Officials from Football West and the 12 clubs provisionally accepted into next season’s inaugural National Premier Leagues met for the first time last week to continue discussions around the future of WA’s elite football competition.

Less than two weeks after the State’s peak body revealed the clubs chosen for inclusion for the 2014 NPL, 40 people met at E&D Litis Stadium, the home of Floreat Athena, to discuss competition matters including:

•    Proposed licence agreement
•    Competition schedule
•    Administration of the competition
•    Marketing and promotion

Football West director Sherif Andrawes was pleased with the response from officials on the historic occasion of the first meeting of successful applicants.

“Now that the 12 clubs have been identified, it was pleasing to get down to business and talk about the implementation of many of the ideas that clubs presented as part of their NPL applications,” Mr Andrawes said.

“There is a great deal of enthusiasm for the NPL concept from within the football community and, over the coming months, Football West will be working closely with the clubs, whose hard-working volunteers and officials have sustained our game for so long, to ensure next season’s kick-off is a success.

“We, at Football West, share the determination of the clubs to improve standards of play, coaching, governance and the overall match-day experience and are excited about next season’s first step towards a big future.”

At last week’s meeting, Football West outlined the rationale behind a decision to launch the NPL with a 12-team competition rather than increasing the initial intake to 14.

In order to fit the season into an already tight schedule, NPL WA is likely to commence in the first week of March and conclude in mid-September. Starting the competition any earlier would have raised concerns about access to pitches, which are utilised by other sports during the summer months.

WA football is already facing a more congested schedule next season due to the introduction of the Football Federation Australia Cup competition in June and an NPL finals series, which will involve the champion teams from seven other Member Federations as well as WA’s inaugural winner, starting in September.

Football West is, however, already considering options for an earlier-than-anticipated second intake of teams in 2015, given the overwhelming desire of clubs to participate in the new league. A suitable league structure will be developed in conjunction with current clubs before proceeding with expansion.

The structure of Perth Glory in the NPL, including the participation of the Skill Acquisition Program and National Training Centre squads in the under-12 to under-18 age groups, was also discussed and will continue to be developed.

It was recognised that NPL clubs were best placed to develop strategies to ensure the success of the NPL. A number of working parties, made up of club representatives, will now be created to progress key initiatives such as marketing and promotion, match-day activities, licence and participation agreement and social and digital media strategy.

Football West will facilitate regular meetings of the NPL clubs over the coming weeks and assist working parties to develop an NPL structure that works best for Western Australia.