younger levels to ensure they could sustain success.
That was one of the reasons the club was supporting the Juventus Youth Football Camp in Palmerston North this week.
The other major obstacle for Marist to bid for a team was securing the required funds.
‘‘We have a budget of a couple of hundred thousand dollars to run the club. You need double that to run a national league side,’’ he said. ‘‘But it is possible, we have been there before.’’
The national league features 10 teams this year having been expanded from eight.
Auckland-based Eastern Suburbs and Tasman United were the two expansion teams for the 2016-17 season, while Hamilton Wanderers replaced WAIBOP United.