Has Australia missed another golden generation?

Will - Having read my comments and the others from Mid and Kanggas 2 what you are in fact telling us now is how badly some media contributors to our game are misinformed or just too lazy to fully investigate what they are about to write. I forgot to mention that I have a team photograph taken with my grandson playing in a league that was totally populated by small sided teams,8 players to a squad. The year was 2004 . So you see Rob Baan's curriculum was not a new one, just a recycling of what had gone before, some 34 years before. How much did that "new" curriculum cost? We'll never know. Cheers jb.

Here is an interesting point of reference from two articles in 2008. SMALL SIDED GAMES AN ASSOCIATION HIT Small sided games have been seen as the next big thing in the round ball game in Australia and this has shown with the recent participation of a massive 17 associations from across NSW for 2008. https://footballnsw.com.au/2008/01/02/small-sided-games-an-association-hit/ Another one... REVOLT OVER SMALL-SIDED GAMES ROB Baan’s small-sided revolution for Australian football is not being universally embraced in Sydney’s west where a fierce battle for sporting hearts and minds is set to be played out. https://www.ftbl.com.au/news/revolt-over-small-sided-games-108326 Context around this is important.

Mid = The whole idea behind all of the coaching methods you mention as being used by your coach was remarkably simple, the smaller the number of players, the smaller the teams, the smaller the pitches, created an environment where any youngster taking part stood a greater chance of having the ball at his feet, thus involvement in all aspects of the game. The whole idea originated in an investigation into all team sports undertaken by an educational establishment in England, Loughborough College, and they suggested the small sided games on smaller than usual pitches and this had to be for ages between 6 and 12. They advised that at this age kids were more interested in "kicking the ball" or "scoring a goal" and it was only in the following years a kid should be subject to the tactical side of the game. In other words teaching an 8 year old the fineries of 4-3-3 or 4-2-4 is a total waste of time, when the kid should be concentrating on ball skills. Cheers jb.

Kanggas2 -This was another example of the way the 'new" junior coaching was introduced. Small sided games were seen as an aid to improving the number of times a kid got chances to have the ball at his feet. However in many cases it was not seen as an advantage to play their fixture games on a small pitch though the real thinkers in the game did attempt to get small pitches into the game's structure. A side issue on this at the time was that you could get 3 pitches on to one full size pitch, (crossfield becomes pitch length), and therefore have 36 players playing at the same time. The guys who foresaw a growth in junior football saw this as a huge plus but the "Alex Fergusons" in the volunteer junior coaching roles preferred the full size pitch. Why? We will never know. Cheers jb.

Skill development and small sided games were always part of training back in the late 70s. However we did play on an almost full field on game day .

Will the coach I had in 1976 used small sided games, was just we did not call them small sided games ... I can still remember training nights, they would start with stretching, then three times around the oval, Then the routines would start, each for between 5 to 10 minutes. One on one Two on one Three on two Three on three -One touch - Then two touch Then a couple of games all revolving around the centre circle Game one all players aside from one on the circle with a player in the middle trying to get the ball you could not move from your spot all one touch when the player in the middle either got the ball or a pass not to feet then a new player in the centre. Same with two players in the middle Same with three players in the middle, Then five on five two touch inside the penalty box. Then a half field game with all players Stretches While stretching discuss formations, showing for the ball, closing down space. Coach was an Australian plumber He used the Liverpool coaching method of the day which was when we lost the ball every player got behind the ball and either marked a space or player this until the ball was just outside our box, In the box two forwards would roam in space in front of the ball. When we won the ball all players pushed off their marked and showed for the ball. Gotta back JB ...

Pun Very true

Most of those guys were in youth setups in Europe when they were teenagers. They never played professionally in Australia. So in that sense, it doesn't matter what the pro level does or doesn't do. Probably they were a group of freaks. Australia is too small, and football is too niche for us to be a regular top 20 country.

Don't get confused with Australia's position in the world, talking about being humble & realistic. If either AFL or NRL were the worldwide sport that football were, the best players in the world would not be plying their trades here. The small array of world class players Australia would produce if these sports were as big as football world wide, they too would not be plying their trades in this country. The likes of Collingwood, West Coast Eagles, Sydney Roosters & Parramatta would also only be teams of young players & journeyman. This has nothing to do with expectations of the code here, as said many times you confuse football as a code with the A-League here, massive difference (with AFL it's the competition is everything, with football, the A-league is only a small part). I have always said the biggest competitors for the A-League is not AFL or NRL, but the top leagues around the world.

Doom and gloom merchant

I'm not disputing your facts, it's that you continually bring this up in every article you comment on.

Hard to disagree. Those players are now telling us what we need to do better, but most of their advice just clearly demonstrates that they’ve lived overseas too long and lost touch with what is happening here. Bemoaning the closure of the AIS academy is the biggest clue. The AIS from when they grew up simply no longer exists, not just for football but for any sport. Our recent decline in international football is part of a general decline in our performance in international sport. With the exception of basketball, it is difficult to name a sport we have improved in over the last 20 years. Greater investment from our competitors to catch up to us is part of the reason, but we have declined irrespective of what they have done. People who went to school in the late 70s, 80s and most of the 90s will remember compulsory sport/phys Ed at least once per week, often twice. That doesn’t happen any more. Strong encouragement to play competitive sport. Doesn’t happen any more. People who used to play football (of any kind) or cricket in their street or local park any time they were not at school. Doesn’t happen any more. We are becoming a sedentary nation - that is being borne out in the lack of genuinely world class athletes we’re producing, and the few who we do still produce are facing much stronger competition than we ever used to.

Will - subject to my previous comment ,last sentence, from 1945 (World Wat 2 ended), to 1965 the mighty Ajax employed 4 English coaches, Vic Buckingham, Jack Rowley, K Spurgeon, & Jack Reynolds. Buckingam had 2 sessions at the club 59-61 and 64-65,before moving on to Barcelona. As you can see from the previous time frame I mentioned these men must have had a huge influence on how Holland played their football. Cheers jb.,.

Will - The fact that you obviously didn't receive up to date coaching methods in your younger days is symptomatic of our junior coaching over the years . I have in my possession a football magazine dated 1976 in which a Queensland State coach, Dennis Ford expounded the benefits of using small sided games as a method of concentrated trial and error, not to mention repetition of any play situation. Some years ago on these pages I had a discussions with someone like you and they admitted having played small sided games in their junior days. The players I am talking about were Socceroos of the GG. To aid your memory further I suggest you seek out a book called "Teaching Soccer Skills" written in 1974 by an Australian Director of Coaching, one Eric Worthington, who was employed by the Australian Soccer Federation from 1973 up to his retirement. He was inducted into Soccer's Hall Fame in the late 90's. Re . my "chip on the shoulder", I personally have nothing against Dutch football, on the contrary I have nothing but admiration for a country whose professional football league started in 1957, and only 17 years later they were in the World Cup Final. That is miraculous but it may interest you to know that many of the coaches employed in the early days of that league were actually ex professional players from------England. Cheers jb

Small sided games was never implemented here in Oz prior to 2008. I know this as I experienced the big pitch play as a kid and almost everywhere too. Also there never an emphasis on skill development prior to that either as far as I can remember being around on grassroots in a playing experience unless your around a good coach who taught the right habits. Clearly you have a chip on your shoulder based on the Dutch moment old man, cheers Will.

Will - Your comment actually gives away your age. The "curriculum you talk of as being "Dutch based", was firstly written over two years, no doubt at great expense, by a Dutch coach called Rob Baan, who ,after delivering the "finished article to the FFA ,'retired from the game" only to pop up a year later in India doing exactly the same job for the Indian ruling body. There is little doubt that the Dutch coach you mention. Haan Berger, was recommended to the FFA as his replacement TD by Baan. It was only after another year or two of trying to implement Baan's curriculum that he ,Berger, announced he would re-write the curriculum so that it would be better understood by potential Australian coaches. This took another 2 years and at the end, it came as a surprise when Berger announced his retirement from the TD. This move left a huge question mark over the success or otherwise of the 'curriculum. You may be interested in knowing that Ron Smith, who has been active in Australian coaching circles for the last 45 years ,was actually a disciple of another 1973 arrival in Australia, a man who was spreading the gospel about the importance of the use of SSG's in training as a vital strep in teaching football skills to kids. Remember this was 1975, some 33 years before Baan's curriculum was foisted on us. Cheers jb.

There will not be a professional second division in Australia for 15-20 years, perhaps 30 years. There isn’t the money or fan base here and too many fans are fair weather, Mickey Mouse fans.

There is nothing offensive In my remarks about Macarthur. I stated that it is one of the most deprived and poor part of NSW which is publicly verifiable information. Check for yourself by searching for average income by Local Government Area on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website. I have not mocked the people of this suburb in any way. I have merely stated that it is deprived and poor which it demonstrably is. It is therefore in my view a very foolish place to start a new professional football team in the largest economic crisis this country has seen sine the Great Depression.

Developing a golden generation of players is possible if you invest and plan for the long term from the littles ones from grassroots and up. There will always be outliners in talent but most of the time it needs to be planned whilst patiently wait for the results to come through. As seen with Spain, Germany, Belgium its largely possible you could change where you are by doing those processes, whilst changing the course of your identity along the way. For Australia's situation it will be the same, whilst it has got issues in the short term with the aleague and structuring of the game with the NSD lurking in the background. Now with kids that are 16 and below the fruits of the labour imposed by the FFA and the states 10 years ago is starting to come through with the 2000 born kids and above the first to go through this at aleague and NPL level. I remember when the dutch TD Han Berger came in and had hurdles to implement SSGs and different coaching techniques which was unfamiliar to the coaches which is why he created another version of that curriculum, change is never easy and often uncomfortable. We also have to remember each country figures out what works well and not, it seems like the USA, Japan etc have figured that out and starting to see the real benefits with some wonderfully talented players at big clubs, if we do the right things here and figure what works for us then we could get similar results. Youth development is like growing a tree, its takes time for the leaves start coming out of that tree and when it does it looks beauty to look at for everyone. But are willing to be patient for long term change?

What is a 'golden generation' but a product of development of capable players all at once. Development has moved on around the world but has ours? Our development methods have changes since the golden generation were produced at their local clubs, played regularly since mid-late teens into their early 20's, or went overseas, worked hard and made the first team. Nothing wrong with developing at clubs, A/W-League or otherwise, but the end product + re-enforcing that education with game time is key in 17-22 age bracket. Whether our current development setup is right or wrong is a bit hard to judge when youth are not getting the necessary, consistent game time in that age bracket.