It’s kick-off time for another edition of the AFC Champions League, and that can only mean one thing – the ready-made excuses will start coming thick and fast from Australian fans, media and occasionally, even A-League clubs themselves.
“Cashed up”, “heavyweights”, “endless resources”; they’re all claims we’ve heard before and for the most part they have no basis.
It would be wrong to completely ignore the fact that J.League, K-League and CSL clubs do have more money at their disposal, but to use it as justification or an excuse for why their clubs have success over A-League sides masks the real disparity between the nations.
That comes at a more basic youth development level.
Take Gamba Osaka for example. Three of their starting XI in the first leg of the 2008 ACL Final, as well as Takumi Shimohira who came off the bench, are products of the Gamba Osaka youth system.
Two of those players, Takahiro Futagawa and Hideo Hashimoto, as well as Shimohira, are still with the club, while Michihiro Yasuda left during the January transfer window for Vitesse Arnhem in Holland.
The latest off-the-production-line, Takashi Usami, is rated as the best player to come through the Gamba Osaka youth system and already has Bayern Munich interested in him. All this for a kid who is only 18 years old.
Sydney’s J.League opponents this year, Kashima Antlers, are in a similar boat. Two of their starting XI from the weekend’s Super Cup have come through the Kashima youth system, while another handful was plucked straight from High School and have spent their entire careers with Ibaraki-based club.
It is these youth systems that currently set Japan, in particular, apart from Australia.
Any new side that wishes to enter the J.League, be it in J1 or J2, must have an U18, U15 and U12 team to complement their senior team.
Not only does this ensure a strong connection with their local community, something that has been critical in seeing crowds rise over the last decade, it also allows the clubs to work with their best local talent from an early age.
Doing so, gets them into the “system” and by the time they are in their late teens, many are ready to take the step up to senior team action.
Compare that to the A-League where it is left to local clubs with part-time coaches to nurture our best talent until they reach an age where they are eligible for the National Youth League.
Even then there is often a large disconnect between the NYL side and A-League side.
This year’s ACL has yet to kick off and already the same excuses are being bandied about.
Grantley Bernard, writing in the Herald Sun on Saturday, got the ball rolling when he wrote, “… (that’s) all part of the test against big Asian teams that have unlimited resources and money while the A-League teams in the Champions League remain restricted by the salary cap and squad sizes.”
It is lazy and innacurate to focus purely on the monetary aspect and it serves Australia no good as it looks to gain more respect within the AFC.
It’s the old Aussie arrogance rearing its ugly head again – it’s not that they’re better than us, it’s just they have more money!
Instead of focusing on that one aspect, fans, media and clubs would be better served by actually learning a few lessons from a league that has been there and done that when it comes to setting up a new league and new teams.
They may just be surprised by what they find.
Nelson
Guest
Interesting tid-bit - Yamagata Montedio in the 1st division of the J-league spend less per year on player salaries than the A-League salary cap. Last season they beat Gamba at home 2-1, and lost only 0-1 away.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Nice article, Dasher.
Pete
Guest
So true. So very true!
Nelson
Guest
Well written, Dasher. I'll quote/paraphrase something someone else wrote elsewhere (that I know you've read) to supplement your point. Whilst the J-League doesn't enforce a salary cap upon clubs, due to strict financial monitoring there is in effect a salary cap of sorts. J-League clubs have to submit their financial data every year. If they go two years in a row with more money spent on players than they take in from revenues, the J-League REQUIRES them to sell off personnel. This puts a pretty stringent and effective cap on salaries, especially for clubs with small revenue bases. Just because they dont call it a "salary cap" doesnt make it any less strict or change the nature of what it means for a club with a small income base. Also, there is no allowance for "Marquee" players to be paid with money not counted in total salaries as we have here. So it is quite inaccurate to say that the Japanese clubs that Australian teams will face in the ACL have "unlimited resources and money", even the larger J-League teams, and we shouldn't be using this as an excuse for how we perform in Asia.
Agree with piece - good management and administration is priceless... Last night Victory lost to a not yet match fit Gamba 5 - 1. The result had everything to do with poor management and nothing to do with lazy '“Cashed up”, “heavyweights”, “endless resources” excuses. On the other hand, Huagzhou, the 4th best team in China were able to defeat the J-League champs, Nagoya, 2 -0 last night. How does Grantley Bernard explain that result ;)
nordster
Guest
they are twenty years ahead of us really, so true its not just money. fact is it'll take a decade or so for any academy setup to really start bringing talent thru. Only CCM and AUFC are advanced with plans so far ? if billionaires and benefactors of the sport want to safeguard the future of the league, academies should be no.1 priority as there is such a long lead time on getting results. But the potential is there... we have player numbers, a great natural resource and a starting point many nations can only dream of.
whiskeymac
Guest
must be expensive to have so many youth teams. academies arent cheap to run -altho i for one am a big fan of them and see them as the future (espec if we are going to regularly produce and sell talent overseas to help finance the clubs). CCM are leaders in this respect. but their set up (still to be completed) is very pricey. money is still a major issue. not necessarily that Suwong buys 23 players (or how many) for $4M in the off season etc but that money buys the trainers, the facilities, the youth teams, the physios etc which develop the squads and the technical aspects and the media and community relations. oh, and the better players =) I agree it is lazy to say big money squads are the reason for the disparity (Gamba showed Victory!!) but its wrong to say money hasnt bought the skills (foreign expertise), know how and facilities which you point too also. But i will agree that as for philosophies - which flows into talent recognition/ development/ tactics etc - well the HAL was behind in season 1 or 2 (Adelaide had a good run though didnt they?) but we are evolving in this country on how we play, how we coach - different clubs have different styles but the overall standard is on the up. on our small budgets too.