The make-up of the new National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPLV) has been met with mixed reactions by teams in Melbourne’s outer north.
Football Federation Victoria (FFV) announced the structure of the NPLV for both seniors and juniors last week.
The senior competition will see the 30 teams – subject to each confirming their participation by February 19 – split into two divisions, NPL (14 teams) and NPL1 (16 teams).
But the junior competition will be split geographically, effectively into south-east and north-west regions.
Whittlesea Ranges secretary Sergio Costanzo said the club was happy to be accepted into the NPLV, but there were several aspects of the structure he didn’t agree with.
“I’m not completely happy because all they’ve done is given in to the [old] Premier League clubs,” he said.
“I am very happy with the juniors because FFV created two zonal divisions, rather than a higher league and a lower league. That’s what we were asking for in the seniors as well.
“We do need to move on and overall it’s better, and I am happy with the junior structure. I’m just a bit annoyed as to why the FFV went down the pathway of having two divisions in the seniors.
“I put this argument forward – if your senior team in the top division is relegated, but all your juniors have a great year and all win, what happens then?
“I just hope that we are not creating super clubs at the expense of the local community.”
But both Hume City and Moreland Zebras expressed their satisfaction with the structure. Hume City media officer Ezel Hikmet said that while there will be “teething problems”, the club was “quite content”.
“I was one of the people who took the FFV to court because they just weren’t listening to what the clubs were saying,” he said.
“But we’re now quite content and I think the best possible outcome has been achieved. This will be the best of the best playing each other.”
Moreland Zebras vice president John Ruffino said the club was looking forward to the season starting after months of negotiations.
“We’re happy we are in and happy with the way that it’s worked out,” he said.
The NPL and NPL1 will start on March 14 and teams will play each other twice, with no finals series.
The juniors start on April 6 and run through to September.
