PROPOSED WOMENS LEAGUE STRUCTURE 2012

This document was developed by members and invitees of the Womens Standing Committee as the result of discussions about strengthening and increasing the standard of women’s soccer in Western Australia, whilst continuing to build social soccer for women who wish to simply play for fun.

The idea of having a competitive stream and a social stream for women’s soccer is to provide a clear development path for those clubs who wish to develop teams who aspire to play at the highest possible level, whilst enabling those clubs who are fielding teams that play for fun and fitness to take part in divisions where their players know that they are playing against like-minded teams.

The key innovation is the development of a new State League 1st Division and a complimentary reserve team competition, which is intended to provide a potential stepping stone/path into the State League Premier Division. By clubs who wish to field a team in this division needing to have a complimentary reserves team, it means that they will be able to get their ‘feet wet’ by having a similar structure to those teams playing in the Premier League, but without having to do this immediately in the ‘pressure cooker’ environment of the Premier League. In a similar developmental manner to that used by many current Premier League clubs with their Premier League reserves teams, the State League 1st Division reserves competition is intended to be particularly suitable for younger teams of players who are under the age of 17 and aspire to play at Premier League level.

COMPETITIVE STREAM / SOCIAL STREAM
STATE LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
1st team and reserves team
8 Team league includes NTC / METROPOLITAN DIVISIONS 1 TO 3
10 – 12 team leagues
STATE LEAGUE 1st DIVISION
1st team and reserves team
8-team league / METROPOLITAN DIVISIONS 4 TO 6
10 – 12 team leagues
(based on region, North – South etc if possible)
STATE LEAGUE JUNIORS
U13 & U15 / METROPOLITAN JUNIORS
U17, U15 etc
RATIONALE / RATIONALE
  • Targets clubs who want to play more competitively.
  • Targets clubs that have ambition to play premier league.
  • The reservescompetition in both the Premier Division and the 1st Division ensures that a club is sustainable in terms of player numbers for the long term – and provides numbers for the first team to fulfil its playing requirements during the season.
  • Hopefully encourages clubs in close proximity to consider amalgamation and pooling of resources in order to play in the 1st Division (and perhaps ultimately the Premier Division).
  • Having two divisions with reserves (Premier Division and 1st Division) ensures the clubs who play in them have the viability for possible promotion and relegation.
  • Mobility of players between 1stDivision and 1sst Division reserves team would only be allowed on a particular day.
  • Maximum number of 8 teams in Premier Division for the short-to-medium term.
  • There would initially be 8 teams in Division 1, which would (only) increase if and when there are teams that reach the required level/fulfil the criteria to join the league.
  • Retain the interchange system for players for the short-to-medium term.
  • The Top Four cup system would be run for both Premier Division and 1st Division competitions.
  • ‘One-up – one-down’ automatic promotion/relegation or playoff series between top of 1st Division and the bottom of Premier Division would be considered.
  • For State League junior players, the new 1st Division creates an elite youth pathway and extracts those talented and ambitious young girls into a more competitive environment. After U15, clubs could encourage these players to play as their reserves team.
  • A complimentary opportunity could be provided for an NTC U13sGirls team to play in the State league U15s Girls. This would create a possible five-year pathway through the NTC
  • By 2015, State League clubs should have a State League U15s team.
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  • Name/rename these divisions to Womens Metropolitan Competition to reflect the structure of the mens competition. This competition is easily recognisable as “the Social League” but this term” can have negative connotations for better social teams that are trying to attract good players.
  • Targets clubs who want to play socially.
  • Regionalises the lower social leagues (to the Perth metropolitan area) to reduce the amount of travel.
  • No forcing of clubs into the competitive stream through automatic promotion.
  • Mobility of players between a club’s teams in this stream would only be allowed on a particular day.

CRITERIA
  • Entry into the competitive league is by application.
  • Preference will be given to teams that meet the criteria but also service areas that currently without an elite football presence (such as Swan Valley and Perth Hills, Mandurah, Joondalup/Quinns, Belmont and Rockingham).
  • Preference will be given to clubs with an existing commitment to junior girls football.

Possible considerations
  • State League Cup & State League Reserves Cup – Teams from Premier and 1st Division to be mixed together to form a 16-team cup competition.
  • Play-offs for promotion / relegation
  • North v South representative match
  • State league pre season night series – 16 teams (four groups of four teams, with two Premier Division and two Division 1 teams in each group.
/ Possible considerations
  • Metropolitan Cup – All metro teams
  • Pre-season carnival day /weekend - Doubles as a chance to grade teams and promote the game? Could be held during the day prior to night series games (same venue) to create added interest in the state league competition, entice players who might be thinking of playing higher up and adds to the atmosphere at the night series.