Country New Zealand Founded 1998 Level on pyramid 2 | Confederation OFC (Oceania) Number of teams 8 Domestic cup(s) Chatham Cup | |
The Mainland Premier League, or Robbie's Mainland Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is an amateur-status league competition run by Mainland Football for association football clubs located in the northern half of the South Island, New Zealand.
Contents
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- English Cup
- Robbies Mens Division One Clubs 2015
- Winners
- Robbies Premier Football League Winners
- References
It is currently regarded by the New Zealand footballing community as the strongest football league in the South Island of New Zealand and features current and former ASB Premiership players. The competition currently runs between March and August each year, and consists of seven teams based in Christchurch, and one team in Nelson. There are 21 rounds where teams play each other three times. The winner of the league qualifies for the South Island Championship, a one-off game against the winner of the FootballSouth Premier League, which is hosted by the two federations in alternate years. Cashmere Technical are the current holders of the South Island Championship.
By statute, the winners of the Mainland Football, and Nelson Bays region's Division One League play in a home and away play-off, with the winner of the tie receiving promotion to the Premier League. However, due to potential extra costs including travel, the winner of the Nelson Bay's Division One title forgoes the right to a play-off. This effectively means that the winner of the Mainland Football Division One title is promoted to the Premier League.
Formerly, the 2010 league was named Matson's Premier Football League due to the sponsorship agreement with the New Zealand beverage company Matson's Brewery. As of 2011, the Mainland Football top-tier football competition has been named the Robbie's Premier Football League with a one-year sponsorship agreement with the New Zealand beverage and food restaurant chain company Robbie's Bar & Bistro, which has been extended each year.
In 2012, Woolston Technical and Cashmere Wanderers were merged into Cashmere Technical, they replaced the Woolston side that had finished 6th in the 2011 competition. Recently merged teams Coastal Spirit (Established between New Brighton AFC and Rangers AFC in 2008), and FC Twenty Eleven (Established between Avon United and Burnside AFC in 2011) entered the Premier League through promotion from the Division One competition.
2012
In the 2012 season, Christchurch United were relegated from the league after a season-long relegation battle with FC Twenty Eleven. Nomads United, who won the Division One title, have been promoted back up to the Premier League. Coastal Spirit completed a switch of home ground for the 2013 season from Linfield Park to Cuthberts Green. However, in 2014 they were forced to move back to Linfield because Cuthberts was deemed not up to be up to Premier League standard by Mainland Football. Universities were also forced to play their home games away from Ilam fields for the same reason.
2013
The 2013 season was one of the closest competitions in recent memory. Ferrymead Bays set the pace early on, but soon fell away in the middle of the season after 4–0 home defeat to Nelson Suburbs in a top of the table clash. Eventually after several strong title challenges by the top four teams Cashmere Technical emerged victorious, succumbing to only two losses in the league, and 3 in a season that saw them win the treble which also included the South Island Championship, and the Chatham Cup. FC Twenty Eleven were relegated to the Mainland Division One Competition, with the University of Canterbury replacing them after securing the Mainland Division One title.
2014
The 2014 season began with Nelson Suburbs being beaten 4-1 at home by the newly promoted Universities. Both Cashmere Technical and Western continued their strong form from the 2013 season. Cashmere were unbeaten for the first 10 games until an 11th round 1-0 defeat to Nelson Suburbs on 31 May. This was Cashmere's first defeat since 1 June 2013. Tech rebounded, however, and secured their second straight title, with two games to spare. In the final round, University managed a 6-2 win over Coastal, which was enough to secure their 2015 MPL status through goal difference. Their closest rivals, Nomads, only needed to win, but could only muster a 2-2 draw with Nelson. In Division One, Christchurch United secured promotion to the 2015 MPL after a close battle with Selwyn. For Cashmere, it was another successful season where they also retained the South Island Championship and won the Chatham Cup.
English Cup
The English Cup is a knock-out competition that is sponsored by Stadium Cars, and features all clubs within the Mainland Football Federation. All games are currently played mid-week (with exception to the final, which is a Saturday afternoon) at the neutral venue of English Park. Currently, Western AFC are the current holders of the trophy after defeating Cashmere Technical 1-0.
The 2015 English Cup commences on Tuesday 12 May with Ferrymead Bays facing Cashmere Technical. A total of 16 teams entered the competition. Included are all Mainland Premier League, and Division One teams (with the exception of Nelson Suburbs, and the Cashmere Technical, and Ferrymead Bays second teams), as well as Burwood, FC Twenty Eleven, Hornby United, Hurunui Rangers, Nomads United, Papanui-Redwood, Parklands AFC, Selwyn United, and Waimak United. [2]