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The Australian Championship 🇦🇺🏆

Beretta said:
No, i'm a strong believer that association clubs should not participate in NPL.

Take SD Raiders for example who is the NPL club for SDSFA.

2025 annual report - 10,000 registered players across 38 local clubs, Fees per player (U5-U14 $150, U15 & U16 $170, Seniors $190+) total revenue is roughly $1.54mill. (these fees have increased dramatically in 2026 since SD Raiders have come into NPL1 to fund their first grade squad)

thats the major grudge i have with them.
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Them & Macarthur & other "Foundations" are essentially a vehicle for Gino Marra's political donations amongst other things.
 
erogenouszone said:
Them & Macarthur & other "Foundations" are essentially a vehicle for Gino Marra's political donations amongst other things.
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Yea didn’t really care either way who got up out of SD and macathur, to me they basically feel like the a league and npl equivalents of each other
 
Beretta said:
No, i'm a strong believer that association clubs should not participate in NPL.

Take SD Raiders for example who is the NPL club for SDSFA.

2025 annual report - 10,000 registered players across 38 local clubs, Fees per player (U5-U14 $150, U15 & U16 $170, Seniors $190+) total revenue is roughly $1.54mill. (these fees have increased dramatically in 2026 since SD Raiders have come into NPL1 to fund their first grade squad)

thats the major grudge i have with them.
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Not just that. They have a whole association but get about 50 people to their game. It is the same issue with most, if not all, of the association clubs.
 
theFOOTBALLlover said:
Not just that. They have a whole association but get about 50 people to their game. It is the same issue with most, if not all, of the association clubs.
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Unsurprising particularly given many of Sydney strongest community based clubs lie within the region. And not just within the npl. Apart from clubs like Marconi, Sydney united, Bonnyrigg white eagles you’ve got clubs like Fairfield bulls (Assyrian), fc bossy (Bosnian), Liverpool Olympic (Greek), western condors (Chilean), Abruzzi club (Italian) etc etc
 
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theFOOTBALLlover said:
Not just that. They have a whole association but get about 50 people to their game. It is the same issue with most, if not all, of the association clubs.
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They are not clubs, they are not community clubs, they are a leech to all local clubs.

as you said, the 50 supporters they get are parents and gf's of the players.
 
Beretta said:
No, i'm a strong believer that association clubs should not participate in NPL.

Take SD Raiders for example who is the NPL club for SDSFA.

2025 annual report - 10,000 registered players across 38 local clubs, Fees per player (U5-U14 $150, U15 & U16 $170, Seniors $190+) total revenue is roughly $1.54mill. (these fees have increased dramatically in 2026 since SD Raiders have come into NPL1 to fund their first grade squad)

thats the major grudge i have with them.
Click to expand...

I generally agree with you. On an over-arching approach, I think association clubs for regional areas are fine (eg, Goulburn City Rangers, Wagga City Wanderers, Riverina Rhinos/Griffith FC, Murray United as the 4 local to me examples I know of), but Sydney-based association clubs? You're right, it's like a leech
 
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NicCarBel said:
I generally agree with you. On an over-arching approach, I think association clubs for regional areas are fine (eg, Goulburn City Rangers, Wagga City Wanderers, Riverina Rhinos/Griffith FC as the 3 local examples I know of), but Sydney-based association clubs? You're right, it's like a leech
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Being from Gippsland, I agree that regional areas are the exception to the rule, within reason. For a regional club to succeed in The Championship or NST (off field and on field), I think it needs the full support of all associations in the catchment area, as well as a super-majority of clubs within those associations to show that it has good relationships with the community clubs before getting admitted. It should not be run by the association(s), to avoid things like junior fees being raised to fund salaries of the senior team, and keep the association focused on local clubs and local issues. Regional areas need all clubs wanting to contribute to the higher tier with their best players and juniors, so that there can be a strong community connection to the team and not have to pay overs to get all the players from metro areas to play for the club.

Also, by it being run separate from the association, I think it forces a more commercially astute business model that seeks sponsorship and increase revenue because it can't fall back on junior fees.
 
Stu said:
Being from Gippsland, I agree that regional areas are the exception to the rule, within reason. For a regional club to succeed in The Championship or NST (off field and on field), I think it needs the full support of all associations in the catchment area, as well as a super-majority of clubs within those associations to show that it has good relationships with the community clubs before getting admitted. It should not be run by the association(s), to avoid things like junior fees being raised to fund salaries of the senior team, and keep the association focused on local clubs and local issues. Regional areas need all clubs wanting to contribute to the higher tier with their best players and juniors, so that there can be a strong community connection to the team and not have to pay overs to get all the players from metro areas to play for the club.

Also, by it being run separate from the association, I think it forces a more commercially astute business model that seeks sponsorship and increase revenue because it can't fall back on junior fees.
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Bingo - from what I understand this was the downfall of the Griffith model - eventually clubs started fighting over eachother about who gets the facility upgrades, etc to have the NPL team, which led to clubs essentially withdrawing from the model.
 
Beretta said:
No, i'm a strong believer that association clubs should not participate in NPL.

Take SD Raiders for example who is the NPL club for SDSFA.

2025 annual report - 10,000 registered players across 38 local clubs, Fees per player (U5-U14 $150, U15 & U16 $170, Seniors $190+) total revenue is roughly $1.54mill. (these fees have increased dramatically in 2026 since SD Raiders have come into NPL1 to fund their first grade squad)

thats the major grudge i have with them.
Click to expand...
That makes sense. They operate like a protection racket 😮‍💨😑
 
Beretta said:
No, i'm a strong believer that association clubs should not participate in NPL.

Take SD Raiders for example who is the NPL club for SDSFA.

2025 annual report - 10,000 registered players across 38 local clubs, Fees per player (U5-U14 $150, U15 & U16 $170, Seniors $190+) total revenue is roughly $1.54mill. (these fees have increased dramatically in 2026 since SD Raiders have come into NPL1 to fund their first grade squad)

thats the major grudge i have with them.
Click to expand...
Gotta admit, I hadn't heard of this. Is this just a NSW thing or do other MFs have them? And does anyone have a list of these association clubs? Might be good to make a note of them in your database @NicCarBel
 
HappyGuus said:
Gotta admit, I hadn't heard of this. Is this just a NSW thing or do other MFs have them? And does anyone have a list of these association clubs? Might be good to make a note of them in your database @NicCarBel
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I have only really seen it take off in NSW. I believe there is a Namoi club playing in a regional league (not NPL Pyramid) in NNSW, and then Murray United and Goulburn Valley Suns in Vic, and I think one in Gippsland as well. Also was a South West Phoenix in WA that I am not sure if it does senior level, but did junior level playing into Perth/WA NPL youth out of Bunbury

I can probably make a list, but will have to make clear that some are junior only these days (like Wagga and Goulburn). I wonder what the first 'association club' was tbh?
 
No Totti No Party said:
Look at the table, if they aren't Greek/Serb/Cro/Maso then it's probably an association backed club
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or A-Liga or Uni. That's the vibe I'm getting out of NSW mostly

In seriousness, the one's I've identified in the NSW NPL (top division only) this season (and please correct me if I'm wrong) are:
* Southern District Raiders
* St George City
* NWS Spirit
* Manly United (this is the one that I might be wrong on?)
 
NicCarBel said:
or A-Liga or Uni. That's the vibe I'm getting out of NSW mostly

In seriousness, the one's I've identified in the NSW NPL (top division only) this season (and please correct me if I'm wrong) are:
* Southern District Raiders
* St George City
* NWS Spirit
* Manly United (this is the one that I might be wrong on?)
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Manly have a convoluted history, they’re a merger between an older Dutch club and another manly club. Hence the “united”. As far as I’m aware
 
@HappyGuus

NSW League 1:
  • Northern Tigers
  • Blacktown Spartans
  • Hills United
NSW League 2:
  • Bankstown United
  • Central Coast United (I think? Not clear from what I can see)
  • Nepean FC
  • South Coast Flame
Glenardo said:
Manly have a convoluted history, they’re a merger between an older Dutch club and another manly club. Hence the “united”. As far as I’m aware
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Yes, that's something of what I've seen - although am working off this:
The club had gained promotion into the NSW Premier League for the start of the 2004–05 season. At the time, the club was operating solely as a representative branch for the Manly Warringah Soccer Association (MWSA). However, it was a requirement from Soccer NSW that all Federation Clubs be a separate incorporated body and so Manly United Football Club Ltd. was formed.

The club is closely associated with the Manly Warringah Football Association (MWFA), the largest community Football Association in Australia with more than 20,000 players.
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NicCarBel said:
@HappyGuus

NSW League 1:
  • Northern Tigers
  • Blacktown Spartans
  • Hills United
NSW League 2:
  • Bankstown United
  • Central Coast United (I think? Not clear from what I can see)
  • Nepean FC
  • South Coast Flame
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Wowsers. I'm guessing a few of those are quite unnecessary and could support more local clubs instead?
 
HappyGuus said:
Wowsers. I'm guessing a few of those are quite unnecessary and could support more local clubs instead?
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Possibly.

So.. based off what I can see in Metro NSW - that's 12 association clubs (and there's 15 metro associations) in the NPL pyramid. When I finish eating my very late dinner, I might put a table together of each association, and what the highest club within it (not association club) is/where they are, etc. Only doing this for NSW at the moment as like I said, that's where it's most prevalent
 
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