The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Which Aussie sports will secure the best young players?

Roar Guru
17th September, 2013
Advertisement
Roar Guru
17th September, 2013
391
3907 Reads

Australian rules, rugby league, rugby union, football and cricket are locked in a battle for the best junior sportsmen in Australia.

A mate of mine has a son playing for a Sydney rugby league club. He’s on a scholarship where he is paid a salary, while his university fees and expenses are paid by the club.

He was offered a similar arrangement with a higher salary to switch to AFL when he was in his final high school year. He was also offered a rugby union scholarship via Sydney University.

He choose league but played both league and union at junior rep levels. His dad tells me this is very common with talented young players of all codes.

The arrival of the AFL in Western Sydney and the Gold Coast, along with the increasing professionalism of football, is causing traditional systems to break down in New South Wales and Queensland.

No longer would Steve and Mark Waugh choose cricket over football at 15. Nor could the Johns brothers be assumed to transfer to rugby league in their teens.

Kieren Jack didn’t follow his famous father into rugby league, choosing AFL.

The AFL has been arguably the most proactive in trying to get juniors across Australia. The NRL has reacted, especially in Western Sydney, and is operating a number of junior academies.

Advertisement

The NRL is also following the AFL into creating better structures and revenue for its second tier competitions, where they can place players if for no other reason but to stop other codes getting the best sportspeople.

The AFL and NRL run huge junior structures to underpin their second tier and national domestic competitions. By and large, these are very well run and where most future players are to be found.

Football and cricket have always had huge junior numbers. More recently, football has established a National Premier League where each club has a technical director, meaning football will have at least 100 training academies.

Other developments include the establishment of a new academy for indigenous footballers, higher technical qualifications being required by all coaches, and massive inroads into the private school system, with schools creating football academies akin to what they have developed in rugby.

Finally, the 700-team FFA Cup is hoped to bring the football family together.

Rugby appears to be the odd man out, seemingly relying on the private school system to develop its best players and offering scholarships in the same schools to promising junior talent.

Rugby can raid overseas leagues and rugby league for players. League can raid rugby and England for players. Football can source any number of overseas players. AFL by and large uses locally produced players.

Advertisement

AFL, NRL and cricket are broadcast extensively on free-to-air television, and have huge traditional followings. These attributes are very helpful in getting the best players as are the number of matches played and the crowds watching.

The Wikipedia entry for the 2012 season clearly shows the AFL is the top domestic league in Australia pertaining to crowds. This, however, does not show international matches, nor State Of Origin figures, nor Asian Champions League matches.

It’s obvious all codes want the best young sportspeople. It would appear there are two schools of recruitment – the bottom-up school followed by Australian rules, rugby league and football, and the top-down school followed by cricket and rugby.

My reading of the tea leaves is the bottom-up systems will dramatically overtake the top-down systems. The effort being made by Australian rules, rugby league and football to find and retain the best young talent at junior levels will affect cricket and rugby union in the future.

All things considered, the big winner will be football. Rather than bleed their best to other codes as happened in the past, football  is keeping its best.

Football’s biggest challenge is to get players under nine years old so they can learn basic ball skills. The AFL and NRL will run extensive junior programs and retain their best.

The other factor is the rise of X-sports in revenue earning, with sports like skateboarding, surfing and BMX sure to take some competitors away from cricket and the football codes.

Advertisement

Why is all this important? The most talented players will put bums on seats and couches.

close