More Football? WTF?

Photo pinched from FT website

I went to bed last night disappointed.

I woke up this morning still disappointed.

And perhaps disappointment is the right word.

Because I genuinely cannot understand how Tasmanian football has reached a point where our response to problems within our highest competitions seems to be to play less football.

Football Tasmania announced yesterday that the NPL Tasmania, NPL Under 21s and Women's Super League will each be conducted across 21 rounds in 2027.

Seven teams.

Eighteen matches each.

Three byes.

Then finals.

And the headline?

"Season 2027 extended for top-flight leagues."

Extended?

Sorry.

You've lost me already.

Football Tasmania CEO Tony Pignata's own quote begins by saying the structure "gives every team 18 matches."

The headline says extended.

The CEO says 18.

So what exactly has been extended?

He goes on to say it will create "more playing and development opportunities."

How?

Eighteen games

Let's start with the NPL.

In 2026 Tasmania's NPL had ten teams and an 18-round league season followed by finals.

In 2027 it will have seven teams. Each club will play 18 league matches across 21 rounds followed by finals.

So there is no increase in league football.

None.

Eighteen becomes eighteen.

The difference is that with seven teams somebody has to sit out each round.

The bye is back.

Because each club plays 18 league games, an evenly balanced draw would mean nine at home and nine away.

Nine home league games across an entire season.

But whichever way you arrange them there are still only 18.

The women are actually going backwards

Then we get to the WSL.

In 2026 the WSL has eight teams playing across 21 rounds.

Eight teams meant no bye.

Every club playing every week.

Regular football matters.

Every WSL club plays 21 league games this year.

Now fast forward twelve months.

Seven teams.

Eighteen league games each.

Three byes.

Three fewer games for every club.

So if losing the bye was a good thing, how is bringing it back part of a structure being promoted as creating more playing and development opportunities?

What changed?

And now the women get finals

The WSL will have a finals series in 2027.

Pignata says the new structure "offers each league the chance at finals football."

The chance.

We don't yet know the format. Football Tasmania says it is still working with clubs on the detailed framework.

With seven teams a Top 4 means three clubs miss out.

A Top 5 means two do.

Either way some clubs finish after 18 games.

I'll come back to finals.

I don't have a problem with relegation

Let me be clear about something.

Launceston United and Ulverstone finished in the bottom two of the NPL.

The rules for 2026 said the bottom two would be relegated.

Neither accumulated enough points to remain in the competition.

Philosophically, promotion and relegation sits comfortably with me.

If one or both earns the right to return to the NPL after a season through a genuine promotion and relegation system, terrific.

That's football.

There should be consequences for finishing at the bottom and rewards for succeeding in the division below.

So I'm not suggesting we simply tear up the relegation rules because Riverside has withdrawn.

Riverside's decision undoubtedly created a problem.

Football Tasmania had planned to go from ten teams to eight.

The bottom two went down.

Then Riverside withdrew.

Eight became seven.

I understand the arithmetic.

What I don't understand is why seven teams automatically means only 18 league matches.

Find a way to play more football

Why does the solution have to be fewer games?

Seven teams can still play plenty of football.

Play four rounds instead of three.

That's 24 league games.

Six more than 18.

With the same seven clubs.

Yes, it takes more weekends.

Or create another meaningful competition phase.

Find another model.

Find a way.

Sometimes I think we're becoming extraordinarily good at finding reasons why clubs shouldn't play.

Too much travel.

Too much work.

Too hard on volunteers.

Too many games.

Someone has a bye.

Someone doesn't want to travel north.

Someone doesn't want to travel south.

I know those pressures are real.

I've run a football club.

I've been one of those volunteers.

I know exactly what goes into putting teams onto football pitches every weekend.

But at some point we have to remember what all that work is actually for.

To play football.

We once talked about 28

This isn't something I've suddenly decided because I don't like yesterday's announcement.

I've argued previously for more football.

I've supported an eight-team NPL playing four rounds.

That would produce 28 league matches.

Fourteen home.

Fourteen away.

A proper season.

Would clubs complain about travel?

Probably.

Would volunteers have more work?

Yes.

Would it cost more?

Probably.

But do you know what else it would produce?

Football.

Ten more competitive league matches than our senior players will get in 2027.

Ten.

For a 17 or 18-year-old trying to establish himself in senior football, that's enormous.

For a 20-year-old hoping to attract attention from interstate, that's enormous.

For coaches trying to develop players, that's enormous.

That's not a little scheduling difference.

That's months of competitive football.

Then I looked around Australia

Perhaps I'm expecting too much.

Perhaps 18 league matches really is normal for an elite state competition.

So I looked.

It isn't.

NSW's NPL Men has 30 rounds in 2026. Football NSW says its 30-round men's program is designed to maximise development and align with Football Australia's high-performance framework.

Victoria's NPL Men has 14 teams playing a 26-round season.

Northern NSW has 12 teams playing home and away over 22 rounds with promotion and relegation.

Western Australia has 12 teams playing 22 home-and-away rounds followed by a separate Top Four Cup. It also has promotion and relegation.

South Australia has 12 clubs playing a 22-round NPL season.

Tasmania?

Eighteen.

And yes, Tasmania is different.

We're smaller.

Our geography creates challenges.

We don't have the population of NSW or Victoria.

But Northern NSW isn't Sydney.

Western Australia isn't Victoria.

And they manage 22.

Thirty. Twenty-six. Twenty-two. Eighteen.

Sometimes you don't need another strategic plan.

You just need to count the football.

NSW: 30.

Victoria: 26.

Northern NSW: 22.

Western Australia: 22.

South Australia: 22.

Tasmania: 18.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand is moving to a new 12-team National League in 2027.

Home and away.

Twenty-two league matches.

Their direction is towards more competitive football.

Ours is 18.

Parents, you might want to start packing

Here's a thought for Tasmanian parents.

If little Jimmy or Jenny is showing a bit of football talent and you're dreaming that one day they might make it to the top of the football tree, perhaps you should start packing your bags.

Because look at how much football kids are playing across Bass Strait.

Victoria's top boys youth competitions run across 30 rounds.

Its top girls youth competition also runs across 30 rounds.

In NSW the top boys youth competition plays 30 league rounds.

The top girls youth competition plays 26, followed by a Championship Series.

Tasmania's senior NPL men will play 18 league matches in 2027.

Eighteen.

Not our U14s.

Not our U16s.

Our senior men.

Teenage footballers in the elite youth systems of Victoria and NSW are getting considerably more competitive football than our senior NPL players.

Yet we talk endlessly about pathways.

Player development.

Talent identification.

Keeping our best young players in Tasmania.

Producing players capable of progressing to the A-League and beyond.

But players develop by playing football.

You can have all the academies, development programs, coaching courses, high-performance strategies and pathways you like.

Eventually the kid has to play.

And apparently, if you're a talented Victorian teenager, you may get more opportunities to do that than a senior NPL footballer in Tasmania.

So if I were the parent of a genuinely talented 15 or 16-year-old Tasmanian player looking at those numbers, I'd be asking a pretty uncomfortable question.

Are they going to get enough football here?

And then we bolt finals onto it

I know the response.

Finals.

Yes.

We have a finals series.

Finals can produce fantastic football.

Launceston City and Clarence Zebras proved that this year.

Their Elimination Final finished 1-1 after extra time before City won 5-3 on penalties.

Drama.

Pressure.

Excitement.

It was a terrific game.

Football Tasmania itself called it an "excellent advert for the post-season finals series."

Fair enough.

It was.

Perhaps I'm showing my football-purist tendencies here.

A league should mean something.

Everybody plays everybody on a fair basis and the table tells the story.

Finals are very Australian.

People enjoy them.

They create excitement.

But increasingly it feels as though we're using finals to make up for not providing enough league football in the first place.

Play 18.

Stick a finals series on the end.

Call the season "extended".

Except finals don't solve the problem.

Only the teams that qualify get the extra football.

The rest finish after 18.

Why manufacture extra football at the end of the season for some teams when we could give all seven more league football in the first place?

Give me the football first.

Then we can argue about finals afterwards.

What did the chosen ones recommend?

Then we arrive at the consultation.

The chosen ones.

Football Tasmania says this structure responds directly to feedback from clubs.

So what was the feedback?

Seriously.

What did clubs ask for?

Was the message really:

Please give us only 18 games?

Was it volunteer workload?

Was it travel?

With Riverside gone and Launceston United relegated, were northern clubs concerned about travelling south more often?

Were southern clubs unwilling to make additional trips north?

Was 18 simply the easiest number?

Were 21, 24, 27 or 28-match models considered?

Was there discussion about bringing another club up to create an eight-team competition?

Did anybody in the room say:

Hang on. Shouldn't our footballers actually be playing more football?

New Zealand consulted more than 400 people before settling its new national league.

Club leaders.

Federation staff.

Referees.

Players.

Fans.

I wasn't one of the chosen ones.

So I genuinely don't know what was said in our room.

Perhaps there are very good reasons.

I'd like to hear them.

But fellas, I am disappointed.

Really disappointed.

Because if this really is the outcome our leading clubs wanted, perhaps we need a much bigger conversation about what we want the NPL and WSL to be.

Football clubs are supposed to play football

I know running football is hard.

I know volunteers are tired.

I know Tasmania creates travel challenges.

I know clubs have financial pressures.

Players have work and study.

Grounds are difficult.

The weather can be dreadful.

I've lived all of it.

But surely our ambition has to be to overcome those problems so people can play football.

Not allow the problems to decide how little football we can get away with playing.

Other jurisdictions have problems too.

They still play.

Their kids play.

Their senior players play.

Their best players get 22, 26 or 30 league games.

Ours get 18.

Disappointed

That's where I've landed.

Disappointed.

Because Tasmanian football should be ambitious.

We should want more games.

More opportunities.

More development.

More meaningful competition.

More chances for young players.

More opportunities for supporters to watch their clubs.

More home games for clubs to engage their communities.

More football.

If seven teams is the reality for 2027, then make seven teams work.

Be creative.

Be ambitious.

Give them more games.

Give all of them more games, not just those lucky enough to qualify for whatever finals format is eventually chosen.

Because if we genuinely believe playing opportunities matter for development, the answer surely cannot be fewer playing opportunities.

Maybe something else is coming.

I hope it is.

Football Tasmania says the detailed framework is still being worked through, so perhaps there is.

But right now we have:

Eighteen league matches.

Three byes.

A finals series bolted onto the end.

And "more playing and development opportunities."

How?

Football clubs are supposed to play football.

More football?

WTF?