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Post by jjfutebol on Apr 8, 2019 14:22:28 GMT -5
Are all the clubs/teams finalized for the 2019-20 ECNL season or will there be other teams added?
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Post by hateallthesechanges on Apr 8, 2019 15:44:11 GMT -5
Did Tophat ever announce their plans for next year? Last I heard they were telling some ECNL parents they would not have ECNL next year.
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Post by oraclesfriend on Apr 8, 2019 15:58:32 GMT -5
Did Tophat ever announce their plans for next year? Last I heard they were telling some ECNL parents they would not have ECNL next year. I have heard from MANY people that Tophat is dropping ECNL. I have not seen an official announcement yet.
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Post by soccernotfootball on Apr 8, 2019 22:22:03 GMT -5
An earlier thread mentioned a rumor of Southeast splitting into a North and South.
Currently with 12 teams, 6 are from Florida and the other 6 are from GA/AL/TN. (4 GA and 1 each from AL/TN.) For 2019/20, 1 more from TN and 1 more from FL are being added. Does anyone have any confirmation regarding the North/South split?
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Post by 04gparent on Apr 8, 2019 23:59:07 GMT -5
I have daughters that play at TH and close friends that play at Concorde. The club has not been informing parents about ECNL. That’s a rumor. I actually hear more about this rumor from my friends at Concorde than those inside the club.
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Post by jjfutebol on Apr 9, 2019 8:41:37 GMT -5
At least for the boys, the addition of a TN team leaves the AL team without a ‘traveling’ partner. Does that mean a GA team will be added (or dropped)? Or will ECNL give AL another ECNL club? One could argue that Vestavia look as strong and maybe stronger that some of the current ECNL clubs.
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Post by oraclesfriend on Apr 9, 2019 8:47:41 GMT -5
I have daughters that play at TH and close friends that play at Concorde. The club has not been informing parents about ECNL. That’s a rumor. I actually hear more about this rumor from my friends at Concorde than those inside the club. I have heard it from both Tophat families and people outside of Tophat. One of the Tophat families is extremely well connected.
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Post by soccermaxx72 on Apr 9, 2019 9:25:31 GMT -5
I have daughters that play at TH and close friends that play at Concorde. The club has not been informing parents about ECNL. That’s a rumor. I actually hear more about this rumor from my friends at Concorde than those inside the club. I have heard it from both Tophat families and people outside of Tophat. One of the Tophat families is extremely well connected. Agree with oracle, on the girls side not sure why tophat just don’t officially announce and embrace the Allin DA unless contractually they have been asked to wait. Should make ecnl tryouts at the other clubs more competitive
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Post by Soccerhouse on Apr 9, 2019 9:41:12 GMT -5
Can't imagine trying to explain all this now to a new parent of an 8 year old, and lets for fun say they are twins - one boy and one girl-
I have 2 really talented children at u8, these kids are special, I'm talking the next Olivia Moultrie and Pulisic, I've already spoke to Ajax and Man City, they want me to bring them over, but we opted to remain in the states ---blah blah etc etc --
Can you explain to me the landscape of youth soccer at your club. Yes, we have girls DA, but only boys DA for u13 and u14.
Why don't you have boys day for u15+? We just don't. I thought you said DA was for the best, then why do you have girls DA and not boys DA? We just don't. But your in good luck, we have boys ecnl.
What is boys ecnl? Its the new super elite league created 2 years ago for elite boys.
Wait, I'm confused, I thought DA was the for the elite players? Yes, but so is ECNL...
Great news, so if my daughter doesn't play DA and chooses to play ecnl we are in good shape. Actually, we don't have girls ECNL anymore...but we do have SCCL.....
Parent walks away even more confused when they started.....
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Post by soccernotfootball on Apr 9, 2019 9:49:13 GMT -5
Southeast Conference, North/South split? Boys and Girls? Just Boys? Anyone?
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 9, 2019 9:51:37 GMT -5
Boys/girls confusion here in this thread... I doubt NTH will be dropping BOYS ECNL. Especially given the likelihood that their Boys DA future is bleak.
NTH should simply announce it on the girls side so that parents can start to map out their tryouts.
As for the girls bracket for 2019-2020 being done, I doubt it. I think when NTH drops GIRLS ECNL another club will be added in the GA/AL side.
I think its also unlikely GIRLS ECNL SE splits into N/S divisions.
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Post by infoguy on Apr 9, 2019 12:04:22 GMT -5
Interesting, in that it seemed that NASA benefited with ECNL because of their merger with ECNL perennial favorite TopHat. I am not sure if ECNL will take kindly to Tophat leaving, and they would also be OK with NASA keeping ECNL status. Aren't they pressuring the all-ECNL approach?
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 9, 2019 13:28:17 GMT -5
I doubt that the elite leagues care too much that boys and girls be on the same page. CF is staying DA on the boys side. Looks like CF has 3 teams in the top 3 on the boys side, I guess ECNL boys doesn't have the same rules that girls do. I'm guessing Crossfire will stay DA on the boys side also.
Lets face it, for boys, DA is unquestionably the top league. On the girls side we're still in the midst of a fight between ECNL and USSF DA, with ECNL seemingly gaining some leverage. NTH will be the first big loss for girls ECNL of the clubs that had both.
From my research, only 4 remain (I may well be mistaken though):
So Cal Blues Soccer Club FC Dallas Real Colorado Solar Soccer Club
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Post by soccerdad456 on Apr 9, 2019 13:40:39 GMT -5
So sick of the never ending rumors, "will tophat lose ecnl". Not even the coaches know as a decision has not been made.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 9, 2019 13:52:06 GMT -5
Less than 7 weeks until tryouts for 2019-2020. A decision hasn't been made???
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Post by soccermaxx72 on Apr 9, 2019 14:06:25 GMT -5
Less than 7 weeks until tryouts for 2019-2020. A decision hasn't been made??? Exactly, lol
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Post by oraclesfriend on Apr 9, 2019 15:08:37 GMT -5
So sick of the never ending rumors, "will tophat lose ecnl". Not even the coaches know as a decision has not been made. In my experience the coaches don't get told much before the general public. The DOC makes decisions but doesn't always disseminate info very early. There are reasons for this. Like to prevent the spread of rumors. To stop the coaches from leaving and going to another club. To stop or minimize the number of players leaving the club. How long did it take Concorde to announce it? Oh yeah...that's right Tophat announced it FOR Concorde. My guess is that it will be announced at the very last minute.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 9, 2019 15:22:43 GMT -5
Surely US Club knows if they're leaving. I'm sure there was a deadline. I assume Concorde knew in March 2018, because that's when FC Prime was announced to join ECNL (to balance out the number of teams when Concorde added a 2nd team).
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Post by atv on Apr 9, 2019 16:33:27 GMT -5
If Tophat leaves/ is forced out of ECNL rather than go “all in”, then they will field some pretty good SCCL teams. I’m assuming this will be their second teams?
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 9, 2019 18:14:56 GMT -5
Assuming most of their players stay, then yes, I would imagine they don't lose another SCCL game, like, ever. They already top the standings at most age groups I think.
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Post by gman44 on Apr 9, 2019 21:12:38 GMT -5
Considering the idea of NTH not having ECNL across 6 girls age group and the size / competitiveness of the Atlanta market (Plus most NTH ECNL teams are at the middle or top 1/2 of their bracket, does ECNL really want to 'loose / give up' an entire club? Or, would ECNL transfer the girls program to another ATL club....
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Post by fanatic21 on Apr 9, 2019 22:28:04 GMT -5
If Tophat drops/loses ECNL, then where will their 1st teams at U13 play? If they are forced to choose, they actually have a pretty big dilemma. They got quite a few top level players from Concorde this year after Concorde dropped DA. But if they drop/lose ECNL, will they/TH lose a lot of players at U13 - will players go to Concorde and SSA/Concorde to play ECNL. Will they come back to TH at U14 for DA. To me, it's all a big mess. If they're forced to choose, the decision is a complicated one. As another poster mentioned, having TH's U14-U19 2nd teams (and I guess U13 first team) in SCCL would be bad for everyone, including TH - they wouldn't have any competition.
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Post by atlutd17 on Apr 10, 2019 9:18:01 GMT -5
If Tophat drops/loses ECNL, then where will their 1st teams at U13 play? If they are forced to choose, they actually have a pretty big dilemma. They got quite a few top level players from Concorde this year after Concorde dropped DA. But if they drop/lose ECNL, will they/TH lose a lot of players at U13 - will players go to Concorde and SSA/Concorde to play ECNL. Will they come back to TH at U14 for DA. To me, it's all a big mess. If they're forced to choose, the decision is a complicated one. As another poster mentioned, having TH's U14-U19 2nd teams (and I guess U13 first team) in SCCL would be bad for everyone, including TH - they wouldn't have any competition. Drop ECNL? By choice? Possible but I doubt it. One has to look deeper into the real reasons why the most successful women's program might not be in ECNL next year. Would in fact such scenario serve the players' best interests, or, the interests of some and if so, who, and what the long term effects would be.
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Post by mistergrinch on Apr 10, 2019 10:53:49 GMT -5
If Tophat leaves/ is forced out of ECNL rather than go “all in”, then they will field some pretty good SCCL teams. I’m assuming this will be their second teams? They would probably add NPL above SCCL. It's all USCS anyway
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 10, 2019 10:59:01 GMT -5
If Tophat drops/loses ECNL, then where will their 1st teams at U13 play? If they are forced to choose, they actually have a pretty big dilemma. They got quite a few top level players from Concorde this year after Concorde dropped DA. But if they drop/lose ECNL, will they/TH lose a lot of players at U13 - will players go to Concorde and SSA/Concorde to play ECNL. Will they come back to TH at U14 for DA. To me, it's all a big mess. If they're forced to choose, the decision is a complicated one. As another poster mentioned, having TH's U14-U19 2nd teams (and I guess U13 first team) in SCCL would be bad for everyone, including TH - they wouldn't have any competition. Drop ECNL? By choice? Possible but I doubt it. One has to look deeper into the real reasons why the most successful women's program might not be in ECNL next year. Would in fact such scenario serve the players' best interests, or, the interests of some and if so, who, and what the long term effects would be. They don't have a choice. ECNL has a mandate that if your top team is in girls DA, then in girls ECNL 4 of the 5 age groups (U13-U17 I guess) must qualify for nationals. Only the 06's are near the top of the bracket in such a position (but last year they made it...Concorde did not and had to decide). So they drop DA and move their top team to ECNL or they drop ECNL. Overwhelming sentiment and conjecture is that they will drop ECNL.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 10, 2019 11:00:49 GMT -5
Considering the idea of NTH not having ECNL across 6 girls age group and the size / competitiveness of the Atlanta market (Plus most NTH ECNL teams are at the middle or top 1/2 of their bracket, does ECNL really want to 'loose / give up' an entire club? Or, would ECNL transfer the girls program to another ATL club.... There will be HUGE shockwaves through GA Soccer next month. Concorde will likely benefit the most, but every ECNL team in the state will see new players with all the shuffling. I am wondering now about the coaches and which ones may leave for other ECNL coaching opportunities.
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Post by soccernotfootball on Apr 10, 2019 11:03:08 GMT -5
@soccerhouse Perhaps a subboard for all things Tophat.
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 10, 2019 11:17:34 GMT -5
It'll die down once tryouts are over.
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Post by atv on Apr 10, 2019 11:30:54 GMT -5
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Post by atlfutboldad on Apr 10, 2019 11:47:37 GMT -5
I like this. It's ECNL saying:
"We're not second fiddle to GDA. You wanna have teams in both? You better be good enough to excel in both."
And IMO this strategy has worked. Aggressive cutting has kept the ECNL brand strong after 2 years of competition with GDA. Had they simply allowed it, ECNL as a brand would have tarnished.
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