Newcastle Football chairman Steve Cucumanovski says he has been in talks with Northern NSW Football counterpart Helene O'Neill amid the battle between member zones and the federation.
Five of the six independent zones are behind a move to oust and replace five of six NNSWF directors. The group demanded on August 23 that a general meeting be called to move the resolutions. That came a day after zones were handed NNSWF-endorsed recommendations from an independent review into the region's football administration.
The recommendations include moving to an aligned structure under NNSWF when clubs believe reform is appropriate. That would bring an end to the zone entities that administer community football.
Newcastle, Macquarie, Hunter Valley, Mid North Coast and Far North Coast zones have called for chair O'Neill, deputy Bill Moncrieff and directors Mansell Laidler, Peter Dimovski and Sarah Gray to be removed, but not remaining director, Mark Trenter. They say the move is in the best interests of football. The meeting must be called within 21 days, then held within 60.
Cucumanovski confirmed all zones were consulted on the attempt but North Coast Football chose not to support it.
The Herald can reveal the people chosen by the zones as replacement directors are David Willoughby, Mike Parsons, Lisa Evans, Paul Sandilands and Lauren Edwards.
Willoughby is a director on the Hunter Valley Football board. Parsons is a former chairman of Football Mid North Coast and remains on their board with Sandilands.
As for the nominated replacement directors, Cucumanovski said: "The people who have put their hand up are business people ... they are all football-minded people, who have played or been involved with football."
He also said on Monday that he and O'Neill "we're in the midst of conversations" but he was unable to provide more detail.
Asked why Trenter, the most recent addition to the board, was left out of the attempted spill, he said: "It could be the six [directors] in the end, I don't know. But he's someone who's been on for nine months who hasn't proven anything yet or done anything. It was just a number that was thrown out there."
As it stands, a bloc of five zones would carry a vote 10-8 to win any motion at NNSWF level. However, the Herald has been told at least two zones have come under pressure from their clubs, who are questioning the group's decision to act without consultation with them. Clubs could attempt an overthrow of zone boards, which could tip the balance of power in the battle against NNSWF.
Eland said he had spoken to many club officials who were unhappy with the zones' move. Cucumanovski said the feedback he had received has "all been good, but you are not going to make everyone happy. We are all human beings, we are all different."
In response to the review, NNSWF will create 10 new roles to help at grassroots level. They will be funded by equity next year but Eland said long-term changes were needed.
"This has never been about suggesting the zones don't do a good job," Eland said. "The review is about evaluating how we can do things better and what's come back clearly is that clubs and volunteers are feeling overburdened, under-resourced and undervalued.
"We don't want fees to go up, so we've got a responsibility to find what efficiencies can be gained to fund additional roles."
