State of the Football Nation review calls for major changes in competition finances

The Association of Australian Football Clubs (AAFC) has reported that National Premier League (NPL) clubs see a disconnect from the top tier of the game, that junior participation fees are too expensive and inflated player wages are being paid in poorly attended State league competitions across the nation.

These and other concerns have been highlighted in the AAFC’s long awaited State of the Football Nation report, released yesterday after extensive consultation with football stakeholders including its member clubs.

Australia as it impacts on AAFC’s members, the national premier league clubs, after five years of the NPL competition, AAFC Chairman Rabieh Krayem “during our national consultations, there were three recurring themes raised with us: the high cost of junior fees, the high cost of coaching education, and the role of the NPL competition in elite player development. This latter point includes the thorny issue of compensation, especially in the light of the relatively recent establishment of A-League academies.”

The report finds that the NPL was established with a positive intent which remains broadly supported by most of the football community, but that implementation has been inconsistent, lacked cohesion and undertaken in silos by state-based member federations, with little apparent coordination and consistency.

Krayem added “our members are also concerned about the notion of ‘elite’ pathway development.

“The notion has been diluted by the large number and rapid expansion of NPL clubs and the inclusion of HAL teams in youth and senior NPL competitions.

“The original objectives of the NPL are not being met and there is a strong disconnect within football between NPL clubs, the FFA and state-based member federations.

“Put bluntly, AAFC’s member clubs are increasingly and alarmingly disillusioned with the direction of, and their role in, the NPL competition.

“Yet there is significant intellectual and other capital that exist within the NPL clubs that is being untapped and which our members would like to see utilised and appreciated,” said Krayem.

AAFC has made three threshold recommendations in an attempt to address the issues they raise:

• Agree in principle to the retention and improvement of the NPL;
• That a comprehensive national review of the NPL be conducted led by FFA; and 
• That FFA be responsible for the management and operation of the NPL via a national NPL standing committee.

As well as being shared with AAFC members, the report has been sent to FFA and the state-based member federations.

Krayem said he hopes that the report is the basis for a constructive dialogue about the future of the NPL with football’s stakeholders, which is also cognisant and complementary of the joint AAFC/FFA working group on establishment of a national second division. 

Images: Action in the NSW NPL Division 1 competition in 2017 (top) and Rabieh Krayem (below).

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