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Pro/rel megathread

HonestSpursFan

HonestSpursFan

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2nd Monthly Contributor
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Aug 31, 2025
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3,249
Thought I might make this for any pro/rel discussion or proposals. I probably wouldn't get any civil discussion on Reddit about pro/rel so I'll post it here instead.

My proposal for pro/rel would be to have a 20-team Championship that acts as a proper league (not a group stage and finals tournament). The top NPL teams from each state and territory compete in a playoffs tournament for four spots in the Championship, while four Championship teams are relegated based on geography (and if too many are from one state then that state would either expand for that season or relegate extra teams). In the Championship, two teams are promoted to the A-League while one is promoted from the playoffs (which have the third through to sixth placed teams in them). In the A-League, three teams are relegated from what I have expanded to be a 15-team league. My proposed system provides a way for any club to be promoted and any club to be relegated. I would also change the season of all the divisions to run on the same schedule as the A-League (so the A-League, Championship and NPL alike run on the same schedule). This applies to both the men's and women's pyramids by the way.

Any thoughts?
 
Here would be next season's playoff teams based on last season's results:
  • ACT: Canberra Tigers
  • NNSW: Broadmeadow Magic
  • NSW: Wests APIA Leichhardt
  • NT: None
  • QLD: Moreton City Excelsior
  • SA: Croydon FC
  • TAS: South Hobart
  • VIC: Heidelberg United
  • WA: Bayswater City
When the Northern Territory (the lowest ranked federation) finally gets an actual territory-wide NPL competition (it currently has three regional divisions), the champions of the two lowest ranked federations' NPL divisions play each other first then it progresses from there with the rest.

For the women's it's trickier as there is no Women's Championship yet, so we'll leave that for now.
 
If the Championship was a full league it would've (based off group stage results) looked like this:

RankTeamPointsGD
1​
South Melbourne
16​
+7​
2​
Wests APIA
13​
+8​
3​
Heidelberg United
12​
+9​
4​
Avondale FC
12​
+6​
5​
Marconi Stallions
10​
+3​
6​
North Eastern MetroStars
10​
+3​
7​
Wollongong Wolves
10​
+2​
8​
Bayswater City
10​
–2​
9​
Moreton City
8​
+2​
10​
NWS Spirit
8​
–1​
11​
Preston Lions
7​
+1​
12​
Sydney Olympic
7​
±0​
13​
Canberra Croatia
4​
–6​
14​
Broadmeadow Magic
3​
–9​
15​
Sydney United
1​
–9​
16​
South Hobart
1​
–14​

Legend: promoted, playoffs, relegated
 
If you are making a mega thread i want to give a spoiler/teaser for a future show even though it isnt a direct response to your model

Stefan looked at the impact of tv on 2nd tier baseball in the usa vs football in england and made the case that p and r makes 2nd tiers more stable.

Well we have a very rare case study in mexico where they removed p and r.

The 1st tier attendances dropped 15 percent from 23k to 20k averages

The 2nd tier dropped by nearly half. From around 4.5k to around 2.5k. Transfer revenue also changed for the worse for the 2nd tier more than the first.

So p and r makes a much bigger boost to lower tiers than the top, at least at first. So the current thinking of the fa that they should expand the top tier and build a second tier separately until we have enough teams at the top to get p and r happening sounds safer but actually comes with its own risks
 
Maybe in future editions prior to becoming a H&A league, there can be playoffs to determine an NT representative, so as to in turn play off vs. the Tassie representative.

Now this next suggestion’d be for the Aus Cup, but seeing as there is a rep side from Christmas Island🇨🇽 it mightn’t be a bad idea to have them compete in WA’s State Cup for qualification💡
 
HappyGuus said:
Pretty good thread already here mate:

Monoethnic Social Club

Thread 'Promotion and Relegation is vital for Football in Australia'

NOW, its an offical forum... hehehehe have at it boys and girls😻.
  • Like
  • Haha
  • Love

Could you post this in there please? I love this stuff.
Click to expand...
Done, thanks. Didn't realise there already was one.
grazorblade said:
If you are making a mega thread i want to give a spoiler/teaser for a future show even though it isnt a direct response to your model

Stefan looked at the impact of tv on 2nd tier baseball in the usa vs football in england and made the case that p and r makes 2nd tiers more stable.

Well we have a very rare case study in mexico where they removed p and r.

The 1st tier attendances dropped 15 percent from 23k to 20k averages

The 2nd tier dropped by nearly half. From around 4.5k to around 2.5k. Transfer revenue also changed for the worse for the 2nd tier more than the first.

So p and r makes a much bigger boost to lower tiers than the top, at least at first. So the current thinking of the fa that they should expand the top tier and build a second tier separately until we have enough teams at the top to get p and r happening sounds safer but actually comes with its own risks
Click to expand...
I heard that in Mexico if the men's team of one team gets relegated the women's does too which I think is kinda unfair. Can't remember why but I do remember hearing that they paused pro/rel there.
BA81 said:
Maybe in future editions prior to becoming a H&A league, there can be playoffs to determine an NT representative, so as to in turn play off vs. the Tassie representative.

Now this next suggestion’d be for the Aus Cup, but seeing as there is a rep side from Christmas Island🇨🇽 it mightn’t be a bad idea to have them compete in WA’s State Cup for qualification💡
Click to expand...
Wait, there's a team on Christmas Island? Thanks now Imma look them up. Been there but never heard of them somehow, though I did meet some football fans there and saw kids playing in the park (this was many years ago now).
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Done, thanks. Didn't realise there already was one.

I heard that in Mexico if the men's team of one team gets relegated the women's does too which I think is kinda unfair. Can't remember why but I do remember hearing that they paused pro/rel there.

Wait, there's a team on Christmas Island? Thanks now Imma look them up. Been there but never heard of them somehow, though I did meet some football fans there and saw kids playing in the park (this was many years ago now).
Click to expand...
Oh mexico threw out p and r in 2020 due to covid and hasnt brought it back
 
Seeing as dependencies are allowed to join FIFA, maybe Christmas Island could join too and get their own national teams and a proper league going. I'm sure they would suck unless investment happens but it at least allows them to play friendlies against other small island nations and perhaps if they do have a star player he or she could get a move to the NPL or to another lower league (unless they do the unthinkable and produce a superstar who could play in the A-League).
 
grazorblade said:
Oh mexico threw out p and r in 2020 due to covid and hasnt brought it back
Click to expand...
Oh okay. I only know a bit about the Liga MX and a lot of it is due to Emily Gielnik playing there now (she plays for Monterrey aka Rayadas, or Rayados for the men).
 
HonestSpursFan said:
Done, thanks. Didn't realise there already was one.

I heard that in Mexico if the men's team of one team gets relegated the women's does too which I think is kinda unfair. Can't remember why but I do remember hearing that they paused pro/rel there.

Wait, there's a team on Christmas Island? Thanks now Imma look them up. Been there but never heard of them somehow, though I did meet some football fans there and saw kids playing in the park (this was many years ago now).
Click to expand...
There was a Christmas Island FC active as of 10 years ago; now there’s an ad-hoc rep team that plays every once in a while here&there(I think they played vs. an Indonesian Sunday-league side several years back, for instance)

As for Mexico, yeah Liga MX have had the pause-button on pro/rel ever since the pandemic(though there’s some speculation it might be reinstated the season after next); what’s arguably more of an own-goal on their part however is the fact the league scrapped the mandatory stipulation that was in place around 15yrs ago re. a minimum-number of 1st-team minutes given to individual youth-players per season - which resulted in winning ⚽️ gold at the London Olympics. Roughly 3 or so years later..the league scrapped this rule, still yet to be revisited🙃
 
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