Football NSW have officially announced the cancellation of all their sanctioned competitions for the remainder of the 2021.
Football NSW have also confirmed to Kick360 that as it stands the points penalty handed down to Sydney United and Rockdale Ilinden FC will remain as announced.
Football NSW announced on Wednesday that both sides would face a 6 point penalty for the 2021 season plus financial penalties, with suspended fines and suspended points penalty for the 2022 season.
The State Governing Body’s decision has been reached after discussions, briefings with various Government agencies, updates from the Premier, Minister for Health and Chief Medical Officer.
“There being no Government sanctioned roadmap out of the lockdown for sport, the Football NSW Board was left with no option but to cancel our Competitions,” Football NSW said in a statement released on Thursday afternoon.
The competitions affected by the decision include the NSW Men’s NPL, NPL 2, NPL 3, NPL 4 (U20s and First Grade), Women’s NPL, NPL 2 (U14-U17, Reserves and First Grade), and Girls Conference League (U14, U15, U17).
Also affected are the NPL NSW Youth (U13-U18), and Association Youth League (U13-U16), as well as Skill Acquisition Program (U9-U12) and Girls’ Skill Acquisition Program (U10-U13).
Football NSW confirmed that no Premiers, Champions titles, trophies, medals or prize money would be awarded for the 2021 NSW Competitions.
In the Statement Football NSW also confirmed the structures of the competition for the 2022 season to allow clubs to plan during the off-season.
For the 2022 NSW NPL Men’s Senior Competition, there will be four competitions, with no more than 12 clubs participating in each. The Promotion and Relegation for the 2021 Competition has been confirmed to be deferred.
Football NSW also confirmed that it will still proceed with its move to the three-tiered structure for the 2022 season, and expanding the number of rounds to 30.
With Phase One of the NPL NSW Youth season successfully completed, the Football NSW board have resolved perhaps controversially to allocate clubs across the three tiers of the Competition based on their standings at the conclusion of Phase One, as opposed to standings at the time football was suspended.
The 2022 NSW NPL Youth tiered system will comprise of the top eight placed clubs from each of the two groups of NPL 1 Youth. The remaining four clubs from each of the two groups of NPL 1 Youth and the top four clubs from each of the two groups of NPL 2 Youth will be allocated to the 2022 NSW NPL 2 Youth.
The remaining clubs will be allocated to the NPL 3 Youth for 2022.
Similar outcomes are in place for the NPLW competitions, with the existing twelve NPLW 1 from the 2021 season set to participate in the 2022 NPLW season.
The 2022 NPLW 2 will comprise of the 11 clubs from the 2021 season, plus each of the five clubs that participated in the Girls’ Conference League for the 2021 season.
Relegation and promotion for the NPLW competitions will recommence in 2022.
Football NSW’s Mark Stavroulakis acknowledged those involved in the 2021 Football NSW competitions.
“Football NSW would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank everyone – our players, coaches and technical staff, match officials and volunteers – for their contribution to our Competitions this season, and for your cooperation and assistance to me and my team during this difficult time.”
