South Island league gains traction
Is it game over for the Mainland Premier League?
Mainland Football chief executive Julian Bowden has confirmed the federation has begun discussions with Football South and their respective clubs around the formation of a potential South Island league, which would be more competitive and close to the growing gap to the ISPS Handa Premiership.
Mainland Football has already met with clubs to get their feedback, hosting a competition structure review forum in Christchurch last week.
‘‘I think it’s time to refresh it and say ‘can we do it better?’ I think that’s always the challenge and whatever you’ve got we should always be trying to improve it,’’ Bowden said.
It is understood that a 10-team league that consists of two full rounds will be the initial blueprint that the two federations will work with. Bowden said Mainland Football will present alternative models to the clubs within the next two months.
‘‘We’ve had a South Island league before and it’s something that has been missing from the football landscape for awhile. The clubs right now seem to be in a space where they are really interested in engaging with how that would work.’’
The discussions come off the back of New Zealand Football’s own competitions review.
Bowden said the biggest concern with the current MPL structure was the growing gap between it and the Premiership.
‘‘I think you’ve got to keep making the sport aspirational and look at ways to improve it. If we’re there to give the players the best opportunities, well the timing feels right.
‘‘The clarity from New Zealand Football around the future of the national league helps a lot as well.’’
Nelson Suburbs operations manager Gary Hinks was pleased to see Mainland Football enter ‘‘serious’’ discussions with the clubs around the South Island league concept. Hinks threw his support behind the idea.
‘‘It would be a higher standard of football and playing that higher standard week in week out,’’ Hinks said.
‘‘It’d be great for the public, for our supporters who watch football week in and week out, to have different teams to watch.’’
But for it go ahead, Hinks said the travel costs would have to be shared across each of the competition’s participating clubs. Suburbs already travel more than any team in the MPL, and the costs would significantly increase if they were to fly to deeper reaches of the South Island.
’’That’s a must for us. You can’t fly to Dunedin, Queenstown or Invercargill without some sort of cost equalisation and that certainly was talked about,’’ he said.
Bowden agreed and said a cost equalisation model will be explored first.
Bowden said it is possible that the MPL could be reduced to just two rounds in 2018, with the top four or five teams then joining the best from the Southern Premier League in a one round South Island competition, giving them an early sample to assess.
‘‘If we’re working towards the same outcome then it’s a good chance this could happen.’’