Northern
Federations Soccer League
s United Soccer 1, Soccer2 and Force
Three Federations s
P O Box 151 280, New Lynn, Auckland — Email admin@nfsl.org.nz
Phone (09) 817 2988 —
JANUARY 2005
I have taken up the position of Leagues Manager for the Northern Federations Soccer League, taking over from Terry Hobin. I have been involved in soccer for 37 years as a player, referee, coach, administrator, parent and fan and look forward to working with you to provide quality competitions for men, women and youth players at Northern League level.
The position of Leagues Manager is a part-time role and Terry combined the role with his work at United Soccer 1. I will be working from a home-based office, working mostly evenings and weekends.
Men’s and Women’s leagues for 2005 have been finalised as follows:
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Premier Division (12) |
1st Division (12) |
2nd Division (11) *1 |
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Bay Olympic |
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Central |
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Claudelands |
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East Coast Bays |
Fencibles |
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Eastern Suburbs |
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Lynn Avon |
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Ellerslie |
Melville |
Manurewa |
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Glenfield |
Metro |
Ngaruawahia |
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Mangere |
Mt Albert-Ponsonby |
Onehunga Mangere |
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North Force |
Otahuhu |
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Papakura |
Onehunga Sports |
Papatoetoe |
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Tauranga |
Takapuna |
Waitemata |
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University-Mt |
Three Kings |
Western Springs |
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Waitakere |
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Premier Reserves (12) |
1st Division Reserves (12) |
Premier Women (9) |
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Bay Olympic |
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Bay Olympic |
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Central |
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East Coast Bays |
Fencibles |
Claudelands |
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Eastern Suburbs |
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Eastern Suburbs |
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Ellerslie |
Metro |
Glenfield |
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Glenfield |
Mt Albert-Ponsonby |
Lynn Avon |
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Mangere |
North Force |
Three Kings |
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Onehunga Sports |
Waitakere |
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Papakura |
Papatoetoe*2 |
Western Springs |
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Tauranga |
Takapuna |
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University-Mt |
Three Kings |
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Waitakere |
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*1 The final place in the 2nd Division is under consideration by the NFSL Board. No play-offs will be necessary in the 2nd Division prior to the season commencing.
*2 Melville did not enter a Reserves team, so Papatoetoe (as the winner of the 2nd Division Reserves in 2004) were invited to replace them in the 1st Division Reserves.
The NFSL Board has decided that the 2nd
Division Reserves League will be disbanded for the 2005 season. The Board expressed concern about the travel that some teams
would be faced with, leading to the possibility of defaults and withdrawals
during the season. The future of this
league will be considered in a “Competitions Review” carried out in 2005.
Clubs that entered the 2nd Division Reserves League will need to contact their Federation to discuss the placement of their Reserves team in a Federation league.
Final entries to the Youth leagues close on Friday 11 March. The leagues will be finalised, and the format determined, once entries have closed and clubs will be informed of the format as soon as possible after this date. Clubs will be invoiced for the Youth leagues once the entries have closed. The Youth leagues will commence on Sunday 3 April.
Each Youth team is entitled to use one designated over-age player. The age limit for all other Youth players is under 19 as at 1 January 2005. Over-age players must be registered with the Leagues Manager prior to them playing in a NFSL Youth League match. Registration will involve the Leagues Manager being notified in writing of the player’s name and age and the team they will be playing for. It is intended that the registration of an over-age player will be for the duration of the season. If a club wishes to change the designated over-age player for a team during the season application must be made to the Leagues Manager, detailing the reason/s for the change. Please note that when an over-age player is listed on a team card their name must be marked with an asterisk (*).
All NFSL competitions will commence on the weekend of 2-3 April 2005. No Premier Men, 1st and 2nd Division Northern League matches will be scheduled on 7-8 May and 21-22 May, as the first two rounds of the Chatham Cup will be played on those weekends.
Matches will be scheduled on Anzac Day (25 April) and Queen’s Birthday (6 June) for Premier Men, 1st and 2nd Division Northern League and Premier and 1st Division Reserves.
To avoid a backlog of games at the end of the season I will endeavour to reschedule deferred matches (due to Chatham Cup and Uncle Toby’s Cup commitments, ground conditions, weather, etc.) as soon as possible after the original fixture date. I will liaise with the clubs concerned and the Referees Appointments Officer to confirm these fixtures.
Invoices for all 2005 Men’s and Women’s leagues have been sent to clubs. These fees are payable to Burns McCurrach by 20 February. Invoices for additional referee expenses in the 2004 season were sent out in December and are also payable to Burns McCurrach.
I appreciate the feedback that some clubs have provided and a system will be implemented in 2005 to ensure clubs receive invoices for referee expenses during the playing season.
It is the policy of the NFSL Board that, wherever practicable, correspondence from the Board and the Leagues Manager will be sent via email. The benefits of this policy allows for fast, direct communication and will help to reduce the costs of managing the NFSL.
A copy of the latest NFSL Directory is enclosed. For effective communication it is essential that this directory is correct and up-to-date. I require the name and contact details of every club secretary and at least one other Northern League contact for each club. Please remember the directory is a Northern League directory so any contact person should be familiar with the Northern League activities of your club.
Please check the page that relates to you and your club and make any changes that need to be made. Please make these changes in red and email the page back to me at admin@nfsl.org.nz If your club’s details are correct please send me a brief email informing me of that. That will allow me to ascertain that the email did in fact reach you.
If the names and contact details listed in the directory change please notify me, in writing, as soon as possible. I will update the directory and forward changes to clubs and relevant parties.
I have begun to visit clubs to carry out inspections of grounds and facilities, in accordance with the criteria listed in the NFSL Regulations. The visits are also a great opportunity for me to meet key officials within each club. I will arrange the visits through the club secretaries and will visit each club at least once in the season. Clubs are urged to make themselves familiar with the criteria required for their relevant league/s. In particular, the facilities for referees need to be clean and well maintained.
A full
review of the Northern Leagues will be held in 2005, for implementation in
2006. Clubs will be invited to submit
recommendations for consideration in the review.
Entry fees for the 2005 season are based on Men’s Premier, 1st and 2nd Divisions having a referee and two assistant referees per game, and the Reserve Divisions and Women’s Premier grade having a referee per game. The Youth entry fee does not include any referee expenses.
It is our policy to appoint a referee and two assistant referees, whenever these officials are available. On occasions this will mean that assistant referees are appointed to the Women’s Premier League and Reserve Leagues. In these circumstances the extra expenses will be charged to the home team. Conversely, if referees, or assistant referees, do not control games that have been costed in the entry fees a credit will be issued to the club/s involved.
With the introduction of Federations, and
the formation of the NFSL, some of the regulations relating to the Northern
League have become outdated. New
regulations have been developed in a draft form and Terry Hobin will shortly
send a copy of these regulations to all clubs.
I invite clubs to provide written feedback on the regulations to me by
28 February. The NFSL Board will ratify the final
regulations and a copy will be sent to all clubs.
Peter
Courtney