While New Zealand Soccer chief executive Graham Seatter has to spend every waking hour these days trying to fathom how he can keep a New Zealand team in the A-League, NZFC clubs have problems that they feel he and others must find time to solve.
With the NZS
board last week confirming there will be no change in the make-up of the NZFC for the next three seasons, the clubs want some answers before they pick up their licences.
The uncertainty over future Oceania participation in Fifa's Club World Cup could affect the NZFC, which offers one or two places in the Oceania Champions League as the carrot for the top club(s). The winner of the O-League should then go on to the Fifa tournament.
But if that rug is pulled from under amateur clubs in this part of the world, the NZFC will have nothing to offer as an incentive, which in turn will almost certainly lead clubs to consider their options, especially as the NZ Community Trust is about to end its association with the competition.
When Rothmans/Winfield ended their sponsorship of the national league/superclub competitions, the clubs had Smokefree support for two more seasons, then nothing.
"It was a struggle to keep a league going and eventually led to watered-down North and South Island competitions," said Waitakere United executive chairman Rex Dawkins yesterday. "It is imperative there is something for NZFC clubs and players to aspire to.
"Playing in the World Club Cup is the chance for the players to have their day in the sun."
With clubs pouring an estimated $300,000-$400,000 into the NZFC and National Youth League each year, they want the chance of a return. They will have no bar of suggestions that the New Zealand team in the A-League should represent Oceania at the Fifa tournament.
If Fifa president Sepp Blatter continues to push the professionals-only line for the Club World Cup, Dawkins is sure NZFC franchises will very seriously consider their options.
Losing that competition would leave a huge void in the domestic game.
