Northern NSW Football form Premier Youth League to increase pathways

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Northern NSW Football
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Northern NSW Football has announced the decoupling of its youth football from senior football along with the launch of a new youth competition structure for boys.

The NNSWF Premier Youth League has been designed to enhance the talented player pathway, enabling more competitive football for young players and facilitating more games of best versus best and like versus like.

All Premier Competitions clubs that meet the criteria – including regional football programs Mid Coast FC, North Coast Football and NIAS – will be invited to enter the inaugural competition next season.

  • The PYL will replace the youth components of the NPL NNSW and Northern League One
  • Under-18s will move from the existing senior competition structure to join the PYL
  • Youth players will be involved in more matches and play significantly more match minutes
  • Clubs will be rewarded for the strength of the youth program
  • Decoupling of youth football will allow a review of the senior competition structure

NNSWF General Manager Football Operations Liam Bentley explained the creation of the Premier Youth League was a positive for the region’s talented young players and their clubs.

“More than one in three matches in the NPL NNSW Youth have resulted in a win or loss by four goals or more over the last four years, with one in five ending with a six or more goal difference over the same time period. That is an average of almost 200 matches every season which are not competitive,” Bentley said via NNSWF.

“It is clear that there are too many non-competitive matches and the changes will assist with player development for aspiring future national teams players while also providing a valuable experience to players at the various abilities levels throughout our premier competitions.

“This transition will increase the overall number of matches played and the number of competitive matches for all players, as well as more matches of Best v Best and Like v Like.”

NNSWF CEO David Eland added while the new PYL competition had been created with the specific focus on youth players and their development, the decoupling of youth football from senior football meant discussions could now be had regarding the senior league structure without any negative impacts facing youth programs.

“The NNSWF board have directed management to start consultation regarding the structure of our senior competitions,” Eland said via NNSWF.

“This consultation with key stakeholders will include areas such as league size and structure, promotion and relegation for senior football and the potential to connect local senior competitions to our Premier Competitions.

“The potential creation of a functioning football pyramid in our NNSWF premier competitions is an exciting prospect and something we’re committed to exploring.”

How it works:

The 13 clubs competing in the 2022 NPL Youth NNSW and newly promoted New Lambton FC will start 2023 in Premier Youth League 1, while the 10 clubs competing in NL1 Youth will start in PYL 2.

After playing everyone in their division once, clubs will be divided into three leagues based on the collective results of their five youth teams – under-13s, 14s, 15s, 16s and 18s – in a club championship model.

The top eight performing clubs in PYL 1 will contest PYL A for the remainder of the season.

The bottom six clubs from PYL 1 and the top two clubs from PYL2 will contest PYL B.

The remaining clubs from PYL 2 will form PYL C.

The top four teams in each of the PYL A age divisions will contest a traditional finals series. The top two teams in PYL B and C will play a grand final in their respective leagues.

In 2024:

At the start of the following season, the top four clubs from PYL B will join the eight clubs in PYL A to establish PYL 1.

The bottom four clubs in PYL B will join the eight clubs from PYL C to form PYL 2, prior to splitting into PYL A, B and C again halfway through the season.

This will give NNSWF two 12-team divisions for 2024.

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Ernie Merrick: ‘There are many clubs that would be fantastic additions to the A-League’

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Ernie Merrick will be forever recognised as a key figure through the A-League’s golden early years. Appointed Melbourne Victory’s foundation manager in 2004 he led the club to not just silverware, but legitimacy and respect in a serious sport city.

A Scottish migrant and PE teacher by trade, Merrick was the youngest of the NSL’s managerial crop when he started with Preston in 1987 in the era of Thomson, Arok & Matic; when he finished with Newcastle in 2020 he was the elder statesman in the A-League age of Postecoglou, Popovic and Arnold.

For the places the game took him and all he achieved – including time as national team manager of Hong Kong – Victory supporters can comfort themselves in the fact that for whatever they feel towards Merrick and his iconic group of players, that feeling is mutual.

‘Yes, definitely,’ Merrick told Soccerscene Unfiltered when asked if managing Victory was the highlight of his career.

‘I think success is [fans] having identification with players, especially. We had Victorian boys playing for Victory.

‘That second year I was determined to have a complete pre-season. Archie Thompson bought me a birthday cake with 200 candles and said “Ernie, we’ve had 200 training sessions. We should celebrate this” – so he was looking forward to a big year, and we won the Grand Final 6-0.’

Nearing 20 years on, Victory and the A-League in general haven’t managed to drive forward as would have been hoped. Unsurprisingly that comes as painful to Merrick, as does the change in landscape regarding his other great passion and contribution in player development. 

‘I’m disappointed, as would most people be, that it’s struggled so badly. To me, there’s something missing,’ said Merrick of the current state of the A-League.

‘Those players we produced at the AIS and VIS went on to be the golden generation. Unless the league is fixed, there’s going to be ongoing problems with the financial status of things.

‘You just cannot earn enough money from selling a youngster, who you might get a million for, who then becomes worth several million in a few years if he does well. Maybe there’s a bit too much of selling players early.’

As someone who gave enduring service across Australia’s two domestic leagues, his voice holds weight in the consideration as to whether it’s time to now blend the, in today’s hyper-corporate landscape.

‘South Melbourne and Preston are two clubs that are perfect for the A-League, I think, down the track. They’ve set up, they’ve endured, they’ve been resilient, they’re playing good football and they’ve got a home base with a home crowd, which is far better than starting a club up from scratch.

‘All those players coming through those squads and the number of supporters they’ve got would be a huge addition. In Sydney too, there’s Marconi – there are so many good clubs around that I think would make a great addition to the A-League.’ 

Merrick also spent thirteen years as head coach at the Victorian Institute of Sport. He feels modern player development is an equation we still haven’t got right, post the closure of the AIS’ football program in 2017.

While many argue the move to club-based academy structures has seen Australia fall more in line with global practice while still producing players of quality, Merrick still feels there is merit in a national high performance program, in addition to club academies.

He was in the process of setting up state academies through the Member Federations during his time as Football Australia’s chief football officer from 2022-25. While the Victoria project was short-lived, academies in Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia continue to run, but it appears the broader expansion of the concept has been abandoned.

‘I think both systems should work [together] equally well. When I started with the FA program clubs thought they would lose players to us, but I didn’t take any of their players. We offered the opportunity of a high-performance program to other youngsters.

‘We could develop players completely; we weren’t restricted to playing 4-3-3 to combine with the way the first team were playing. We provided more of a rounded education, and good players can play in any system.

‘We managed to affect the coaches involved so they were up to date with the latest information on methods of coaching, etc.’

Catch the full chat with Ernie Merrick on Soccerscene Unfiltered: from being two-footed by a 15-year old Kevin Muscat to his enthusiasm for the future of the Socceroos, his memories of Wellington and Newcastle, and plenty more…

Harry Michaels – Never Standing Still

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Image Credit: Harry Michaels

It’s hard to imagine that so much life experience can be packed into one person’s voyage of discovery but in the case of Harry Michaels it has all materialised.

Michael’s recently, published autobiography is the fascinating account of a man who was determined to succeed in life, whatever the obstacles.

Significantly, his early life at the age of nine was smeared with the tragic loss of his father. Many people would have found it extremely difficult to ever recover from such a bitter experience but not Harry Michaels.

Incredibly, something in the makeup of this young man encouraged him to achieve greatness in honoring the life of his father.

There is a constant message in the book that Michaels would honor his father’s memory forever by achieving perfection in his life endeavours.

Michaels achieved many milestones in his life and football was to become a central theme after he first kicked a ball with his peers in the narrow streets of Cyprus, followed by playing in the school team when he stayed with his aunt in London for a few years after his father’s death.

Australia is the lucky country and when Michaels and his family migrated to Australia, this country was to become infinitely better for it.

In a relatively short space of time, Michaels and his family adjusted to life in their adopted country and when Harry acquired a part in the Channel Ten sitcom, Number 96, the sky was the limit for his future plans.

He became a household name in the living rooms of Australian television viewers and eventually succeeded in entering the cut-throat world of production with the Greek Variety Show.

His biggest success was with Aerobics Ozstyle which originated in 1997 when he witnessed some people doing exercise routines for a television show on the beaches of California and subsequently instigated a pilot television show in Australia.

Currently, it is experiencing a huge revival on Youtube.

Michael’s great love for football naturally led him into the broadcasting arena of the world game and from 1982-2006, he covered NSL and international matches for SBS, including the 1993 World Youth Cup in Australia, Australia v Argentina World Cup qualifier featuring the immortal Diego Maradona, the 1997 World Cup qualifier between the Socceroos and Iran and 2005 elimination match in Sydney between Australia and Uruguay which received some of the highest ratings of any sporting contest ever televised in Australia.

Perhaps, the most dramatic event of all was the coverage of the Pratten Park riot in 1985 at a match between Sydney Olympic and Sydney City.

If this wasn’t enough, Michaels also financed Wollongong Wolves in the 1988 NSL season and was successful in attracting the talents of Paul Mariner, Alan Brazil and Trevor Francis to the club as guest players which led to the first major title won by an Illawarra club since South Coast United led by the mercurial, Jim Kelly, won the 1963 NSW State League grand final in front of a record Australian club attendance of 30,500.

He was the President of Sydney Olympic from 1991-1993 and made a major impact on the club.

Michaels never wanted to be praised for his contribution to football and very people knew he introduced Ericsson Australia, Nanda Spaghetti, Coca Cola, Winfield, Beach Fashions, and Westend Beer Company as sponsors of the NSL, while never asking for any financial reward.

Also, when the broadcasting company which produced the A-League faltered half way through the 2023/24 season, it was Harry Michaels who stepped in to fill the void.

Ironically, Harry was not asked to tender for the broadcasting rights in the following season.

It was something he found hard to accept but successful people like Harry don’t dwell on such events and seek the next challenge.

Hence the title of his book, ‘Never Standing Still’ is a true reflection of a man who let’s no barrier stand in the way to achieve his next goal where others would have given up long before.

Appropriately, his true worth and contribution to the community was duly recognised when he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2004 for his services to broadcasting and football.

This book should be read by all people who want to be inspired by a story where adversity was converted to positives and all football administrators who would learn how the man Harry Michaels became a winner and a highly respected public face in Australian society for his unselfish community contribution.

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