An under-18 competition exclusive to the premier division will be a thing of the past in 2022, with a standalone juniors league confirmed by the NTFA.
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For several decades, players wishing to play in the NTFA's under-age competition had been forced to move to one of the nine premier league clubs but starting from next season, division one entities will also be given the opportunity to field a side.
"That's really exciting news and it's really exciting news for participation and I think every person involved in football can see that, it actually makes sense," NTFA president Scott Rigby said.
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"You look at our demographics around the North of the state and you look at our current pathways - some of them don't make sense with our senior and junior club alignments.
"But that's the thing, we have to start looking at what does make sense.
"We've got big areas across here and we've got some really good top junior clubs, we need to start supporting them and start feeding into our senior competition where they want to play, not where they've only got limited choices."
Rigby said the idea for the changes came about through "simple conversations, numbers and data" with the likes of division one sides East Coast Swans and Evandale consistently fielding sides in the NTJFA but unable to link their junior pathways to the senior competition.
The most recent premier division under-18 competition was won by Bridgenorth in 2019, while George Town took out the six-team under-21s roster played in 2020 as a part of the opt-in NTFA Shield.