BALLARAT Red Devils will work quickly to appoint key club officials with the expectation it will be involved in a new and elite state soccer competition in 2014.
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The Red Devils are upbeat following Friday’s news – released by Football Federation Australia – that the National Premier Leagues model will be rolled out in Victoria next year as planned.
Red Devils spokesperson Duncan Smith told The Courier he was confident the club would be selected as part of the competition once it had re-submitted its application to Football Federation Victoria.
Smith said he had grown even more enthusiastic about Ballarat’s chances of gaining a licence, with the belief that the new NPL model would now feature two leagues and anywhere between 20 and 28 clubs.
He said the ongoing confusion about whether the NPL would be launched in Victoria next season had meant the Red Devils had to work hard in the coming months, with a focus on appointing a general manager, technical director and senior coach.
“We are thrilled and over the moon. Now it’s time to start planning,” Smith said.
“We’ve got to try and squeeze six month’s worth of work into three months. It’s going to be difficult, but that’s the reality and the challenge we’ve got ahead of ourselves.”
The NPL looked as though it would not come to fruition in Victoria next year with an announcement in early November that it would not go ahead.
But Friday’s backflip follows an agreement between FFV and its clubs on an NPL model to be applied and agreement to stop proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The licence process is open to former applicants and also clubs that did not participate previously.
tim.oconnor@fairfaxmedia.com.au
