WOW!!! 96 Texans not accepted in National League for 2010-11

Just got word that National League will keep their group at 8 teams (rather than the expansion to 16 as discussed). As such, Texans 96 will not be allowed in (I'm assuming based on the fact that they weren't in Premier League last season). I would expect this move really catches 96 Texans off guard. It is a major shock to me.

Nearly simultaneously, Texans have formally decided to apply for ECNL for the 2011-12 season. One has to wonder if National League may have caught wind of Texans' plans to join ECNL??? To me, it's a pretty short-sighted decision by National League to hold their group down to 8 teams. If they had intentions of putting up a fight vs ECNL, I would have thought expansion would be a mandatory move.

Anyone have additional insight (especially Texans' folk)?

Definitely disappointing and unfortunate to have missed out on NL. I think there were several factors that worked against the 96 Texans team in not being selected: they didn't play Premier League last year and they also didn't make it to the semi's at Regionals in June. According to the following excerpt from the NL application, these were the first criteria used in selecting U15 teams.

"The remaining slots will be filled by teams that have either achieved success in their respective Regional League or were a semifinalist at the 2010 Regional Championships."

A few months ago I was under the impression that there was little to no chance of the Texans inclusion in NL due to no PL last year. When USYSA announced the expansion of NL to 16 teams it opened the door, if only slightly. Unfortunately for USYSA (and the 96 Texans team) there weren't enough applications to fill a 16 team league (this might be the most surprising thing of all).

Like I said, an unfortunate set of circumstances, but in the end the team's poor performance at U13 was the determining factor, which is hard to take issue with.

I would imagine there's a pretty good point to be made here as to why ECNL teams avoid this situation due to guaranteed acceptance. At this point, though, I guess those conversations seem to be unnecessary as the battle between USYSA/ECNL appears to be over before it even started.

Bad luck, Gunners, although your team can now pick and choose the tournaments it wishes to attend, and I'm sure will still get plenty of exposure.

But after Sting's great showing at nationals, and our understanding in NTX that there are several other teams around here on approximately the same level (+Lonestars of course in PL), one might imagine that the NTX back-to-back State Cup winner would get more respect.

One has to wonder whether one of the objectives of these national leagues isn't to benefit the have-not regions and states which cannot field a a competitive local-regional league for a top-tier team.