After the success of Green Gully and Redlands United in defeating Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United in the FFA Cup Round of 32 this week, is it finally time for an Australian football two tier professional system?
For years now punters have debated over whether or not a two tiered promotion and relegation system would enhance the popularity of Australian football, and with the quality gap between professional and non-professional clubs seemingly closer than it's ever been, now seems as good a time as any to propose a possible format for the two tiered competition.
How it would work
First of all, the current A-League competition would need to expand from a 10 team competition to at least 12 teams.
Cities like Canberra, Geelong and Wollongong all have the potential to house an A-League team in the future, which would help grow the A-League in rural areas and further promote the game on a national stage.
The current A-League season spans 27 rounds plus finals between October and May, but a 12 team competition would mean only the sides would have to play twice, reducing the number of rounds to 22, therefore minimising the weeks that football would have to compete with premier leagues such as the AFL and NRL.
Once the first division is sorted into 12 teams, the second division will be made up of the best 12 lower-league clubs around the country.
The best team from all eight NPL 1 state leagues that season would make up the first ever second division, with the remaining four best teams across the country joined them in the 12 team competition.
Promotion and relegation
Once the two tiers of Australian football are complete, an adequate promotion and relegation system needs to be put in place.
Between division 1 and division 2, three teams will switch tiers after each season, as the bottom three division 1 teams will be relegated to the second division.
The top two division two clubs will be automatically promoted, with the teams that finished 3-6 on the table playing off for the final promotion place, similar to that of the English Championship.
Here's where it gets interesting.
To keep division two teams on their toes, the bottom side in division two will face off with the best side across all eight NPL leagues in a one-off playoff to give a non-professional club the chance to make it into the two division league.
The chosen club with come from a playoff between all eight winners of the NPL 1 state leagues, with the last team standing given the chance to defeat the division 2 side in order to switch places.
While promotion and relegation is still a while off in the minds of the FFA, this is just one of the ways in which a two tier system could thrive in Australian football.
