Slavich says the FFA have asked them to form a NYL side and he says his bid will front it but it would primarily be funded by the ACT government and local football's governing body, Capital Football.

Canberra's NYL team will not replace the Canberra-based AIS but provide a second side from Canberra in the NYL.

The two teams would be considered very separate as the AIS squad consists of youngsters from across the country while the Canberra team would be primarily made up from locals.

"It represents an excellent stepping stone for the establishment of an A-League side in Canberra. I'd be pushing to have it included as soon as possible," Slavich told au.fourfourtwo.com today.

"I'd be leading it [the NYL side] and part and parcel of this is discussions about future elite football games in Canberra including the Socceroos and/or A-League games, although I feel the fans of Canberra would prefer to cheer a local team."

As for the more pressing issue of an A-League team in Canberra, Slavich was keen to keep the ball rolling and remains in close contact with FFA.

Slavich will meet the FFA in early December to thrash out details of an NYL team. Also on the agenda are future Socceroo and A-League games in the national capital.

"We need to know otherwise we'd need to refund people's money through their commitments and so forth," said Slavich. "But they're [FFA] still very much interested in an A-League team for Canberra.

"And we're still very much in contention for potentially a 13th licence or if there was a dropout. Just because we missed out on the 12th franchise licence doesn't mean that's it for our bid.

"But add our W-League and NYL teams and it really is the nucleus of an A-League presence in Canberra."

However the bid supremo is still scratching his head about poor A-League attendances at recent games at Canberra stadium.

Central Coast Mariners matched up with Adelaide United at Canberra Stadium in round 13 and it pulled 5437 fans. The round five clash between Central Coast and Perth Glory attracted a similar 5139.

By contrast, at the start of the year when Canberra was still hopeful of gaining an A-League licence, a healthy 20,032 came through the turnstiles for the Socceroos' 2011 Asian Cup qualifier with Kuwait.  

Slavich added: "The thing I find fascinating is that we've got 18,000 registered players in the ACT and it's more than League, AFL and Union combined, yet we sort of struggle to get crowds to games.

"It perplexes me and I don't understand why more don't go. It's disappointing."