Changes in sporting regulations often affect the product on the field, but for Modbury Jets goalkeeper Ryan Neild, Football Australia's shift in NPL senior men's player roster principles has left his career and lifestyle in limbo.
Goalkeeper Ryan Neild (top row, third from left) representing the NPL All-Stars against Adelaide United recently. (Image: Pagonis Photography)
Ryan Neild was announced as the NPL SA's Goalkeeper of the Year at Football South Australia's Celebration of Football event last month. Yet, speaking recently to Front Page Football, he described the moment as bittersweet.
You would be forgiven for inferring that feeling was triggered by the Modbury Jets' disappointing premature end to their season after spending months at the competition's summit. Instead, the sense of pride was dampened because, despite being named the state competition's best goalkeeper, Neild will not be able to re-sign for Modbury or any NPL club around Australia in 2025.
On the 20th of September, Football Australia released a memo titled 'New Player Roster Principles to be introduced for NPL Senior Men's competitions.'
The document included alterations to the age composition of rosters, an incentive for signing AFC or OFC Visa players, regulations on homegrown players, and loan provisions.
The one directive that raised eyebrows, though, states, 'Goalkeepers who are not classified as an Australian Player will not be permitted on an NPL First Team Player Roster.'
Neild, hailing from Warrington, England, and his club, Modbury, found out the news the same time as the public.
"One of my teammates, Dion Kirk, sent me the link and said, 'What does this mean for you?' That was the first time I had actually heard of this or been told anything about it," Neild shared, recounting the day he found out about the news.
Neild's time in Australia has been a rollercoaster ride, and it didn't even start with the intention of living in the country, let alone playing football.
While travelling around Asia, Neild ended up in Adelaide because his partner, Charlotte, had friends residing there. The couple enjoyed life in Adelaide and made it their home away from home.
During his early days in South Australia, Neild was able to use his overseas experience playing in Wales and England to get an opportunity to work with Adelaide United's young goalkeepers, and even nearly appeared in an NPL SA Grand Final for the Adelaide Comets when the club requested to sign him as an emergency, with both goalkeepers Dan Vaughan and Julian Torresan under an injury cloud before Football South Australia rejected the request.
A common joke in South Australia is that everything is so interconnected that there are only two degrees of separation from everyone, and that proved true when Neild's partner made a nonchalant comment to a co-worker about the fact that her partner was a goalkeeper. Her co-worker? SA football legend Jason Trimboli, who knew that his former club, Modbury Jets, was seeking a shot stopper.
Trimboli put Neild in contact with Jets coach Maurice Natale, and it wasn't long before a deal was struck.
"As soon as I met Maurice, he explained to me the project at Modbury and the journey they had gone through in the State League and then getting a promotion to the NPL; it just felt right to me, and as soon as I met the boys in pre-season, I knew this team was serious, and they wanted to compete, and that was what I was looking for," Neild explained.
Modbury coach Maurice Natale was the benefactor on a chance conversation between Ryan Neild's partner, Charlotte, and Jason Trimboli. (Image: Pagonis Photography)
Neild was the club's starting goalkeeper in their first year back in the NPL SA, and the year they astonishingly made the Grand Final. In 2024, he helped the Jets make the Federation Cup Final and the Australia Cup Round of 32, being awarded Goalkeeper of the Year for his performances.
Unfortunately, Neild and the Jets have not been able to claim silverware. Just as conversations began for Neild to extend his stay for a third season to address "unfinished business," he and the club were rocked by Football Australia's announcement.
"Representing SA against Adelaide United and then the awards night was a bittersweet moment; you are receiving awards for the sacrifice and everything that I've done here, and on the other hand, I am told I don't have a club, and there is no way I can play in the NPL the following year."
As explained in the document, Football Australia is willing to allow clubs to honour contracts for the 2025 campaign for goalkeepers who had extended before the 19th of September. Still, as the nature of NPL competition is semi-professional, most clubs operate on a year-by-year basis. Thus, decisions like this one leave players like Neild in limbo.
"It is difficult to take because I've had no time to even arrange my next step or to look at what is next because it has come as a total shock, from talking about a new contract for the next year to that being taken off the table without any of my control or the club's control.
"It would have been easier for me to take if the club decided they were moving in a different direction and said thank you for your service, but this is more difficult because it is out of my control, and I have no say."
Ryan Neild in action for Modbury Jets during the 2025 NPL SA season. (Image: Pagonis Photography)
After the news broke, Neild scoured the NPL landscape to find out whether foreign goalkeepers like himself had been causing a dramatic blockage of pathways for young Australian custodians. His findings only left him with more questions.
"Across Australia, there are 198 NPL-class goalkeepers, and there are only three Visa goalkeepers in that pool, which is such a small number," Neild stated.
"If there was a problem with an influx of Visa goalkeepers blocking the pathway for younger Australian goalkeepers, then I could understand that, but with only three Visa spots being used in the NPL for goalkeepers, it just makes me question where this could have come from or what does this actually mean?"
Neild was disappointed by the lack of humanity shown for goalkeepers like himself who have taken the plunge and made Australia home with no consideration shown for their service.
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Further, he believes the root cause of the problem is not addressed by blocking Visa signings, believing that the issue must be addressed at a grassroots level.
"When we say promoting youth in the goalkeeping department, I don't think that targeting overseas goalkeepers is necessarily how I think about it. Investing in the youth, goalkeeper training, and getting more goalkeeper coaches to start with these Australian goalkeepers at a young age will make them love playing the position.
"The goalkeeper position is not a position famously known for people to love playing it; many players are either put there because they are not good enough to play outfield or because there's genuinely natural talent there in the younger age group. A bigger investment in better training and better overall care for the young goalkeepers will help promote them later in life."
Neild lamented that players like him could be valuable assets that help induce that love for the position while also assisting young goalkeepers in developing their skills, an initiative he planned on taking before the news broke.
After absorbing the unexpected hit, Neild has to move on to make a decision that he admits has to be family-centric and not just primarily based on football.
Front Page Football contacted Football Australia for comment, but did not receive a response.
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