Dissent: Unrest among NPL clubs with the way the FFA is running soccer in Australia is reaching boiling point. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Victoria's soccer dissidents plan a meeting in Melbourne on Monday night at which they expect at least 24 representatives from Victorian NPL and NPL 1 teams to meet to discuss forming a national association of NPL clubs. "Once we have formulated our approach here, we will be talking to clubs who feel the same way in NSW, Queensland and South Australia to establish a national body of like-minded clubs," a spokesman for the group said. "The A-League was a game-changer when it started, but it is stagnating now and is sucking up all the money in the game. The FFA has admitted that clubs here are not like clubs in the traditional heartlands of the game, they have acknowledged that as private businesses the FFA is focused on providing the A-League teams with the opportunities to maximise revenues and make money. "We feel too much emphasis is on that and not enough on grassroots football, building the infrastructure of the game beyond the top level and developing young players and giving them the opportunity to play at the highest level with more clubs.

"You only have to see the results of Australia's junior teams in World Cups and Olympic qualifiers in the years since the A-League started. Yes, competition everywhere has got tougher, but we hardly even qualify for these tournaments now in the men's game as the players don't seem to be coming through the way they used to. "You saw the outcry last week when Brisbane and Western Sydney Wanderers got hammered in the Asian Champions League – even the Fox commentators were admitting there were big problems with youth development here. The A-League model is based on the leisure market and entertainment industry, not on traditional football culture, and the results are becoming clear with the Socceroos and the quality of Australian players generally." The state federations have tended to side with the establishment in the controversies of recent years but the Victorian clubs seem prepared to take on Football Federation Victoria if necessary. Their ultimate aim is to try and force a restructure of the game once more, so that there is a genuine national second division in which ambitious clubs could compete and win promotion to the top tier – and face relegation if they failed when they pitched in against the big boys. "It should be all about a fairer distribution of resources and opportunity on the field. Clubs should be able to compete and get to the top if they play better, are coached better and invest wisely.

"Where is the incentive for well run NPL teams, either here in Victoria or in Sydney or Brisbane or wherever, to invest heavily in their infrastructure, produce players or grow the game. At present we can receive $7000 if an A-League team signs one of our players – that's nothing compared to the investment that might have been put into a boy who has been with a club since he was maybe 10 or 11." Critics will argue the idea of a national second division is pie in the sky and flawed because the clubs in it will simply not have the money to spend on enhanced player wages or flights and accommodation for a lengthy season if they have to travel to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth on a regular basis. The Victorians say a large chunk of those costs could be met by forcing their local state federations to withhold the licensing and other fees they pay to the governing body annually. "The FFV currently pays $1.9 million to FFA. Why should it? We don't get much for it. That money could be spent underwriting teams playing in a national second tier. We believe the FFA is mainly interested in servicing the needs of the A-League teams and the national teams, but we think the game would be better developed long term by building a real football culture through a second division and promotion and relegation." It's an incendiary move, but the Victorian clubs have form in taking on the establishment.

A few years ago the FFA sought to restructure the game in Victoria and the FFV put in proposals to set up a series of regional-based clubs to play at the top tier of the state pyramid, freezing out many of the established Melbourne teams. A bitter battle and legal action followed until the clubs won that fight, and the NPL was established as it now is, with many traditional clubs competing at the top.