Plans a foot

By Ben Blomfield

TWO more teams in the Archem Premier League, outdoor futsal and beach football are just some of the changes Greg Bath will fight for when his '2009 Football Development proposal is considered by the board of directors.

Bath, president of Football Bundaberg, will approach the board of directors this Monday night with radical changes to the regular season.

One the major changes outlined in Bath's proposal is adding two more teams to the Archem Premier League.

North Bundaberg, who dropped out of the season this year due to a lack of numbers, and a Spirit Academy Bundaberg team (SAB).

The SAB team would be made up of Bundaberg, Maryborough, Hervey Bay and Gympie players and would act as a Spirit feeder club.

"These lads will be like apprentices in the Spirit team and after their coaches think they are ready to play state league they will get put on the bench and might get 10 minutes of a game which could lead to anything," Bath said.

"It's a very exclusive team and the objective is too provide promising young players with elite style coaching so the Spirit have resources."

Players aged between 15 and 18 would be eligible to play in the SAB team with ties to the side to be cut once a person turns 19.

The SAB team would not be allowed to accept Archem Premier League prize money with the next two highest teams to receive the premiership money.

Bath will also look to introduce beach football (November-January 2009), outdoor futsal (October-February 2009), a veterans over-35 league (October-December 2008) and a junior and senior five-a-side tournament (October-December 2008).

The beach football competition would incorporate a blow up pitch to be used at a number of local beaches, pending council approval.