AFTER two seasons of the 10 best sides from North Coast Football and Football Mid North Coast facing off, the Coastal Premier League is set to expand to 12 teams for the 2022 season.

Bellingen FC and the Forster-Tuncurry based Southern United are set to join the competition in 2022.

While the Coastal Premier League will welcome two new teams, current clubs have rejected the expansion of the competition in 2022.

Seven Coastal Premier League clubs released a joint statement outlining the reasons why they are against the addition of two new clubs in 2022.

This included addressing a number of issues such as the unfeasible scheduling of extra games into an already crowded schedule, the impact new clubs will create in the recruitment and development of players in close proximity to smaller clubs affecting their future participation, and the lack of sufficient growth in the local zones to support expansion at this time.

Despite being against expansion, the current clubs also raised the notion that Camden Haven FC would have been the better option for a new licence after their application was unsuccessful.

Individual clubs have also released their own press releases outlining their objections to the expansion plans.

Both the Northern Storm and Taree Wildcats have expressed their concerns about the need for expansion in the young competition’s third season.

The Northern Storm outlined their objection to expansion in a press release, in which they supported the issues raised initially by the Taree Wildcats in its objection to the proposed CPL expansion in 2022.

The Storm raised a number of concerns, including amongst others the lack of match officials of sufficient quality to officiate two additional games each weekend, increased costs of $10,000 per team, and the adding of extra rounds to a calendar which has been unable to be completed in the first two seasons due to both COVID-19 and washouts.

The Taree Wildcats were also another Coastal Premier League club to voice their concerns about next year’s expansion.

In a media statement, the Taree Wildcats said the CPL expansion for 2022 should not have occurred for three reasons; “length of competition, initial licence period offered, and lack of support from other clubs”.

The Wildcats highlighted the fact the season would be increased by 22% with two new teams, and also stated the expansion of the competition breached the three-year licence provided to all of the clubs with the inclusion of new teams a year earlier than licenses allowed.

Boambee FC expressed its support for the objections raised by the Storm and Wildcats on its social media pages.

Boambee FC were concerned the population of the Northern Zone featured in the competition was far less than the Southern Zone, and raised concerns that small club such as Boambee would struggle to remain in the competition if an additional club is added with close proximity, due to the current player recruitment area being minimal and could be massively reduced again due to the expansion.

Speaking on Prime News, Football Mid North Coast chairman Mike Parsons addressed some of the initial concerns of the CPL clubs’ objections towards expansion.

“Basically, we only have to pull the season forward one or two weeks having allowed this season for two bye rounds which we probably won’t need in the following season,” he said.

“All of the clubs were aware of the potential to expand the competition and the only club that raised any concerns were the Taree Wildcats back in January and those concerns were noted by the board.”

 

By Aiden BURGESS