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Socceroos least of our worries as NPL faces backlash

29th July, 2013
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Australia's Tim Cahill, right, reacts after head coach Holger Osieck, left, substituted Cahill from the game against Iraq. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
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29th July, 2013
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After the Socceroos latest string of average performances in the East Asian Cup, the knives are well and truly being sharpened for Socceroos coach Holger Osieck.

Meanwhile, in Victoria, the proposed National Premier League’s agenda is facing serious hurdles, as several high profile clubs withdraw their applications for Football Federation Victoria’s new state competition.

Such is the state of Australian football that Osieck and the Socceroos dominate the headlines. While our performances at the East Asian Cup were less than impressive, they hardly matter in the grand scheme of things. A few players were handed their debuts, Osieck’s tactics bored us all to tears, and we realised that we’re not much better than our Asian opponents. Nothing new to see here.

By contrast, the roll out of the National Premier Leagues is one of the biggest reforms in Australian football in the past decade, and if the Victorian example is anything to go by, the FFA’s proposed ‘B-League’ has as many opponents as it has supporters. Put simply, it’s all going tits up.

Of course, structural reforms like these are usually a tricky sell. They require a shift in attitudes and a willingness from all parties to remove themselves from their comfort zones. They also require patience, dialogue and trust. Like Rome, a new development model and nationwide ‘second-tier’ competition won’t be built in a day.

Yesterday morning, the disgruntled clubs in Victoria put out a media release to clarify their position on the National Premier Leagues (NPLV). Of the twelve clubs that currently play in the Victorian Premier League, all except Richmond have signed the declaration to withdraw their applications to the FFV.

In other words, this means that former NSL powerhouse Melbourne Knights have rejected the new FFV model, while the current Victoria Premier League leaders Northcote City aren’t interested in participating under the proposed terms. Even A-League aspirants and Oceania club of the century, South Melbourne, are willing to take their business elsewhere.

The clubs say that the new proposals are financially unviable, fail to properly implement the recommendations of the National Competitions Review, and lack consistency at a national level.

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On the last point at least, the clubs are certainly correct. The National Premier Leagues might have been established across New South Wales, ACT, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, however each state federation has tweaked the competition format, massaging the entry criteria to ensure that the participating clubs buy into the concept.

In Victoria, things have blown up largely due to the fact that the FFV has tried to take a more hard line stance on these criteria.

Anybody who has spoken to club administrators in Victoria will understand their immense frustration at the FFV. The governing body promises us all that they have consulted the clubs, but over the past two months several administrators have voiced their frustration with a lack of true dialogue.

The president of Northcote City likened the system to Stalinist Russia, while the Green Gully president complained that the FFV had simply given the clubs directives rather than a democratic consultation process. Whichever way you want to characterise the FFV’s handling of the situation, the point is that it has left nobody happy.

Worse still, the FFV have been granted an extra year to work through these problems. Good governance, particularly in football, is about more than just grand plans.

The NPL model asks state league clubs to obey stricter rules as to the selection of players and coaches, while relieving none of the increased costs. And rather than provide a pathway for State League clubs to gain promotion to the A-League, the National Premier Leagues scheme entrenches their role as just a cog in the player development system.

For all this talk of promotion and relegation, the reality is that there is more chance of this humble blogger being appointed the editor-in-chief of the New York Times than there is of Perth Glory being relegated for Oakleigh Cannons. The A-League is not, and never will be a democracy. It is a cartel of strategically placed franchises, levelled out by a salary cap.

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It’s become fashionable to say that football in Australia is in finer shape than ever. But while the success of the national team and the A-League has allowed the sport to make inroads into the national imagination, we would do well to remember that football is a pyramid, with the Socceroos and the national league at the pointy end.

Lower your gaze and murkier problems are easily found. In the quest to build Rome, there is a danger that we’re leaving the peasants behind.

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