The problems of playing in the national league

Press, 12 July 1980, Page 20

The problems of playing in the national league

By

DAVID LEGGAT

Despite Rangers' slump in recent weeks, the prospect of Christchurch providing three teams in the Rothmans Soccer League for the first time next-sea-son is still a very real possibility. The intriguing question, however, is which of three teams. Western, Halswell United or Woolston W.M.C., will be the northern zone Hertz League winner? That team will meet the southern zone winner to decide ■ the southern . region team to join the league. All three teams have strong claims for the title, and with the competition entering the concluding stages, there is still no clear indication of which team will win through. Western has played 12 games, has 20 points and has averaged almost three goals a game. It has been beaten only once, in a lack-lustre display against Halswell. No team can match Harwell's . remarkable record of having conceded seven goals in its 13 matches. Before going down, 3-2, to Woolston last week-end that goals against tally was even more impressive. It has lost three times, twice to Woolston and once to Western, and trails Western by a point. It must take at least eight points from its final five games to stand a chance.

Woolston lies four points behind Western but has a match in hand over

it. Two losses to Nomads United could prove a telling setback should Woolston fall short of first place. It began badly — losing two of its first three matches — but has played some good soccer at times and has national league experience, which the other two candidates do not. The southern zone leader is Caversham; a club with six years in the national league. It beat a

strong challenger, Mosgiel, last week-end and seems likely to hold on to the top place to meet the Christchurch champion.

But two of the three northern zone teams will have to think long and hard, if they earn the right to contest the league next season, before taking the big step into the top grade.

Woolston had a season in the league in 1978 and has good financial backing. It has always stated its intention of returning to the league as soon as possible and its position is fairly clear cut. But for Western and Halswell, there are vexing questions to be answered.

Western is a club with a proud history. It has produced its share of national representatives and was for a time among the strongest clubs in New Zealand.

But that was before the coming of the national league, which while it has been undoubtedly the best thing- to have happened to the sport in New Zealand, has brought its problems. To compete in the league for a season costs a club in the South Island about $30,000, if not more. Western will have to decide whether it can afford to enter the league and possibly suffer the indignity, under the present

relegation system, of returning to the relative obscurity of regional soccer a year later, with its bank balance having taken a severe battering. The same problem applies to Halswell, a club which has made startling progress in the last year. It won the qualifying league in 1979 by a slender goal difference margin, then found three of the teams it beat to win promotion. New Brighton, Nomads United and Tiniarti City, had also gained inclusion in the Hertz League under the restructuring of the competition. It has, perhaps, surprised even its most ardent supporters by working its way into a position where it must seriously face the fact that it could be in line for a national league spot next year. Halswell had probably

envisaged 1980 as a year of consolidating a southern league place and aiming for better things in 1981. Instead it might have to halve the amount of time it had planned on taking to win promotion. Western and Halswell share other problems, however. Does Christchurch have enough players. with the necessary skill and attitude, to fill three national league sides? Obviously the answer is no. Would the clubs be prepared to pay their players bonuses during the season? If not, they will struggle to attract players of the desired standard. At the same time, the clubs will also face difficulties of a different sort if they choose to turn down the opportunity to play in the national league. Almost certainly, they would lose players ’ and coaches whose aim must be to take part in the top competition. In addition, the clubs might not get another chance to enter the league for some years. As one prominent club official remarked, the situation is a “suicidal” one. There will be problems' for the winning team, whichever decision it takes. It is an unenviable position to be in and one which will take considerable soul-searching by the club committee before a course of action is agreed upon.