Wet Weather 2022…
 
Well what a past three years we have had......  With the grassroots football community finally being let loose again after two years of Covid effected seasons, we have certainly been hit with some amazingly tumultuous wet weather.
 
We thank the Football Community for its patience, however thin, in riding the wave of wet weather we are all currently experiencing.  NWSF and its 34 member Clubs have been making every effort to provide the best experience possible only to be washed aside by the significant levels of heavy rain over the past three months.
 
NWSF aims to provide a space for the community to play football when it is available.  We do so in conjunction with our 5 local Councils who are also experiencing significant disruptions to regular operations.
 
While it is not possible for any of us to stop the rain and remedy the waterlogged fields, we certainly share your frustrations and hope by explaining some of our procedures and factors that shape the decisions, you will have a better understanding of the factors and challenges faced.
 
On a regular weekend
 

• Each week, NWSF works with its 5 LGA’s to determine the status and playability of the grass fields by 2pm each Friday.  This involves dialogue with Council staff throughout the day to allow the NWSF staff to start preparing for any changes each weekend.
• NWSF then looks at available grounds to maximize the number of matches that can be played across Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.
• Changes are then made to the draws and notifications sent to players (through Dribl), the Clubs and the Referees.
• If rain occurs after Council, the NWSF and Clubs have made their decision, further decisions are made as required to mitigate each circumstance arising.  There are weather forecasts that may or may not prevail and every chance is given to have games go ahead.  This can mean, that publication of changes can happen at the last minute and flexibility is called for.  This is balanced by predicting some inevitable decisions that grounds will be out in an endeavor to not disrupt the 16500 participants and associated volunteers across the region.  The balance is fine and each circumstance has its challenges.
• Clubs also have the option to close grounds if they believe they are unfit for play and this does happen regularly.
• The referee also has the right and responsibility to postpone a match or abandon midway through if the field becomes dangerous or unfit for play.
• Currently the association has 652 games to schedule each weekend – this includes 508 mixed games over Saturday / Sunday and 144 female games on Sundays.

 
Moving forward
 
Decisions around wet weather presents it challenges leading into each weekend.  Providing a balance between the fairness and integrity of each individual competition along with providing opportunities for noncompetitive fixture are all considerations that we have evaluated. We are mindful this is community football and all participants pay to participate and should be given equal opportunities to play.
 

• We are continuing to track the composition of each competitive and non-competitive age division in order to attempt to provide transparency for all competitions to have a fair share of game time. Please see the current tracking in the Competition Matrix below which we are happy to continue to provide transparency on as the season progresses.
• Our “wiggle room” when grounds get closed is very small and it only takes a couple grounds to be washed out and we cannot complete all games as we have very few spare spaces to move washed out games to. Additionally, our ability to replay washed out games in subsequent weekends is becoming increasingly challenging as we have already filled up those few spare grounds we have for future weekends with the already washed-out games, and have also scheduled many non-traditional mid-week fixtures for the coming weeks, all in an effort to help us catch up games as best we can.
• For the 2022 season, please note that going forward, NWSF is also looking at ways to extend the season and alter finals structures to maximize the number of games we can play competitive and non-competitive fixtures across all age divisions. Clubs and players are encouraged to be accommodating of more flexible scheduling of games and potential non-traditional days and game times as we seek to ensure as many games as possible can be played.
• We have had numerous questions regarding our limited synthetic fields which allow play in all weather and rest assured we are fully utilising these grounds to the maximum of our ability. We want to call out the clubs that call these their home grounds as they have shown a significant commitment to help our association play as many games as possible, regularly giving up training nights, and setting up and packing down their grounds, providing ground marshalls, running canteens etc on days when in many cases none of their own club teams have been scheduled to play.

 
Please understand we share your frustration and are doing everything we can to get as many games played as possible.

Competition Matrix - 2022

Congratulations are in order for the Dragons squad due to play Round 5 on Tuesday 17 May - they're the first team to make it this far in the competition!

Seeing Macquarie Dragons Premier League remain competitive for Preliminary Round 5 of the Australia Cup (formerly FFA Cup) is a testament to how competitive the local NWSF competition has become.

"Being the 1st NWSF team to make it to this round is a fantastic effort" said Steve Crawford, from the NWSF Football Management Committee

Their round 4 fixture was a tough challenge, though a free kick before half time levelled the score to 1-1 then the goals were flowing for Macquarie Dragons in the second half

"Our squad received enormous support from the Dragons community and our committee, which we are so thankful for" reflected Coach Luca Falcone. 

"There was so much buzz around the group on matchday" Luca said.

Luca is Coach to MDFC Premier League, and Assistant Coach to Spirit FC First Grade. When asked why the squad has been so successful, he attributed the Dragons player attitudes and the strong foundations supported by the club committee. 

"We compete, we learn, we get better as a group [first and reserve grade]- we make our environment through hard work and dedication, which is similar to the successful Spirit FC ecosystem"

North West Sydney Football celebrates our ref's, coaches, players, volunteers and administrators - head to our FFW page to learn more...
(click below for more info)

North West Sydney Football is delighted to launch its new coach education and player development resource, nwsfdna.com.

The NWSF DNA is a framework developed by the association and representative programs to achieve our vision of fostering and growing the game of football in North West Sydney.

"The framework is focused on three key pillars - the high quality people across the association, working together to provide positive environments so we can play, enjoy and develop in the game." said Tim Palmer, Coach and Player Development Manager. 

Built by Spirit FC for the NWSF clubs, Nwsfdna.com provides specific resources and information to bring together our people, the environment and the game.

​ In order to support coaches in their development of holistic people/players, coaches can access: 

• session plans,
• season programs,
• videos and additional resources

This ranges from our youngest participants in Miniroos to those in our more senior teams, as NWSF strives to support a connected local ecosystem working together towards a common goal.

This new resource is deliberately designed as an evolving project, with new content and resources to be added in the coming months to support clubs and coaches in bringing the DNA to life.

Want to learn more? The website is also designed as a complement to our coach education offerings to provide further information and resources to our dedicated coaches across all NWSF clubs. Head there now...