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.
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.
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?
robert
Guest
How can you forget Craig Johnson , who played for Liverpool in the 80's, He won more than silverware than the whole of your 23 players, put together seems we forget he made the way for the future of Aussies in England and Europe.
Barca4life
Guest
Where is the evidence the National Curriculum will work or is working? Im just playing devils advocate here.
Barca4life
Guest
Serious question will the National Curriculum will actually produce players that we think it will? I don't see the next Kewell or Viduka in our national youth system sadly.
kurt
Guest
Your theories are just that. Unproven. So as much as I would like to continue this this stimulating discussion on the theories of economic and how they can be imposed on different possible future plans for the aleague. Im afraid to continue this discussion would be a waste of both my time and energy. You will not change opinion, and I wont be changing mine.
nordster
Guest
An individual actor in the form of a club or player? Having strong individual clubs would absolutely help the league's standing. A collectivist model only holds the top individual clubs back. Egalitarianism is an attempt to try and raise them all at least somewhat equally. Its a fail on a whole bunch of levels which i've explained time and time again on this site.:) And a salary cap/floor does not automatically encourage junior development. In the case of the floor it actually forces some smaller clubs to spend more on player wages that could be allocated to development. The cap system is more complex than just the bit at the top...its part of a broader labour regulatory framework. Also i would argue that by taking away restrictions some clubs can better fulfill their potential to be super clubs which will only be a good thing for developing at the individual club level....including juniors...over the long term.
kurt
Guest
Give me one point where the individual gain has helped a league standing, or countries standing and ill concede, also there is no proven information that a weak comp, will make a strong team. quite the opposite, that being the to two spheres of football (national team and local comp) we are talking about, are completely independent of each other. what isnt independent is the amount of funding that is given to stimulate junior development, something that the salary cap encourages
peeeko
Roar Guru
is there actual evidence that the a league is stopping young players moving to Europe?
peeeko
Roar Guru
exactly, they cant be the usual Johnno rambler
j binnie
Guest
Fuss, C'mon you fox. I know Mark only played 2 games for Dresden.I was trying to keep inside your 20 year limitation. Three years later ,1997 he embarked on an 11 year stay at Middlesborogu where he played 368 games. The only "modern" player who can get anywhere near those figures would be Mile Jedinak who has played 120 games for Crystal Palace ,a lot of them in Division 1,still a full time professional competition. jb.
rmc
Guest
Martin I think you've mistaken causation for correlation. The golden generation was not caused by a weak local league but a host of other factors that god only knows. I agree with FFA's causation argument that strong national teams are from countries with a consistently strong local league and from a country with a strong football culture and history. It's been proven time and time again. It's so obvious and I don't understand euro snobbery exists. They're really unpatriotic and doing more harm to Aussie football than what competing codes can do. That's why we need to win the code wars. This has never been a sprint, it's really a marathon. When Aussie football finally develops economies of scale and a formidable organisation we can have millions of youngsters wanting to be the next Ronaldo, Beckham, Cahill, Kewell and Viduka etc. They may start in HAL or do a Messi. Just be patient and enjoy the journey, be it happy, sad or fkn outraged!
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Don't disagree with what you say james but often players don't want to take the risk to wait and perhaps 'miss the train". Basically if after 10 games, 1 season or 2 you are in demand and a good euro club makes a decent offer its hard to say no to what is still, for most aussie football players, a dream: play in Europe. Who knows what can happen the following season: you may get injured, you may score less, your club might make the headlines for the wrong reasons etc. I completely understand that a young player wants to jump and grab the opportunity presented to him with both hands, especially if he plays in a league with not too much visibility like the a league (no offense). Catching the eyes of overseas clubs/scouts isn't easy these days as aussies are competing against players from south America, Africa etc. Again, its a huge gamble and we all know players in our countries who made the wrong decision and left too early to the 'wrong' club. 2-3 seasons later with no game time some of them have to go back to their country of origin in 2nd div or move to lower leagues in Eastern Europe or Asia. Still think in most cases, especially for aussies, its worth the risk.
Big Gergos in London
Guest
Excellent point. Very well put and the private school comment is a good way of looking at it.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
In case you forget how good things are at the moment, here's The Chairman's address from the 2014 FFA AGM This year at the FFA Annual General Meeting we celebrate 10 years of real hard work .. Full address at http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/article/chairmans-address-at-ffa-agm/1xflxqe25vgn1086d6ceow5rh
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Nice work, jb. Of course, I'm sure you know some of those were not regular starters (eg Schwarzer only played 2 matches in 2 yrs at Dresden). And, I'm sure I'll be able to come up with at least 21 players - in just 9 seasons of ALeague - who are currently on the books at European clubs.
j binnie
Guest
Towser - Never mind Arsene Wenger, the table you cite,correct in every detail ,was spelled out to us in the first coaching course I did back in 1975 when Arsene was just starting his senior football playing career. The man who spelled it out to us was the then Director of Coaching ,a Mr Eric Worthington who had been given a mandate by the then ASF to coach coaches all around Australia. The man barely got started when due to lack of finance the rug was literally pulled from under his feet. He was the man who also introduced the idea of small sided games on small pitches as a way for kids to be taught the game. All this was in 1975 almost 40 years ago and surprise ,surprise these ideas emanated from a study into football psychology and physical development done in -----wait for it------England. True. Your mate jb.;
bitza
Guest
I see your point but for the next 12 years we are going to have to try and be both. We can lower the salary cap to push players overseas nor can we quit the league so everyone leaves. we have to do both. The a-league is in the toughest sporting fight in the world and people don't give gallop and Co credit for what they are trying to do.
j binnie
Guest
Fuss - i did try to warn you of the dangerous ground.Here are some names and when they joined major clubs in European "major " leagues.I have put the year they joined major clubs in those leagues. Krncevic -1981 Dinamo Zagreb;Mitchell- 1983 Rangers ;Patikas -1985 AEK Athens; Kalantsis- 1988 Pathanaikos ;Katholos -1988 AE Lansa; Farina - 1988 Brugge;Slater- 1989 Anderlecht; Arnold -1990 Roda JC; Okon -1991 Brugge; Zelic- 1992 Dortmund;Bosnich- 1992 Aston Villa;.Aloisi- 1992, Standard Liege/ Antwerp;Vidmar (A-) 1994 Standard Liege; Moore- 1994 Rangers; Schwartzer -1994 Dresden ; Vidmar (T) Breda; Lazaridis West Ham;Viduka Dinamo Zagreb;,Skoko Hadjuk Split; Neill Millwall: Corica Leicester City; all 1995:(Thats 21!!!) Seriously though ,Arok's reign as Socceroo coach ended in 1990 amd you will note the acceleration of players going overseas after he left. Cheers jb.
Brick Tamland of the pants party
Guest
Must mean Glory have sold out the away allocation as well, not sure how much we got.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
BREAKING NEWS The Westfield #FFACupFinal is SOLD OUT! 4 weeks before the midweek event. http://www.theffacup.com.au/article/westfield-ffa-cup-final-2014-sold-out/1409qwhijqc6y12vjvk540oyad
Towser
Guest
Very true fadida,this is the Johnno from planet Nousuranus ,just landed in In Midwest USA and heading towards the hidden underground headquarters of whatever secret US organisation invites Aliens to try hamburgers. However on Nousuranus they look down on planet Earth and know all. They will also have observed that some piddly nations with more seagulls than humans like the Faroes & Iceland are more than holding their own in The Euro qualifiers. In fact there's the answer, Tasmania they've got more mutton birds than people.