New South Wales Football plans to disband Association Youth League, angry parents react

An angry parent says junior footballers have been “carved up and told you don’t exist” amid a proposed overhaul which has left about 1000 players in jeopardy.

Parents are fuming at Football New South Wales’ plan to disband a top-tier youth league from next season — leaving up to 1000 talented footballers without a team.

The Association Youth League, for under-13s through to under-18s, features representative teams from 10 NSW football associations — providing a link between division one community football and the Boys Youth League (BYL), which feeds into the men’s National Premier Leagues (NPL).

Removing it from the structure means close to 1000 players have to find a new team or club for the 2026 season.

Making this scenario difficult is the fact Football NSW does not plan to allow for any extra NPL licences for two years.

The players now have the option of either trialling for a BYL club or rejoining community football, whose organisations have already voiced their concerns about how they could potentially facilitate the deluge of players flowing back into their competitions.

Hills United FC in the NPL NSW 2024. Picture: Brett Nielsen

The cost to play in the AYL was $1908 this season, it jumped up to $3298 to play in the BYL.

Going to a division one community club would be a step backwards with training sessions most likely reducing from three times to once a week and the qualification requirements of coaches also less.

Code Sports spoke to administrators from several Football NSW Associations — none were willing to go on the record out of fear of backlash from the governing body.

Some officials also revealed their local associations had gagged them from speaking publicly, as the clubs worked on academy-style replacement options for the AYL, which would help fill the financial void Football NSW’s decision created.

A map showing football NSW hot spots with the Manly Warringah catchment highlighted

Parents were too scared to talk publicly as they were concerned it would hinder their child’s chance to be selected by an NPL club.

Football NSW was contacted for comment.

One parent, who had a child in the AYL program in the Manly Warringah association and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was devastating for the players – especially those who had worked so hard for many years to get to where they are.

“There’s this cohort of kids that have just been carved up and told you don’t exist anymore,” the parent, who did not wish to be named, told Code Sports.

“These kids are training three times a week, they’re working their socks off and to be told thanks for your time and your effort, you’re not good enough for the top team so you’ll have to go to club football.

“The AYL served as a really good stepping stone for kids to continue to develop more than they could at club (level) and if they do really well maybe an opportunity will open up at an NPL club.”

Another parent, from the Nepean Football Association, blasted the lack of clarity and transparency which had left hundreds of families in limbo.

“We were blindsided by the decision,” he said. “And there’s been no correspondence or advice for the players moving forward in our area.

“My son has been loyal to his club for almost a decade and we’ve heard nothing official from the association. It’s just not good enough.

“We’re frantically completing EOIs (expressions of interest) for our kids to try and find a BYL club, but they are being inundated. Football NSW has to have a good, hard look at how it is treating its participants and their families, without explaining their motives behind the move.”

Social media groups had multiple threads of parents voicing concern over the change.

“It is a shame in a way as the AYL teams provide a high level of coaching and games to participants and an alternate pathway to NPL,” one person wrote on a community page.

Another said it was the kids who would lose out: “Unfortunately though, unless the Div 1 teams can invest in multiple training nights and a quality coach, the kids will lose out on so much development and fall further and further behind.”

While another was concerned about the cost to players.

“They are stopping the AYL so these kids can all trial out and join NPL clubs that charge thousands per year,” the parent posted on a community football page.

“Then they will add new teams to the NPL competition for more revenue claiming that now NPL have a lot of kids that are missing out and we need new teams.”

Community pages are filled with desperate parents asking for any vacancies at NPL clubs for their AYL players.

Football NSW stated in the Competition and Technical Changes report published for the 2026 season the move was an attempt to strengthen up the community competition and BYL competitions.

Two regional associations – Western NSW Football and Southern Branch (NSW south coast) have been offered spots in the BYL 3 competition to ensure pathways remain for regional players.

About 1000 junior players in NSW have been impacted.

The Manly Warringah parent said they could appreciate Football NSW’s drive to strengthen the competition but said it was poorly handled and not a lot of thought had gone into it.

“They just said ‘it was too hard, let’s rip the band aid off, AYL is dead and maybe in two years we look at how we can bring a new licence into an area that needs it’,” the parent said.

“You’ll have kids in the clubs now who will get disappointed with the scenario and might drop out, you’ll also have kids saying ‘I’m not going back to club because it is a significant drop in standard’ and these kids will likely end up in other sports.

“In our opinion you are taking away a pathway.”

A total of 180 parents from the Manly Warringah Association were so frustrated they collectively wrote a letter to Football NSW outlining their concerns and pleading with the organisation to extend the AYL for another two years until the next round of BYL/NPL licences are handed out.

Football NSW didn’t acknowledge the letter or provide a reply.

Football NSW boss John Tsatsimas.

LIMITED OPTIONS

The parent said there was very little change within the BYL squads season after season and getting a foot in the door as an older player was incredibly difficult.

There are 16 BYL 1 clubs across NSW, 16 BYL 2 clubs and 15 BYL 3 clubs.

An association administrator, who did not wish to be named, said he estimated 95 per cent of the AYL kids who trialled for NPL clubs would miss out.

It is an issue that is exacerbated in associations such as Manly Warringah.

Under-5 players compete in a game in New South Wales.

The association is the largest in terms of participation numbers in Football NSW yet it has just one club with an NPL/BYL licence. Meaning almost 100 kids from the 8000 registered youth players in that association can play in the top division. Unless they can commit to travelling outside the region to play. They would have to travel close to an hour to reach the next NPL club.

It is in stark contrast to the Granville District which has 11 NPL/BYL clubs within a half-hour drive – meaning more players per club have access to elite level football pathways.

REASONS FOR CHANGE

In the report published by Football NSW for the 2026 season it listed several reasons behind the decision to scrap the AYL.

Two related to “lack of competitiveness” in the league due to the average goal difference ranging from 2-3 and 24 per cent of matches ending with a four plus goal difference.

But the parent from Manly Warringah said those stats were actually part of the problem. Manly Warringah’s teams always had strong performances because instead of having multiple BYL teams to send players to it had one – meaning players that could easily qualify for BYL 2 and BYL3 teams were instead playing in the AYL.

A frustrated parent has criticised a lack of communication from Football NSW.

The parent said the whole situation was “disappointing” but the most frustrating aspect was the complete lack of communication from Football NSW and zero transition plan to ensure these talented players could keep playing the game.

“It’s really disappointing, we pay so much money to play football in this country and in New South Wales and it really is disappointing,” the parent said.

HOW IT COMPARES

Queensland moved away from NPL youths branding in 2022 introducing the FQ Academy Leagues. Clubs are graded into four leagues based on their FQ Club Rank Score which doesn’t necessarily relate to where each team finishes on the ladder. All up there are 40 teams in each age group from under-13s to under-18s.

Victoria is restricting for the 2026 season. The NPL or Boys Victorian Youth Premier League as it will be known will have a League 1 and 2 – with 16 clubs and 30 games. The Boys Youth State League split into North-West and South-East will sit under that. And there will be promotion and relegation across the leagues.

NSW Boy’s Youth League does have a promotion and relegation system but it is based on club championship points across under-14s to under-18s. Two teams go up and two teams go down - with the exception of the BYL3. Teams that underperform in BYL3 are not relegated and remain in the competition. It is understood the promotion/relegation system will be put on hold for the 2026 season while Football NSW implement new grading criteria.