Implementing the recommendations of the Competition Review into Football in Tasmania lies at the core of the season 2020 senior fixtures released today by Football Tasmania.
A major focus on Club Match Days will see the bulk of the NPL TAS season played in the traditional Saturday afternoon time slots, with the addition of the NPL reserve sides into the Veto Southern Championship allowing for triple headers to be staged by clubs every week. NPL Kick off times will be staggered throughout the afternoon so that multiple games are not kicking off at the same time in the same region.
Sundays meanwhile are set to become Super League Sundays, with the Women’s game to take centre stage, allowing for greater promotion and streaming of the Women’s Super League. University SC will step back up into the league and fill the sixth spot in the league that was left vacant following the Clarence Zebras merger. Ulverstone will play games on Saturday’s in order to align with their Northern Matchdays, but otherwise the competition will play exclusively on Sundays
Consistency of game times, having more hospitable travelling schedules for Northern clubs and allowing clubs to stage multiple games at venues each day were all key recommendations from the SBP Competition Review and it is hoped that these changes will ease the burden on club volunteers and players with work commitments.
With the Clarence United and Hobart Zebras merger, the The NPL TAS will once again be an 8 team competition, removing the bye and meaning the season will be played across 21 rounds running from March 21st to September 5th with each team playing each other three times. The Super League will be again be a six team competition, with each side playing each other twice, home and away across over 20 rounds over the same time frame.
The action will start as early as the final week of January when the Summer Cup returns for Southern based NPL sides, offering a third major piece of silverware for the clubs to clamor after and allowing for a big Summer Cup Final Day at KGV on March 14th with three Cup finals to be played in a marquee day.
You can find the 2020 senior fixtures below, with PDF versions of the Statewide Leagues available for download, Championship versions will be uploaded soon.