The rise of Jordan Bos is proof the A-League is working

You are so right. I know that assumption is the mother of all errors, but it's safe to assume you are not going to increase interest in our domestic league purely throught digital media. Kudos to the Mariners for their community engagement

And that’s where this country getting saturated by EPL content is actually hurting the perception of the A-League

You’d never believe it Chris – they’re all clear. It’s all good. Here’s the latest – after 8 months of pretending to be carrying out an investigation there is not enough evidence, so everyone is going to be exonerated! If ever I am in trouble with the law I must get this group to carry out the investigation and ruling. I guess enough time has passed so rather than sweeping it under the carpet anymore, they’re completely hiding it under the bed now.

No need to keep proving my point. We get it already…

FiL, exactly! I mean how hard would it be to hang a framed giant poster in the clubhouse of the A-League team you support? Any new youngster to the game would be astonished and would like to know, what is that all about, and then the conversation starts.

ever been the kid that got beaten up at school? Ever get bullied? I was a little bloke until I hit 17 and then it was a different story. After Allan Jones and Co. label football fans as terrorists, when there's regular occurrence of negative incidents at grassroots backyard codes and you rarely hear of anything on the news, but the moment something happens with football, it's headline stuff. What about the fact that every other day you hear of backyard code players being charged for illegal substances, drink drive, domestic violence, inappropriate behaviour and it's seen as normal, just the lads being lads. Do you hear the names Cahill, Kewell, Viduka, Mooy, Behich, Goodwin, Mabil etc associated with that sort of carry on. The double standards, the archaic mentalities eventually it all adds up to being sick and tired of the absolute hypocrisy that exists.

I mentioned this a long time ago, but I was lined up to board a flight in Brisbane heading home. Behind me was father and son. The lad had his Man Utd shirt on. I asked the father if he was a Utd fan as well, and of course he was. We started talking about the likes of Steve Coppel, Duxbury, Norman Whiteside etc. Then I asked him about the A-League. He had no idea, so I mentioned the calibre of the players, where the internationals were from, their experience and previous clubs, he was stunned. First thing he said was "they dont advertise that". I explained the perceived fear of backyard codes and the perceived media collaborative lockout, and his response....he was dumbfounded. Right, me and boy we'll be checking out the A-League he was filthy that football was getting a raw deal. I used to probably annoy you blokes, but i would say "grab a mate by the collar and drag him down to your next A-League match." Until such time as the media war is won, and FA have more cash in the bank, it's up to us, faithfuls. We're the foot soldiers in this battle, we need to be getting our nephews and our nieces aware of the A-League, we need to establish Goody and Cummins and Brimmer as the legends in the minds of our young footballers. It's not going to happen on its own, you want something done, roll up your sleeves and do it yourself.

It is fascinating that (some) soccer fans can’t cope with even the mildest criticism of their sport. I wonder where that insecurity comes from? Doesn’t seem to happen with other sports.

Sounds like the players are ready, willing and able to do their part, but the administration either doesn’t want to (or doesn’t know how to) organise these sorts of things strategically. As I keep saying, the biggest problem the A League has is its poor quality administration. Sort that out and the comp might actually grow into a successful league…

yeah, see that's how you do it. Kudos to CCM

And further to my last comment – what a shame they have been sweeping it away and looking for some sort of quiet/non media resolution. A coach has now taken leave due to mental and physical health issues. I wouldn’t have a clue whether he did something wrong or not and my opinions about him are irrelevant. Just let it play out in the courts with impartial judges and the result is the result. The AFL should be judged harshly on this cover up situation.

The parents are direct contributor to this. Those kids that came running over, my understanding is that they play football and love it. Mum and Dad though, they grew up with backyard codes. So at home on Saturday night after Jimmy or Jenny have played in the under 8's, Daddy says, right let's put the footy on. And they watch 36 blokes running around like chooks chasing a runaway egg. Alternatively they watch a bunch of blokes beating three shades of it out of each other, fracturing eye sockets, being subject to concussions etc, etc. And when Jenny asks Daddy what happened to the man laying on the ground with concussion, Daddy says "he's being a big woos, this is a man's game!" What should be happening is that the A-League should be on the box so that the kids can see for themsleves, who and what, they are now that they play football. Let them see the articulate interviews, let them see Irankunda and Tilio going around, let the kids want to be the next Craig Goodwin instead of some single syllable, nuffy who looks like he has just gone 15 rounds with Tyson.

slam dunk!!!

the point is that you are making superficial, unsupported, paper-thin comments that just don’t count for anything. Show some respect for yourself, in not for others. You are literally making yourself out to be something I would suggest you are not. Dont be a victim of Chat GPT, use the gray matter that the Almighty afforded you, and if you still want to contribute to the Football forum, then do it with substance, not the shallow stuff you’re coming up with. By soundly contributing you will be afforded a tad more respect.

It is really up to the clubs. I feel a little like a broken record on this topic in terms of A league teams’ efforts to connect with local clubs and schools. To be fair to the Roar, I did see a few posts recently of Freke getting to a junior club function or something and I think something from the admin about submitting requests for organisations that want a visit from their players. But as whole I am yet to see the Roar show up to any of FQs state carnivals with players to watch games, perhaps pop into the dressing sheds and speak to a few teams. Simple ways of connecting with the very people they want at their games. Invite more community groups to participate in game day activities. The Roar could have easily set up some local entertainment outside Kayo stadium the hour before ko in every home match to generate atmosphere. So many simple, cheap options to connect and convince the community that they are our team and represent us. To their credit again, the players are very generous after games staying out for photos and signatures. I can’t tell you how thrilled my boys are when they get a chance to high five J oshay at the end of a match. It drives them to pester me to come back the following week.

I would contribute that football education is a missing element. Too many Australians think that EPL is football. They don’t see or cannot fathom the value in watching the development of players like Bos and the other members of his cohort. Given time, that will come

You're on fire mate

Wes, you just did all the regulars on this forum proud. It's thinking, intelligence and comments like that that set us apart from the backyard codes. Nice work mate. Cheers FIL

I have made this connection before; but what we are seeing is the fruits of FAs implementation of the youth SAP and through NPL development. These kids were the first cohort to come through the program from u9 ish since it was established about a decade ago in 2012. Prior to that we had no development plan after the collapse of the old NSL. A league arrived in 2005 with no youth development or plan really for the first 5 or 6 years. That was the last chasm of football wilderness produced the last gen of Socceroos. We were disappointed with the last few WCs as those kids were the ones that were kids at the collapse of the NSL and implementation of the A League. They were the forgotten Gen that FA failed to plan for that had to do it for themselves. Great to see a long term vision (despite some of its misgivings and alterations) is actually paying off. What we really need to be doing is tracking back the pathway these kids took to get to this point and analyse any similarities with their pathway to determine what elements played the biggest role. Was it Access to a SAP program or Academy at their local NPL club? Was it private sessions and coaching outside the club environment. We’re they encouraged to play up an age group? Did they aways play the same positions? What was their maturation like? How much training did they do? How many games per year did they play? I am sure there are many similar steps (as well as different ones) that these kids took. There is no silver bullet here but learning why they got to this point in their fledgling careers may better inform us of what works and what doesn’t.

That seems like a reasonable request. So how does that happen?