Football Federation Victoria Head of NPL Liam Bentley believes that state of the game in Victoria has improved since the implementation of the NPL, but stresses the competition is still a long work in progress.
Bentley spoke on the World of Football radio program about issues including the expansion of the NPL, the review of club licenses ahead of the 2017 renewal date, coaching standards, and the future prospect of regional travel subsidies.
He said that the NPL clubs were finally enjoying some stability after a frenetic implementation in 2014, but ruled out expansion or reduction of teams in 2016.
“The stability the NPL clubs are finding now… it was very rushed everything that happened prior to the first season of NPL, but i think now everyone having a good off-season and having a season to find their feet,” Bentley said.
“[in 2016] there won’t be any additional clubs, we’ve got 34 now, we’ve got two NYL clubs from Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City.
“Given the fact we’ve got a three year license, there’s no stability in [granting] a license for one year for a club to come in to the NPL, given over the next six to nine months prior to next season we’ll have to have a very good and solid plan of what happens from 2017 onwards.
“Three years seems like a long time, but overall we’re only 18 months into competition and already we’re starting to look at what the competition’s going to look like in the next 18 months.
“Because of the rushed nature of the the first implementation, it’s really important that we get this stuff out early and allow the clubs to actually plan for what they want to do, whether it’s the clubs currently in the NPL, or outside the umbrella.
“There’s certainly no specific plans to cut it or grow it. We will be trying to raise the bar though, so what got you into year one certainly wont get you into year three.”
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One issue often raised regarding the NPL is standard of coaching across the competition at all age levels, with clubs struggling to employ anywhere upwards of 10 credentialed coaches.
The Head of NPL said the FFV were constantly trying to grow the pool and quality of coaches available in the state through extensive education programs that would become the minimum requirement in the future.
“There’s definitely been a big push and a big issue in terms of getting the right number of coaches, but really this is the leg work for the next 20 years of coaching, because, although it’s a struggle to get people through skills training, C-Licenses, B-Licenses, that’s going to become the status quo,” he said.
“It’s been said to me 100 times, that the bigger you build the base of the pyramid, the higher it’s going to go.
“Once the level that everyone struggled to meet the first year [improves], in two, three years that’s going to be the expected minimum of what we’ve got.”
With the introduction of a number of regional teams in the NPL coming with logistics costs and other expenses not facing metropolitan clubs, Bentley said discussions were underway in developing some form of subsidies for clubs that have to travel over 6,000 kilometres per season.
“The quick and easy answer is that it’s on the agenda. The more extensive answer is that at the moment there are no subsidies, but I think we are taking massive steps in regional football,” he said.
“If we look at two, three years ago, the ability for regional kids or even regional senior players to potentially have a crack at the top level of football was almost non-existent, and now after 18 months we’ve got five regional centres in Victoria who are part of the NPL.
“There’s certainly a massive sacrifice for regional parents and kids. It’s certainly on the agenda for us to have a look at over the next couple of years.”