Saturday the 26th July results

NPL @ Valley road

NPL:
Devonport Strikers 2 Gleason, Denehey) def Northern Rangers 1 (J.Wani)
HT 2:0

Lg1:
Devonport Strikers 7 def Northern Rangers 2

U18s:
Devonport Strikers 2 lost Northern Rangers 3

Launceston city 1 lost to Somerset 9 ( Nettelton 4,Hamilton 2,Kyrone Johnson 2, Bill Mathews 1)

Ulverstone 1 lost to prospect 3

Riverside 3 def Launceston United 0

Saturdays and Sundays results

Somerset 2 drew with Riverside 2

Prospect 2 drew with Devonport 2

Launceston United 2 def Ulverstone 1

Sundays results

Todays Results at the NTCA.

NPL:
Northern Rangers 2 (A.Fisher, J.Harrison) def Burnie United 1.
HT 2:0

NL1:
Northern Rangers 1 (J.Ower) def Burnie United 0
HT 1:0

U18s:
Northern Rangers 1 lost Burnie United 4.
HT 0:3

Friday night result

Final Result Norther Rangers 2 (A.Rigby, S.Brassington) def Launceston City 0.  HT 0:0.

John Mckenna medal winner - Aidan Rigby, 13 votes.

Some Cracking Games This Weekend

Firstly the game between Launceston City V Rangers V League game has been changed to NTCA due to Mitsubishi Park being closed.
Does this mean that Prospect Park is also closed for the Knights V Devonport game tomorrow???
Conditions up on the coast over the last 24 hours has been so windy that the grounds are all bone dry and will need watering tonight to keep green.

Somerset V Riverside 2:30pm Shark Park
This is the game of the round by far. Alot say that this is the game will decide the title but i disagree as there are still alot of games left and there are a few other clubs out there that could match it with these guys come end of the season.
Both clubs will know what is at stake tomorrow and a loss will make Riverside's last part of the season very hard due to 2 draws and Somerset have 2 games in hand.
Somerset will be with out a few big names this week and will no doubt have enough talent in their camp to cover these people.
Kyrone Johnson who missed last time is playing and with him and Chris Smith who is now playing on the feild will be looking to demolish Rivers defence. Smith who is in great form and has scored in all games since he has been on the field.
Nigel Brown said this" This week is the match of the season so far when we host ladder leaders Olympic at Shark Park.
We will be missing our centre back, Elliott Stewart who is suffering a broken toe and may miss a few weeks. Captain Keegan Wells has work commitments and he may also miss this week.
We managed to train on the pitch this week and it should be right for the weekend now the rain has stopped. Championship teams have a habit of winning both the difficult games and the games when things aren't going well, Olympic have proved this all year and while last weeks 1-0 win over City probably wasn't pretty they still got the 3 points, similar to the match I watched at Montello several weeks ago.
They certainly won't roll over and let's us win, we will need to be at 100%.

Wayne Penfold  would be looking forward to this clash and have his troops fully firing and said this"The much anticipated Top of the Table clash against Somerset awaits us this week. Its a crucial game in the title race and a win from either team puts them in a commanding position to win the Premiership.

We welcome back Chris Wademan this week, as he returns from suspension after collecting 5 yellow cards. Nic Lunnon is the unlucky player to miss out.  Especially considering he had an outstanding game last week. Otherwise there are no changes.

There are some people questioning our results and wondering how we are undefeated after watching a few of our games. I think all of the players will agree that we haven't perhaps been playing to our full potential. But sometimes you have to win ugly and grind out victories.

Somerset have been winning, and winning well, but we don't fear them. We beat them with 10 men earlier in the year and are the only team to really test them. They have some good players with Stewart, Smith and the Johnson boys. In saying that though, we also have a team of really good players. We have a belief within our squad that we can get the right result. Its a tough challenge to play at Cardigan St with their vocal crowd. Lets just hope we can keep them silent.

Launceston United V Ulverstone 2:30pm Birch Ave

After coming of a massive win away last week United would be firm faveroutes at home this week against the Reds. Have United found the form that on paper they should be acheiving?

Ulverstone have had an up and down seeason and due to lack of numbers it has shown this year, Connor Meanie has had an up and down season through injury and suspension and will need to fire this week to have a hope of the Reds getting a win. Ceddric Cox-Haines was sent of last week and that will fill a big hole in the Reds defence.

Knights V Devonport 2:30pm Prospect Park

Nathan Balym celebrates game 300 this week and this should be eough to get the Knifghts up and about for the win. Also in the back of their minds they still will b e thinking of finals and will be pressing hard to try and topple Devonport to get closer to the 4 and to knock Devonport out.

Ray Heald said this"Rhys Kinslow and Mitch Duffy out this week, from the senior squad both have work commitments, the wet weather hasn’t been kind  having no access to our grounds for training.

Round 1 Match against Devonport was not a good day for the club, we will be looking for a much better commitment from the players tomorrow  

 

Nathan Balym plays his 300 games this week, congratulations Nathan a player that works just as hard behind the scenes as he does on the ground.

Rangers V Burnie United 2:30pm Sunday

This game is just as important as the Somerset V Riverside game due to this game and a loss to Devonport will start shaping the top 4.

Burnie have been in great form as of late and lead by their skipper Andy Gibson. Ray Parke will have his boys all tuned in and will be looking at keeping their run going and positioning them selves come finals.

Rangers also are keeping their final alive and this week have a few more senior players returning to strenghten thier squad.

Coch Litchendonk said this"Another big game for us against Burnie at the NTCA on Sunday.  We were able to get over Burnie earlier in the year at Montello which is a tough game to win, but this game will be crucial, lose it and its curtains for our season, win it and we are in with a big shot of the finals, our boys know it, we just have to win each game in front of us at the moment, and if we do that we will play finals.

Burnie are a tough physical side, and we like that, and feel we will match up with them well, but might have a little more pace and legs around the ground on a bigger pitch than what they will be accustomed to.

We again wont know our final line up until after the Victory League match on Friday night, but either way we should have a strong team on the park.

We need to be really careful with our Victory League list at the moment, with probably three of our most promising under 20 players on the side lines with injuries that will rule them out for the year, Alex Fulton, Dylan Headland and Chris Collins are all gone after taking big hits against big strong sides this year, so we will make sure we have bodies on the park that can both play football and handle themselves physically too.

I don't care what anyone says, this idea of developing your best young players against full grown men in their twilight has balls on it.

Adam McIntyre, Stef Hamilton and Mohommad Alkhazraj are all back in the starting line up, these boys were sorely missed against Prospect, they all play high pressure football, throw everything they have at the challenge and leave nothing to chance, for McIntyre and Hamilton particularly coming up under Andrew Brown from Clarence, epitomise a pressing physical style of play, and they drag the rest of the team with them, Mohommad combines that with finesse and he can be unpredictable in the final third, I'm looking forward to seeing these boys back in our side and combing with the other lads and executing some fast paced passing football.

What ever side we have for the match, we know we will get a battle, Andy Gibson, Stuart Batt and in particular Burnie's keeper Brad Ryan are quality players, and Ray Parke demands a lot of his players, and they seem to have responded well this year, pushing out some terrific results for the Burnie United Football Club, we certainly respect them, but we know if we stick to our style of play, we can match it with the best in the league.

Nathan (GRANDPA) Balym Hits 300

PROSPECT Knights' stalwart Nathan Balym's first game of soccer for the club was as a nine- year-old goalkeeper for Launceston Croatia's under-18 side.

On Saturday, the defender will play his 300th game for the club.

"It used to be on a Sunday and we had a mixture of football players, hockey players and soccer players and I'd rock up and they'd be short and Brian Davidson, who was coach, would say to go in goals because there was no age limit back then," 

Balym recalled.

"I went no good, I was just a fill-in."

Balym has found his career come full circle, lining up in goals once again for Knights in the Northern Premier League after playing several years in defence.

"I've got a lot slower as I'm aware," the 38-year-old said. 

"I was only planning to play reserves this year but [coach] Ray [Heald] needed a goalkeeper and I've kept in the past so I said to Ray, 'I haven't done it for a while but if you're looking for someone, I will do it'."

Balym started playing soccer at Launceston Croatia, which merged with Western Suburbs to become Western Knights and later Prospect Knights.

The 300 games is a figure that would be higher too had he not played 100 games for Launceston United and spent five years away in the army.

"Us older people have to stick around for this club to keep going," he said. "Hopefully some of these young kids can look up to that and think one day they can reach 300 as well."

Balym said the highlight was winning the premiership in 2011, the first for the club in its then 51-year history, but he was also very lucky to have played with his son Jye and stepson Mitchell Chugg.

Knights' president Marco La Palombara said Balym's contribution to the club was enormous.

"He's one of the rocks of the club, a stalwart of the club, and he's respected by all the players we have from the juniors, through the reserves and to the seniors," La Palombara said.                                 

"He's been a coach, a committee member, a players' representative, he's worked for this club since he was a young man in every position, so he's a very valued member and we're proud to have him play his 300th game here."

Also having played along side the fossil for a year i would also like to congratulate Grandpa on the milestone!!!

The Inaugural John McKenna Medal is up for grabs this weekend

John McKenna Medal on the line for Rangers and City players in Cup Clash!

When Launceston City host Northern Rangers in the third game of the Launceston Mitsubishi, Launceston Mazda Derby Cup, The John Mckenna Medal will be up for grabs for the best player across the three game series.

While the game its self is a Victory League fixture and counts for points for the league, the cup has been won by Rangers after they won both game 1 and 2 during the year, but the John McKenna medal is yet to be decided.

Each game a member from each club plus a third party observer submits their opinion for 3-2-1 votes for the best player on the ground, these votes will be collated after the match and the player with the most votes will be named the John McKenna Medal winner.

John McKenna has been a long servant of the game and Launceston City, and through his partnership with the Launceston Motor group, has sponsored both clubs over the years.

As for the Victory League season, the match is very much a live fixture, with both Rangers and City desperate to accumulate more points for the season, for City its an opportunity to knock off their cross town rivals for the first time and try to move off the bottom of the table, while Northern Rangers must win at least one more game than Olympia in the third round to be able to take third place, and need to keep the buffer between them and Devonport Strikers in 5th place.

The match kicks off at 7pm at Mitsubishi Park on Friday night.

Saturdays results

Ulverstone 0 lost to Somerset 4

Launceston City 0 lost to Riverside 1

Burnie United 3 def Prospect 1

Devonport 2 lost to Launceston United 4

Round 13

Sorry Guys did not have time this week hope the weekend is a good one for every one

1	Riverside	11	10	1	0	42	11	31	31
2	Somerset	10	9	0	1	53	7	46	27
3	Devonport	10	6	1	3	33	26	7	19
4	Nth Rangers	11	4	2	5	26	27	-1	14
5	Burnie	10	4	0	6	14	19	-5	12
6	Prospect	10	4	0	6	14	32	-18	12
7	Ulverstone	10	3	2	5	19	18	1	11
8	L'ton United	10	1	1	8	10	40	-30	4
9	L'ton City	10	1	1	8	9	40	-31	4

L'ton United  vs Burnie  

2:30 PM / Sat 5 Jul

Birch Avenue (Map)

  

MATCH CENTRE

Somerset  vs Devonport  

2:30 PM / Sat 5 Jul

Cardigan Street (Map)

  

MATCH CENTRE

L'ton City  vs Ulverstone  

2:30 PM / Sat 5 Jul

Mitsubishi Park 1 (Map)

  

MATCH CENTRE

Nth Rangers  vs Prospect  

12:30 PM / Sun 6 Jul

NTCA 2 (Map)

  

MATCH CENTRE

Riverside have the bye.

Presidents meeting report

Here is a break down of the last president meeting held last week. I have studied this pretty hard and from my point the NPL will suffer.
Its great to see the women's competition is starting to grow and maybe another thing to add to the list for them is they should play on Saturdays and follow their men's teams which gets more people through the gates of the homes teams and creates a better club vibe on game days?
For the men's competitions im not to sure.
We go back to a six team competition is that sustainable?
What happens when the V League folds are these teams welcomed back with open arms or is it time if it does happen that the die hard-hard working people make their own board and we finally go independant because there in no support from FFT?

Have a read and feel free to have your comment as the presidents do get on this site as well.....

These are issues that were brought to the table for Presidents to take back to their clubs for discussion and decicion at the next meeting:

 

Womens Premier League-- it is the likely that it will split into 2 divisions next year with the top 6 teams becoming Division 1 and the remaining 4 becoming Division 2. This will have several benefits…top teams playing each other each week therefore maintaining a higher level of standard. Division 2 will be aimed at a more social league allowing say under 16 teams to enter and providing an opportunity for clubs in situations like Burnie, this year, who are rebuilding and with several players new to the game it will allow them to play similar standard teams. It will be proposed that the bottom team in Div 1 will play off against the top team in Div 2 at the end of each year to see who gets into Div 1 the next year. It will also allow existing clubs to enter another team as a feeder to their top side. Roster likely to be 3 rounds of 5 matches with finals and promotion/relegation games at the end.

 

Victory League clubs are looking at a proposal to add an Under 20 Victory Development League team to travel with the senior team. This will mean that the 3 Northern clubs will pull out of NPL seniors and reserves only resulting in a 6 team NPL series. They would still be able to enter a team in Under 18's.

 

Possible change to club eligibilty rules to allow clubs to not enter either a Ressies or under 18 teams for 1 year to allow them to re build and lessen the stress of players having to play 2 matches each weekend.

 

Change to the VL rules regarding the under 20 rule for NPL senior teams, allowing VL clubs to play whoever they wish without the age rule being applied.

 

FFT dinner is 20th September, preferably on the coast, probably a similar setup as last year, but all agreed it needed to be a bigger room and more seating/viewing.

 

Proposal to have all leagues play finals next year in a similar format as this years. However the ressies and unders would play whereever they match to where the senior match would be. This could mean that a club could have teams playing at different venues in the semi finals.

 

THIS COULD BE NEXT YEARS CLUBS!!