The National Soccer League Commission at a two-day meeting held in Sydney this week resolved that the existing National Soccer League competition will be the subject of a major revamp in advance of the 2003/2004 NSL season.
The NSL, which was the first domestic national competition of any football code in Australia, has been in successful operation for 27 seasons.
The rebuilding of the NSL is seen as critical and urgent if the game of soccer in Australia at a domestic level is to move to the next tier of Australian sport.
As part of its commitment to a major overhaul of the national league, the NSL member clubs have agreed that a new set of performance parameters would be established for entry into the new competition.
It has also been accepted that those clubs that do not meet these prescribed performance hurdles will not participate in any new national competition.
A working committee involving selected representatives of the NSL clubs, State Federations and marketing persons has been established that will fine-tune a set of performance guidelines that have been unanimously agreed to by the NSL clubs over the past two days.
The working committee will also seek to engage relevant parties such as the Australian Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and their research work in determining an agreed set of principles for the NSL going forward.
NSL Commission Chairman Remo Nogarotto said, ‘The NSL clubs have not debated the need for change, they all agree that the NSL is at a critical junction in it’s successful history and have unanimously agreed on a set of principles that will offer the NSL a major revamp from 2003/2004 onwards.’
‘The establishment of the working committee will seek to engage all parties in determining the best NSL model for change going forward, including our intention to seek open and direct communication with the PFA in reviewing their research on any proposed new competition.’
For more details contact:
Soccer Australia
Tel: +61 2 9739 5555
Fax: +61 2 9739 5590
Email: nslmedia@ozemail.com.au