Terry Maddaford: New championship offers glimmer of hope in gloom

What is it with New Zealand soccer? Dirty linen being aired in public is nothing new for a sport which has long been perceived as struggling to come to terms with itself.

Sadly, results at the highest level, the continual merry-go-round of coaches and other off-field scraps continue to overshadow any good the sport has achieved.

The hierachy constantly remind us soccer is the preferred option for thousands of young. That they struggle to hold their interest as teenagers remains a concern.

Results like those in Adelaide and the Solomon Islands give the doom merchants more ammunition.

These are the same people who happily hark back to the "glory days" of the 1970s and 80s and now don't want a bar of the New Zealand Football Championship.

Seen as the last throw of the dice, New Zealand Soccer, in an effort to bring the global game back to the public in a meaningful way, has been partly successful.

The first 15 or so rounds have produced some reasonable, and some ordinary, football. Off the field New Zealand Soccer has, in the main, done its best. Got it right.

Facilities have improved, clubs are better administered, the championship is well organised. Media cover reflects that.

The refereeing standard has at times been inconsistent but generally the good, especially from those promoted to the higher level, continues to outweigh the bad, even if the number of yellow cards being flashed remains ridiculously high.

The decision to go with eight teams was the right one. The eight franchised clubs have, we must presume, attracted the best available players. Getting the best out of them, given losses to injury and the under-20 side - they need not have bothered - remains the challenge.

Inside the white lines, questions continue to be asked. Take Auckland City.

Under coach Allan Jones, they took the NZFC by storm, playing a brand of football certain to excite. They brought width back to the game, throwing out a challenge defences struggled to counter.

Sadly, the loss of key players robbed City of that dimension, forcing them, like their opponents, to resort to the bad old ways of booting the ball "up the middle".

Defences have dealt with that for years, and City soon struggled and eventually lost games they should have won, and watched what could have been a championship-winning lead whittled away.

We were assured the best players, including a handful of recent or current internationals, would make the difference. We are yet to be convinced.

Apart from little more than cameo appearances, not much has been seen of Danny Hay, Noah Hickey, Gerard Davis or Michael Utting - all players touted as there to bring credibility to the new competition.

The NZFC needs these players to play regularly or accept that the new competition will become little better than the national league it replaced.

As a breeding ground for future New Zealand Knights or international players, the championship has some way to go.

With older hands such as Che Bunce as good as any going around, it has become apparent the youngsters, in this amateur competition, are struggling to come to terms with a semi-professional environment.

A handful of players have shown encouraging form. That might suggest the NZFC has achieved some of its objectives. Reality might be different.

Apart from the bumper crowd for the Trusts Stadium clash between Waitakere United and Auckland City and a couple of half-decent turnouts at Kiwitea St, crowd numbers have been below expectation. But, as NZS bosses will insist, it's a start.