The decision means Newcastle Football, which has won the past three boys state championships in under-11s and under-12s, will not send teams to next year’s titles. 

NNSWF will select players from its Newcastle SAP program to compete at the championships, which also include the Emerging Jets and zone teams from Macquarie, Hunter Valley and four other districts.

Northern met with parents recently at Souths Leagues Club to outline how it will run the Newcastle program, which will include boys from under-10s to under-12s and girls from under-9s to under-12s.

NNSWF boss David Eland said Northern had appointed a technical director and secured a venue for its Newcastle Skill Acquisition Phase (SAP) program, in which identified players train and play exclusively with a SAP team.

Newcastle Football is reviving its NET boys program, in which club teams and coaches train once a week with the zone’s coaches under technical director Richard Hartley. Newcastle ran the program in 2014 but reverted to SAP in the past two years. Its girls program will mirror SAP in that identified players will train and play only with their zone team. 

Eland said he had recommended to his board that NNSWF run SAP in Newcastle as Newcastle Football wanted to pursue a different program.

“Newcastle Football was not prepared to commit to a licensed SAP from 2017,” he said. “Unfortunately, our philosophies in this regard were not aligned.

“Newcastle Football were very keen to implement a program that was very, very broad, and that just wasn’t aligned to our high-performance principles.

“What Newcastle Football is conducting is a community program, whereas the skill acquisition program we will be running is aligned to our talented player pathway. They’re two completely different programs.”

Players and parents are free to choose between the programs on offer.