So apparently the reason Blues are not in anymore is they weren’t willing to commit to the Pilot team being their strongest 03 team.
The league invited all the DA clubs to participate due to there being no 03DA age group for 2018-19 but said that it would have to be built as the clubs A team. If the club had 03 players playing up in DA, no problem, but if they were encouraging the best 03s to play in a different gaming circuit (eg ECNL) then they wouldn’t be allowed to enter. Of course no club or coach can demand a player gives up high school soccer and play on the Pilot team but it was a matter of it needing to be promoted as the top 03 team within the club.
Slammers from the very beginning chose not to do it and had always planned on the best 03s not on the 02DA team next season playing in ECNL. Blues were originally going to be in but then didn’t want to make the necessary assurances to the league.
This would seem to make sense from what people have said on here and what was originally posted on the Blues website regarding coaching assignments. If AR has brought the majority of his Strikers ECNL group to the Blues and they are going to be the ECNL team at the club, then TB’s 03DA are making up the majority of the 02DA next season which meant BH’s current ECNL team was going to become the Pilot team. That means it definitely wasn’t going to be the A team looking at the results & standings of the current ECNL Southwest Conference.
Only questions now would be why Blues held off telling the parents for so long despite the league informing them a couple of weeks ago and what will happen to the players who were signed to the Pilot team?