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Football is in its infancy as a professionally-run code in Australia. Maybe still at the rolling stage in that football is not crawling, never mind being able to toddle along. Walking then running and sprinting are still a fair way off.
Years of mis-management at the senior level left a vacuum in sports management expertise. At the same time, at a park level football created arguably Australia’s best-run and organised park competition. Many in the park football community bemoaned the national level management failures and proudly pointed at their player numbers and year-on-year growth.
With the appointment of John O’Neill and more recently Ben Buckley, football is playing catch-up and is rapidly developing a workable model for the A-League.
But is has been a very top-down and single-minded approach, and this was the only way it could be achieved. But top-down only works for so long and football also needs some bottom-up ideas. Has the mis-management by the old management created a problem for the park teams and thereby the national league that still exist today.
I feel there are two broad issues needing to be sorted out.
First, how do the large city teams like SFC connect with the broader football family? This affects crowds/ratings and all the things football needs to continue on its expansion journey.
On the other hand, park sides need to be better at keeping the best of the players from junior level, and skill development. There is a glaring lack of technical knowledge in park sides; not about kicking a ball, but about what astute/perceptive football people call touch and shape.
My suggestion is A-League clubs – without costs to park clubs – could/should develop some way of developing the coaching standards. The coaches talk to the players and parents and if the A-League team is helping park football, then park football will respond in kind.
The things I see many coaches have no idea of are: trapping the ball with the right foot; shielding the ball; keeping your head up; pulling wide and sometimes deep to make yourself available for a pass; tracking back to cover a hole; seconder defender roles; if beaten where to go; near and far side defence of the posts.
I could go on but the point I am making is many park football coaches need assistance as they have little idea other than to put the ball in the back of the net. Further, most of what I have listed could be taught and shown fairly easily.
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