ECNL vs. DA turf war has created a 'toxic environment'

ToonArmy said:
Did ECNL come before SCDSL? My daughter got into club at u9 right at the time that club was going from a decent sized 1 location CSL club to joining a mega SCDSL club and we were told it was to get into the better league and have better opportunity for it's top players to play in ECNL. Within the next couple years that club swallowed up a whole lot of other clubs and I noticed that in our area there was hardly any more CSL teams. I don't know the history of ECNL and SCDSL but seems like they are partners in some way and both have a large hand in changing the landscape of socal soccers good ol days to what it is now long before DA screwed it up even more.
Click to expand...

SCDSL started after ECNL for many reasons. CSL required member clubs put their top teams in the CSL (so ECNL clubs had a conflict), CSL limited each club to 3 teams per age group, CSL had/has relegation and promotion that made it hard for coaches to underperform and keep teams together...there were many factors. Some people will tell you about the ogre of GS and invites to CSL Premier, but that was about control, not merit, most of the time. Some top clubs had been angling to leave CSL for some time.

In the end, the ECNL clubs needed a new league, and they convinced Beach, Legends and a few others to follow, many who later got absorbed or disappeared, to join with them and create a new league where coaches picked their brackets, clubs could control their schedules, there would be no Sunday games (yea, they actually said that), results would not be posted nor scores kept for younger age groups, ENCL teams would participate and top teams would get at least 2 games against ECNL competition, and you would smile so hard you would be whistling merry tunes out of your ... well maybe not that last one.
 
Ellejustus said:
Curious Q for you. If DA never came would you have stayed at Beach and said no to ECNL clubs recruiting ur stud?
Click to expand...
Great question! I don’t think we could make it work logistically. We committed to LB for 2 seasons and that about broke my wife and that was only a 40 min commute. The closest ECNL team at that time was 2x’s further away.
 
Ellejustus said:
You and I and our dds go way back. Keep in mind we lived in Temecula and were with Legends at the time (non ecnl). We used to see the old wise man (TB) at our games. Then we got the call. To be honest with you, that was the best call I ever received by a coach. No sales pitch with him. He took all his teams from U11-U18. If you kept up, you played another year. No politics. If you didn't measure up after playoffs, you got cut. That was pure competition and many parents whined and complained as did I. When Surf called now that was a different pitch. Her time as DP (not really that) sucked. She was eligible for playoffs but decided to go all in ECNL this year with a coach a few friends and she didn't want to be a "rent a player" for the DA playoffs this year. And let me be clear. I'm not saying if you go all in with the DA you don't have a life. It sucks that both our kids can't battle against each other like before. Plus I see some studs some haven't seen at ECNL. One kid I knew back in the day is 5 10' now. ECNL screwed Legends and Beach, no question. Not fair and frankly one of the reasons were talking about this crap.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear ECNL didn'st screw Beach or Legends. They had no track record and in the case of Legends, they didn't want to jump in at the beginning and when they did the second expansion it was either take Blues and Eagles or take them and keep one of those more deserving clubs out. The only club that got screwed by ECNL was Laguna Hills Eclipse as they had recently won a USYS National Championship and that was the litmus test for entry (although Legends didn't have a championship at that time).

Good luck to you and your player.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Just to be clear ECNL didn'st screw Beach or Legends. They had no track record and in the case of Legends, they didn't want to jump in at the beginning and when they did the second expansion it was either take Blues and Eagles or take them and keep one of those more deserving clubs out. The only club that got screwed by ECNL was Laguna Hills Eclipse as they had recently won a USYS National Championship and that was the litmus test for entry (although Legends didn't have a championship at that time).

Good luck to you and your player.
Click to expand...

The screwing came later when a few of the 9 clubs consistently voted against letting another Club gain entry.
 
In the LA South Bay, a good PVSC/Exiles/Fram/South Bay/Force U11-U13 team might find Blues coaches on the sidelines (at least they were up front about it) and Slammers coaches stopping parents on their way to the parking lot after the game. That pre-dated ECNL, and is one of the reasons ECNL exclusion helped Beach more than they admit. They became the big fish.
 
Dos Equis said:
In the LA South Bay, a good PVSC/Exiles/Fram/South Bay/Force U11-U13 team might find Blues coaches on the sidelines (at least they were up front about it) and Slammers coaches stopping parents on their way to the parking lot after the game. That pre-dated ECNL, and is one of the reasons ECNL exclusion helped Beach more than they admit. They became the big fish.
Click to expand...
I’m in the South Bay. LD from Blues would drive out from OC and find out where our girls would train. He then stalk our parents after practice. He also admitted that he liked to get our players and had very little competition in getting them. I also know when MQ was the girls DOC for South Bay Force he lost many players to ECNL.
 
Dos Equis said:
In the LA South Bay, a good PVSC/Exiles/Fram/South Bay/Force U11-U13 team might find Blues coaches on the sidelines (at least they were up front about it) and Slammers coaches stopping parents on their way to the parking lot after the game. That pre-dated ECNL, and is one of the reasons ECNL exclusion helped Beach more than they admit. They became the big fish.
Click to expand...

Beach and Legends should thank the ECNL teams for their oligarchy. Beach and Legends got to have 5o teams in each age group and for the most part they only had to worry about each other and Carlsbad Elite as competition in National Cup once the ECNL teams pulled out. These newbie parents don't understand that prior to the ECNL teams leaving it was rare for anyone outside of those 10 clubs to make a semifinal of national cup. Every year that my daughter participated in national cup it was 4 ECNL teams as the semifinalists and Arsenal would end up winning it every year.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Just to be clear ECNL didn'st screw Beach or Legends. They had no track record and in the case of Legends, they didn't want to jump in at the beginning and when they did the second expansion it was either take Blues and Eagles or take them and keep one of those more deserving clubs out. The only club that got screwed by ECNL was Laguna Hills Eclipse as they had recently won a USYS National Championship and that was the litmus test for entry (although Legends didn't have a championship at that time).

Good luck to you and your player.
Click to expand...
They would say that and the perception was there. I heard many rumors why no Legends. Maybe JH had bigger plans???
 
MakeAPlay said:
Blues weren't an original member. They were let in. The original members in SoCal where:

Slammers
Surf
West Coast FC
Strikers
Real So Cal
Arsenal
Click to expand...
Being an original member has zero bearing on my comment. They were one of the “few” clubs that voted against letting Beach in.
 
MakeAPlay said:
Nope. Josh wanted in once he realized that it was the beginning of the end of relevance for the Coast Soccer League.
Click to expand...
You sure? I think he had big big plans and he's not done. Water park and hotel are next. He wanted in just like all the clubs and deserved to be in. The ECNL clubs in socal thought he was arrogant. Maybe he was. I think he made a good decision and ECNL should have done a better job of working things out. I know he hated them because his players would get poached from Arsenal, Blues and so on. It happened every year :( You kinda have to say JH has done well from a business side. I don't know the books but it looks good from the outside compared to Blues who were #1 in SoCal for a long time and need to make a decision soon, DA or ECNL.
 
Ellejustus said:
You sure? I think he had big big plans and he's not done. Water park and hotel are next. He wanted in just like all the clubs and deserved to be in. The ECNL clubs in socal thought he was arrogant. Maybe he was. I think he made a good decision and ECNL should have done a better job of working things out. I know he hated them because his players would get poached from Arsenal, Blues and so on. It happened every year :( You kinda have to say JH has done well from a business side. I don't know the books but it looks good from the outside compared to Blues who were #1 in SoCal for a long time and need to make a decision soon, DA or ECNL.
Click to expand...


Look I go back to the days when Legends didn’t even exist so the reality is Arsenal was there first and Legends didn’t do anything until after the ECNL teams split off and he got the ability (through the formation of the SCDSL) to have as many teams in each age group as he wanted. So yes he has done well for himself as a businessman but in terms of talent development he is average at best.

And if the Legends parents are okay with someone getting rich off of their kids pure talent and drive then this is America and as long as it is not hurting anybody and it is happening between two consenting parties then have at it.

Good luck to you and your daughter.
 
The good news is things are much worse on the boys side. Or at least the good news for nobody with a son in the DA.
 
MarkM said:
A very good player on the Blues DA team just won the CIF State championship in a distance event. I think she is running and playing soccer at Oregon.
Click to expand...
That's great to hear and I'm certain that had nothing to do with DA and everything to do with her club letting her do what she wants to do. I've made this point also that the real development and guidance comes from your club. DA and ECNL have very little to do with that part.
 
A good read, https://www.businessinsider.com/nba...IcIjY_jevZVPrfaKudH3_n671m71noa2XWfKhm5S_VCTY

FIBA made a change to its schedule in recent years. Two-thirds of the qualifying tournaments for the World Cup take place during the NBA season. Unlike in soccer with FIFA, players on the national team don't get exemptions from their professional teams to play in international tournaments.

"FIBA is not concerned about us," Colangelo said ( via The Washington Post's Ben Golliver). "They're concerned about what's best for basketball internationally. FIBA got exactly what they wanted. They're getting a lot of games, a lot of attendance. There's more interest in a lot of countries. Personally, I didn't like the change. I knew it would have a negative effect on us."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top