An under siege Football Federation Tasmania chief executive Matt Bulkeley has waved off claims playing numbers are in decline and interest in the state's elite competitions are waning.
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Soccer's new boss enters his first season in charge having seen in the promotion of Riverside Olympic and Glenorchy Knights into NPL Tasmania from the championships.
But Northern Rangers were forced to pull out, reducing the competition from 10 down to nine teams, over quality of their NPL squad.
The introduction of the 27-round season had also been a contributing factor.
The latest competition to suffer a blow has been the Women's Super League.
Launceston City joined Taroona quitting the WSL over struggling to attract players.
City women's coach Selina Steventon last week told The Examiner "the game is in a bad way at the moment".
But Bulkeley believed the six-team model can survive the 2019 season.
"We're obviously disappointed Launceston City and Taroona will not be part of the competition next year as they’ve been tremendous supporters of the women's game in Tasmania," he said.
"We remain committed to working with and supporting both clubs and hope they can return to the top level in the near future."
Bulkeley added the Super League would still provide a quality competition in 2019.
“We are still confident the WSL will provide a really strong level of competition in 2019," he said.
"FFT will also continue to evaluate our competitions to ensure that what we have in place meets the needs of our clubs and their players. This is a process that will continue throughout this year."
Bulkeley has also claimed "thousands of girls and women" are still playing the game all over the state.
We're obviously disappointed Launceston City and Taroona will not be part of the competition next year
- FFT boss Matt Bulkeley
He said 26 per cent of Tasmanian females are the highest proportion of any state or territory in Australia.
The next goal is to grow this figure past 30 per cent.
"It isn't just about raw playing numbers when it comes to the Super League, but about having players capable of playing at the top level in the state," he said.
"The challenge is always having the development pathways in place, so we have enough players to ensure the WSL is sustainable.
"It’s a technical game and you can’t just walk into the top level having never played before, which has made it hard for the likes of Taroona and Launceston City to replace the players they lost.”
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