ECNL Pathway Question

[Guest]

I'm sure this will quickly devolve into the standard dumpster fire but.....

Girls side only and ECNL only....I don't care about other leagues, matching levels, etc etc.

At one time there was ECNL, and therefore no official "pathway" for girls. ECNL clubs filled this gap by using whatever structure they saw fit (e.g. local team --> NPL team --> ECNL team). A few years ago ECNL made the decision to solidify this and created a second level of ECNL that had "Regional" in the name. I think this league was only open to clubs who were already ECNL members and it gave them a way to have a clear pipeline / promotion structure for their players while also getting some exposure for the second tier players by having those teams compete against each other in ECNL showcases. Then last year another level of ECNL was added (?) allowing clubs that were NOT ECNL clubs to participate with the hope that they would prove themselves and someday earn full ECNL membership. This is where the much hated "ECNL-R2" name came from.

When I go to the ECNL website there is ECNL and ECNL Regional League. My question is this - How many levels of ECNL does a typical ECNL club have? Using Skorpions as an example do they have 2 or 3 ECNL Girls teams at a given age?

And to pre-answer the "why don't you just ask the club?" that's like asking the car salesman what he thinks of the car you're looking at.....you get whatever answer he thinks it'll take to make the sale.

[Guest]

All clubs fall into either of two categories

1- the club has ECNL and a corresponding ECRL team. They have one of each at each age group. Note that for these purposes Stars White and Stars Blue are seen as different clubs.

2- the club has a stand alone ECRL team. One such team at each age group. Stars Sky Blue is a third club for this purpose.

Scorpions falls into category 1. Surf NE falls into the second category.

[Guest]

In this area
1 - ECNL Regional League New England
2 - ECNL Regional League Northeast aka ECRL2 (an accurate description, both in arriving later and in being a lower level of competition on average)

Note that when the Juventus Academy Boston teams moved to Scorpions, they became ECRL2 so the above isn't always precise, but it is a general guide

Use the pulldown at this website to see the teams:
https://theecnl.com/sports/2023/8/8/...808235356.aspx

[Guest]

In the "there's an exception to every rule" department ... some of the clubs in ECNL Mid-Atlantic (Charlotte SA, Charlotte Independence, NCFC) seem to field multiple teams in the same ECRL Carolinas conference, where they play alongside teams from clubs that have no current ECNL presence. Not sure if those Regional teams are "tiered" in the way that people understand Stars Sky Blue or SUSA Northeast to be, or if they just have localized geographical coverage.

The pattern where there's an ECRL conference with teams that map 1:1 with the corresponding ECNL conference does show up elsewhere across the country, but it's certainly not universal.

[Guest]

OP here....

These responses have been concise and helpful...I will be buying a lottery ticket later today in the hope that lighting strikes twice!

Looking at this I think that in general (from the outside looking in) ECNL is a very well run league traditionally. That said I feel that this configuration is designed primarily to allow clubs to confuse customers. They should have a distinctly different league name for teams that are not in the regions aligned to ECNL. I would say that the Regional name there makes sense and that it is the ECRL1 level that should be rebranded to something else because if they still follow the same schedule and travel with etc the real ECNL team then they aren't "Regional".

[Guest]

OP here....

These responses have been concise and helpful...I will be buying a lottery ticket later today in the hope that lighting strikes twice!

Looking at this I think that in general (from the outside looking in) ECNL is a very well run league traditionally. That said I feel that this configuration is designed primarily to allow clubs to confuse customers. They should have a distinctly different league name for teams that are not in the regions aligned to ECNL. I would say that the Regional name there makes sense and that it is the ECRL1 level that should be rebranded to something else because if they still follow the same schedule and travel with etc the real ECNL team then they aren't "Regional".

except the concept of "ECRL2" is just one that was made up on Talking Soccer. The only place that ECNL makes a distinction and tiers their ECRL clubs is in Texas. ECRL doesnt make a distinction between North Atlantic / New England ECRL teams and Northeast other than the former are mirror B teams of ECNL clubs and the latter are in theory A teams for clubs or branches of ECNL clubs. There has been quite a bit of talk that ECNL would finally "regionalize" ECRL by breaking up New England, Mid Atlantic and Northeast into separate MD/PA, NJ, NY, CT/RI/Mass ECRLs. This is the ECRL structure for Mid-Atlantic where you have Virginia separate from Carolinas

[Guest]

ECRL doesnt make a distinction between North Atlantic / New England ECRL teams and Northeast other than the former are mirror B teams of ECNL clubs and the latter are in theory A teams for clubs or branches of ECNL clubs.

of course they don’t, they’re not going to publicize the scam. It’s in their interest to have people think they are equivalent.


[/QUOTE]There has been quite a bit of talk that ECNL would finally "regionalize" ECRL by breaking up New England, Mid Atlantic and Northeast into separate MD/PA, NJ, NY, CT/RI/Mass ECRLs. This is the ECRL structure for Mid-Atlantic where you have Virginia separate from Carolinas[/QUOTE] Maybe, but there is no way the real ECNL/ECRL clubs want to play the teams in ECRL2. Some kind of promotion out of ECRL2 for the best teams would make a lot more sense.

[Guest]

of course they don’t, they’re not going to publicize the scam. It’s in their interest to have people think they are equivalent.

There has been quite a bit of talk that ECNL would finally "regionalize" ECRL by breaking up New England, Mid Atlantic and Northeast into separate MD/PA, NJ, NY, CT/RI/Mass ECRLs. This is the ECRL structure for Mid-Atlantic where you have Virginia separate from Carolinas[/QUOTE] Maybe, but there is no way the real ECNL/ECRL clubs want to play the teams in ECRL2. Some kind of promotion out of ECRL2 for the best teams would make a lot more sense.

[/QUOTE]

its not a scam - they are clear that ECRL is a level below ECNL. There isnt an interest in making B team players at an existing NL club feel somehow more special for no reason. By design, the RL is meant to be more "Regional" than the higher tier, NL. There was never supposed to be a direct mirroring between RL and NL. It just happened to work out that way with some of the regions.

[Guest]

its not a scam - they are clear that ECRL is a level below ECNL. There isnt an interest in making B team players at an existing NL club feel somehow more special for no reason. By design, the RL is meant to be more "Regional" than the higher tier, NL. There was never supposed to be a direct mirroring between RL and NL. It just happened to work out that way with some of the regions.

I believe the "scam" he is talking about is what was posted above with ECNL not making a distinction between the ECRL levels. You are proving the point by claiming that they are BOTH the level below ECNL when one is in fact 2 levels below ECNL. This is what I was saying when I said they need to change the naming, unless it's this way by design to keep everyone confused.

If we use Scorpions as an example again they have 3 ECNL teams: ECNL, ECRL New England, ECRL Northeast. ECRL New England mirrors the ECNL team, ECNL Northeast does not. This kind of by default makes the one that does the #2 team and the one that does not the #3 team. Unless they are picking rosters out of a hat that is.

So if I take my daughter to some Scorpions practices and they offer a spot on the ECRL team that mirrors the ECNL team I know that she is on the second-level team at the club. If she is offered a spot on the ECRL team that does not align with the ECNL team, she will be on the third-level team.

[Guest]

I believe the "scam" he is talking about is what was posted above with ECNL not making a distinction between the ECRL levels. You are proving the point by claiming that they are BOTH the level below ECNL when one is in fact 2 levels below ECNL. This is what I was saying when I said they need to change the naming, unless it's this way by design to keep everyone confused.

If we use Scorpions as an example again they have 3 ECNL teams: ECNL, ECRL New England, ECRL Northeast. ECRL New England mirrors the ECNL team, ECNL Northeast does not. This kind of by default makes the one that does the #2 team and the one that does not the #3 team. Unless they are picking rosters out of a hat that is.

So if I take my daughter to some Scorpions practices and they offer a spot on the ECRL team that mirrors the ECNL team I know that she is on the second-level team at the club. If she is offered a spot on the ECRL team that does not align with the ECNL team, she will be on the third-level team.

Well, kinda, but since we've noted that there's an exception for every rule . . . Scorps' ECRL2 teams are the Scorp's South teams that are the transplanted Juve DPL teams from a couple years ago and (at some ages anyway) might be stronger than ECRL1 and maybe even the ECNL team.

[Guest]

I honestly do not see how a club can move from ECRL2/NE to ECNL when there are so many low level teams there that a good team cannot really prove itself. Since we are all talking about exceptions, the one exception I see is Match Fit Shore in NJ since they already have an ECNL at another location and have a second ECRL2 badge at a third location (and they are tightly coupled with Surf right now). But beating a bunch of EDP-5 or EDP-6 teams 8-0 means nothing for all of the rest of the better teams in the league.

[Guest]

The pathway to promotion, Surf has said, is to qualify 4 of the 6 age groups for the playoffs (top 2 in each age group advance), and do well in the playoffs.

[Guest]

The pathway to promotion, Surf has said, is to qualify 4 of the 6 age groups for the playoffs (top 2 in each age group advance), and do well in the playoffs.

This is nonsense. They could win every playoff at every age and they wouldn't get in unless a current NE ECNL Club gave up their spot.

[Guest]

Well, kinda, but since we've noted that there's an exception for every rule . . . Scorps' ECRL2 teams are the Scorp's South teams that are the transplanted Juve DPL teams from a couple years ago and (at some ages anyway) might be stronger than ECRL1 and maybe even the ECNL team.

Good to see a Juve parent enter the discussion. If the club hasn't already scavenged the best talent at each age from the acquired Juve teams and consolidated it to ECNL then they deserve to lose their ECNL charter.

[Guest]

Good to see a Juve parent enter the discussion. If the club hasn't already scavenged the best talent at each age from the acquired Juve teams and consolidated it to ECNL then they deserve to lose their ECNL charter.

come on, give them one more year. Teams came over as a whole, just a few months ago for the older teams, some players wanted to stick together. Playing this year should give scorpions a lot of information on how the teams should be set up next year.