KEY POINTS:
The NZFC might not be contested next season as New Zealand Football try to work out the best format for the national competition.
The national body are in the initial stages of a wide-ranging review of all their competitions, including the NZFC, women's and youth leagues.
NZF chairman Frank van Hattum said there were no guarantees the NZFC would be contested next season because the most important thing was to have a long-lasting competition and economic uncertainty could put even more pressure on the eight franchises.
The NZFC was reduced from 21 to 14 rounds because some franchises said they couldn't meet all the costs. Waikato initially said they would pull out of the league because of a $90,000 shortfall in funding, while Wellington also threatened to withdraw.
"It's the economic reality," van Hattum said when asked if there
was a chance the NZFC might not be played next season. "If five franchises say 'no, we're not in' and we can't get anyone else in, what's the reality? Three teams don't make a league.
We have to address the whole thing.
"Things need to be refreshed, no one is arguing about that. But the priority is to make things right next year (2010), not necessarily next season (2009-10), so there might be a year of transition.
"We all believe a national league is important and something to aspire to, whether it be men, women or youth, but it has to be sustainable. We could come up with something new but it might last only two years.
"A number of franchises are struggling through this year and we still have to go through a winter
of economic crisis. A number of franchises are not committed long-term and they can't be. It would be irresponsible for them to say they are in next season until they have the funds to deliver it."
A decision on the format of a new league is expected by the end of May.
Many have advocated a return to a club competition with promotion-relegation, while others are keen to see it revert back to a winter league.
Football was New Zealand's first sport to have a national competition when the National League was launched in 1970. A national league of some form has been contested almost every year since and has been in its current format since the NZFC was launched in 2004.
The competitions review is just one challenge facing football in this country but NZF are in a healthier financial position after posting a surplus in 2008 for the first time in five years. An unaudited surplus
of $360,000 was announced on Saturday, after a deficit of $499,000 in 2007, which represented an $859,000 turnaround by NZF.
Spending was drastically reduced in an effort to balance the books and a three-year $1.5 million loan from Kiwibank, with the interest met by Sparc, also helped significantly.
Sparc chief executive Peter Miskimmin praised NZF's performance in the past 12 months after four years of deficits.
"We are pleased and very encouraged by the progress of New Zealand Football," he said. "There are really positive signs about getting the game on the right footing. There are still challenges and they are only one year into a long-term strategic plan.
"They had to make some big decisions in terms of the size of the organisation, their revenue streams and what they were going to invest in and they made them."
Van Hattum said that, along with the domestic competitions, there were still a number of aspects that needed addressing. Their priority, he said, was to return to an emphasis on grassroots football and improving coach education that would translate to improvements at elite level.
