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A strong A-League makes weak Socceroos

Martin new author
Roar Rookie
19th November, 2014
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Australia's (Source: AFP/Ian Kington)
Martin new author
Roar Rookie
19th November, 2014
128
1468 Reads

A strong domestic competition like the A-League is actually hurting our football development in the short to medium term.

The A-League was established in 2004 with the objective of being the key developmental platform for our future Socceroos.

By giving local players the chance to become professional and play in a competitive league at home, they would receive the right launching pad to go and succeed in Europe’s top leagues, which in turn would lead to a stronger national team.

Now this all sounds good in theory but here’s the problem with this – we are assuming that the A-League is of a high enough standard that its best players can easily slot into top-division clubs in Europe.

Empirical evidence clearly shows this is not the case.

Out of all A-League graduates, only Mile Jedinak and Tommy Oar are playing regularly for a top European club. The rest are either languishing on the bench, playing in reserve teams or second division clubs, or simply not playing at all.

So why is this happening?

Ironic as it may sound, the root cause of the problem is the strong domestic A-League competition.

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When I say that the A-League is strong, I’m referring to the fact that it is financially stable, players are able to make a decent living at home, and a real football culture is now developing among fans which is making football a part of the national sporting psyche.

When it comes to the technical standard of the league, it has grown in leaps and bounds, and while it is light years better than Season 1, it still falls short compared with many foreign leagues.

So at the moment, our best young players can make a decent living at home and are not necessarily in a rush to go overseas. In fact, many pundits and experts are vocal in saying that our best young players should stay in the A-League as long as possible before making the move abroad. So they end up staying here for a couple of years and then move overseas typically around the age bracket of 21 to 24.

Now by the time a player is in their early 20s, their technical development has ended. After spending years playing in a lower quality league, is it any wonder that many of our top young players fail to crack a top club in Europe?

Wouldn’t it be infinitely better if these players went abroad as teenagers, exposed themselves to higher quality leagues at a much younger age, and as a result developed into better technical players?

I am not dissing the A-League. I love our league and watch around 80 per cent of all games. I am just saying that when it comes to our best young players reaching their full potential, they’re better served leaving the country as teenagers.

Most of our golden generation of Socceroos were forced to leave our shores at an early age given that making a decent living in the NSL was not a possibility. But this made them into better players in the long run and made our national team the strongest it’s ever been.

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The A-League is still a good 10 to 15 years away from being able to develop our best young players so that they can slot into top-division clubs in Europe.

Just have a look at the J.League now. It was established in 1993, 12 years before the A-League, and it has now reached a point where many of its graduates make a seamless transition to Europe. This is where the A-League is heading, especially when the National Football Curriculum starts bearing fruit.

But in the meantime, our best young players should not be playing in the A-League. It’s not good for their own development and it’s certainly not good for our national team.

What do you think Roarers?

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