Is the NST in trouble? No update in months!

It’s been almost 4 months now since we have had official communications from Football Australia regarding National Second Tier. January 29th we learnt that the search had begun to add to the 8 foundation sides: https://www.footballaustralia.com.au/news/football-australia-commences-process-selection-additional-national-second-tier-clubs

Side note: Would the next 2-4 clubs selected not also be foundational clubs as we’d assume they’ll be added for the inaugural season?

We know that they’re looking for a 10 or 12 team competition to kick off around March/April next year and it will have a finals series.

In a decision that could be said to be anti-fan, the process for selecting these next teams will be completely confidential. Perhaps they’re trying to protect themselves/clubs from the arguing that took place when the initial 8 were chosen, and the outrage that the teams are almost entirely from Sydney and Melbourne (Wollongong Wolves just saved that).

“Upon receiving the RFP materials and following a thorough briefing session, the clubs must confirm their intent to submit a proposal and will have until mid-April to finalise their submissions. This will mark the conclusion of the RFP phase, with the Assessment and Review Phase scheduled for April/May 2024, and the Completion Phase set for June 2024.”

Based on the above on the Football Australia website, we can assume that the interested clubs have finalised their submissions and Football Australia would either be well underway or have completed their Assessment and Review Phase by now, meaning that we could expect an announcement in the next month.

There has been much to be said on the viability of the proposed competition, one that has been pushed back year after year. A lot of people (us included) won’t believe that it’s going to actually take place until the first ball is kicked. With the A-Leagues payments from Paramount+ dropping next season, lack of sponsorships and other financial troubles, one has to wonder just how likely the clubs are to survive in the competition with the almost certainty of losing money to compete ever year. It would be a great shame to see such wonderful, historical clubs risk bankruptcy for the hopes and dreams of being in a national comp/A-League.

There is one piece of information that will give fans some hope for the competition; the filing of a Trade Mark for “The Australian Championship”

It’s yet to be approved but these things do take their time.

Our best hope is that they’ve been waiting for the A-League to wrap up as to not steal the spotlight and give themselves some clean air in the footballing landscape to make any announcements. This week is potentially the best to release any news with upcoming Matildas and Socceroos games that could help carry the momentum.

Whilst we wait for news, we will return to our NST deep dive series as we take a look at aspects of the competition and assess it’s viability from an outsiders perspective.

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