NPL and CEO Capital Football Discuss Some Football Issues - Part 2

This program is broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz), across the Australian Community Radio Network, on Tuesday at 7:00PM.

The Mens and Womens Premier League competitions are underway.

In the Womens PL its Belconnen United, Woden Valley FC  and Western Creek that have jumped out to an early lead. Woden Valley has made a particularly impressive start with wins across all grades in the last two rounds, including undefeated records after five rounds for the PL Reserves and PL18s. They are very closely followed by Belconnen United. The two powerhouses in Womens PL football at this time.

The Mens Premier League has completed two rounds and already there are alarm bells ringing. CFC are dominant, although Canberra City came as close as anyone has in 2011 with a 4-2 scoreline against them. Woden Valley FC has been triumphant in all four grades in the first two rounds, a remarkable achievement so early in the season. Cooma has had a very disappointing start by their high standards. Olympic's very impressive young roster is playing fine football and are a serious problme for every club.

But the alarm bells that are ringing loud and long, signal trouble for two PL clubs. Goulburn Strikers are doing it tough and we covered that story last week. Nevertheless, they are contesting every grade, just as they said they would and got their first win in PL18 over Monaro.

Monaro Panthers are in real trouble and it's difficult to know how they got themselves into this position – their PL18 side is simply not to PL standard – by a considerable margin. What preparation did the club do in the off season to construct their team? I understand that they had to start the game against the Strikers with less than a full team. Advertisements now appear on the Capital Football website for players. This is in sharp contrast to the Monaro PL16 team which is very competitive.

It seems to me that the Panthers are more strife than the Strikers. Will Monaro be able to continue to field a PL18 team for the season, because if it unable to do so, will this bring the Clubs involvement in the PL to a premature end? I sincerely hope not – but it is a requirement of the licence to field teams in all grades.

The Strikers and the Panthers have serious deficiencies in their playing strengths. It is most unlikely that either club will be able to resolve these deficiencies for the remainder of 2011 season. The worst case scenario is that one or both find it impossible to continue to field a team in one of the required PL grades. The next worst case is that the losses become more pronounced, which in turn brings other in-season problems for a struggling club.

Each club poses different problems for Capital Football. If Capital Football intends to do something – best its done now and not later. The question is – how flexible will CF be in these matters – because we certainly don’t want to loose either club to the PL, but the weekly destruction of a team is of no value to the PL at any level.

Just how well informed is the Mens League Advisory Committee, what did they glean from any club debriefs they held at the end of the 2010 season, how much homework did they do in the off season and is this committee sufficiently able to manage the Premier League on a continuing basis?

The CF committee appointed to review and recommend PL licences, concluded its work in 2009, so there is not much point in looking back to their work for answers. Things have moved on, and things have changed as they do, which brings us back to the usefulness of the Mens League Advisory committee. And to whom is this advisory committee really accountable? All the other PL clubs? These early but serious stumbles by two of the new Clubs to the PL, together with other important football related club matters, that demonstrate just how important it now is to have the Mens and Womens Premier Leagues managed as a separate entity.

For now, the Strikers and Monaro seem to require some flexible and practical assistance. Looking for new players of the appropriate standard in the ACT is the least likely solution.

All this fits nicely into the continuing discussion the NPL had with the CEO CF.

We continue with Part 2 of this discussion. Remember it’s a discussion, not question and answer. We continue with what seems to be the Womens PL, ACTAS players availability and so on. But its more than that. This discussion goes in its way to the heart of football problems between clubs and CF – consultation or lack of it, competition rules that may or may not be helpful going forward, the rights of players to determine which PL club they wish to play for, how much should CF involve itself in the regulation of players participation in club football, the differing philosophies of the PL clubs, does the CF structure for communication (Club Pres / Regional reps / Standing Committees and so) really work and what is a reasonable level of consultation, how effective and acocuntable are the advisory committees and to whom, how often do these committees meet and with whom do they confer and report, why are Junior clubs limited to one Div 1 team ar age if they have more than one team at the appropriate standard at a time when we are trying to build capacity among talented players not restrict it, what is CF prepared to do to prevent the wholesale poaching of young teams by clubs, if clubs have responsibilities to ACTAS what responsibility does ACTAS have to Clubs (and in particular PL coaches), what happens to players post ACTAS, the impact of the national curriculum and development plan and the increasing roles that junior and PL clubs must play in this process and so on and so on.

You make up your own mind on these matters.

For myself, I think CF has a lot of hard work to do around the issues of communication and consultation with clubs. They seem to be too reactive and not proactive - the Strikers and Panthers Pl predicaments are cases in point. Then their are the Womens Pl issues and Junior clubs issues. I very much doubt the league standing committees have been as consultative and inclusive, as might have been best for the development of the game, and that’s heavy lead to carry in the saddlebags. It seems to me that the CF organisational structure is now not best placed to handle the increasing needs of a PL competition.

Its against all this that the CEO and the NPL speak. As ever, the NPL is pleased the CEO Heather Reid is prepared to talk of these and other matters.

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Ron Smiths Talks About the Capital Football High Performance Program Review - Part 3

In this interview, Part 3 of a three part series, Ron Smith talks about the key areas of his review into the Capital Football High Performance Program. They are very intersting and informative interviews - it's always that way with Ron Smith.

Our best performed ACT Rep team in 2010 - the Under 13 Girls. And they were very good! Some of these young players have already moved forward to the Womens' ACTAS program. Others will follow for sure.

Out of this team - our first Australian Under 13 Girls representative - Siena Senatore.  And if memory serves correctly, that's a top flight young NSW player (also an Australian U13 rep) she has to deal with and did so. It can be done! In the case of Ms Senatore, it was the product of years of work in Football, summer and winter, CF HPP, Coerver Academy (several years of it) for the high quality technical development that is second to none in the ACT region, and various other football activities that her parents got her too over the years, too numerous to list and of course, Futsal. Ron Smith's word "repetition" comes to mind. There are no shortcuts. In the end though, its the player that does the work and the harder you work if you have some ability, the more likely you are to succeed. And so it was for this young player. I can only imagine how proud her parents and brother must have been when her selection was announced. It can be done!

 Here we have the 2006 Socceross, a remarkable group of players, with a first rate coach and top class support staff - among which Ron Smith was a key person - the football analyst. One picture that defeinately belongs in the "pool room"! This is where all that "development" , all that "repetition" and an uncompromising ambition / committment to succeed, may take a talented young player. Without all this and before any other factor imposes itself, nothing is possible. It all starts in our backyard - our Clubs and ourCapital Football player development regime. That's why this review of our HPP is so important.

As I have mentioned previously, we do not attempt to tick off every paragraph of the report or recommendations. You do the reading for yourself when the report is released on the CF website.

Instead, we have a long fireside chat with Ron around the major themes or key points in his report and recommendations. The report stands as it is and how it willbe dealt with is for others. At this point, I think its far more important to listen to the author’s thoughts, underpinning philosophy and views on these matters, as it will assist us in understanding what he has recommended and why.

There are no hidden corners, what you hear is how it is. Ron’s research is thorough and he has a depth of football experience at the highest levels of the game, which enables him to bring a certainty of observation not available to most of the rest of us.

I must also again remind the NPL listener, that Ron’s not responsible for implementation of the recommendations. He has tabled his report and now its for others to decide what to do with it. In this case, it is for the CF Board to decide and the new Technical Director to undertake over the next couple of years.

As ever, now the report is done, the devil is in the detailed implementation.

So sit back, cup of tea to hand, close the door, hang the "do not disturb" sign on the door knob, put on the headphones, listen and think.

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ACTAS Ready To Campaign in England and Holland, While The FFA Reschedules The NTC Challenge

This program is broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz) on Tuesday, 30 November 2010 at 7:ooPM across the Australian Community Radio Network.


Tonight’s interview is with the ACTAS Mens Head Coach – Miko Milanevic (Milo as his is known in football circles). ACTAS is about to depart on its annual overseas football tour, this time to England and Holland. It’s a fantastic itinerary, with a game very second day. The overseas tour, and integral part of the ACTAS program is planned 12 months in advance. This is usually followed by ACTAS’s participation in the FFA’s NTC Challenge held at the AIS in late January. Unfortunately, the FFA decide to change the timing for the NTC Challenge in August this year, rescheduling it from January 2011 to December 2010 - far too late for ACTAS to withdraw from the Overseas tour without heavy financial penalty. By agreement with the FFA, ACTAS will proceed on its tour and the NTC Challenge will go ahead without ACTAS. The ACTAS program will be adjusted for 2011, assuming the FFA doesn’t change the dates again. On return to Australia, the ACTAS squad will loose some players due to age and invite new players to join the squad. The process never stops. The question that worries us all is what can be done for those players too old for ACTAS, not accepted for the AIS and no further development opportunities in the ACT beyond the local Premier League which as a rule trains twice a week. It worries the ACTAS coach. John Mitchell correctly described this as a “tragic vacant space”. And so it is.


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There is a lot going on in football and futsal in the ACT at the present time.

Canberra United play Adelaide this Saturday at Deakin Stadium, commencing at 5:00PM. A Game not to be missed and a game that must be won. Its a short competition and another draw would be only marginally better than a loss. So get there and give your support.
 
The ACT Futsal teams to contest the Nationals are now in training and preparing for the Nationals in early January. Training frequency will intensify as soon as the holidays commence. It’s a good opportunity for local community coaches to get a few clues – look up the training times for the age group you are interested in, on the CF website, and go and watch the training. If you get a chance, take a day’s leave and go and watch a few games at the Nationals. There are some good players and coaches at the Nationals.

The National Training Centre Challenge is being held next week at the AIS. The best 15-17 year old boys in the Nation are on display, as each State or Territory Academy or Institute of Sport fields a team. This is the cohort of boys who are aiming up on that first serious step toward a career in professional football. They have all trained long and hard for this competition. Some will make it through to the AIS and some will be selected for Australian age representative teams. For many, this will the last serious, continuous football development they experience in their lives. Points are awarded for a team’s technical performance as well as the match result. This is a competition really worth a look at. You get to recalibrate your football compass around youth football and get a clearer understanding of the talent you see in your club. Some of the talent at the NTC Challenge is amazing. Just get there, one day for your football education and enjoyment.

The Summer 20s are trundling along, close to a finish and then the semis and final. Done and dusted by Christmas. For the clubs involved it has been a very useful opportunity to further develop players for next season. I have spoken previously about the disappointment many feel, because all the PL clubs did not field a team in the competition. Capital Football entered the Summer U17 HP squad in the Summer 20s (to make it an even number of teams and avoid a Bye each week).and that’s been a mixed blessing for all concerned. They are a young team with players predominantly 15 / 16 years of age. They are well coached, but its obvious that it has been difficult to find enough players to fill a match card some weeks. The reason appears simple enough – the CF Summer HPP U17 lads are for the most part, overmatched, the level of resistance is too high for many of them for this to be an experience that delivers good individual football development outcomes. Its surprising that the CF techncial assessment of this group of players did not reveal this prior to enterring the team. MAtters came to a head last Sunday - the CF Team forfeited their game. No one was happy about that. I regret to say that this reflects very poorly on CF. If some parents are unhappy with their boy(s) playing in this competition, as part of the HPP they should make thier concerns known to CF, which I guess at this time is the CEo, as we have no Technical Director. Is it likely the CF HPP U17 team will play either of the two remaining games? If not, CF should make it known immediately. If this is not working for the boys in this squad, stop it now. The canteen was not operating – again!
CF have not done a good job with the 2010 Summer 20s.

John Mitchell Speaks on the ANU Under 20 Elite Program and the Way Ahead

John Mitchell decided he would do something about the lack of developmental opportunities of young Football players Under 20 years in the ACT: post ACTAS and those who had not been selected for the AIS, or not made the jump into professional football after the AIS, or had not gained selection in and A League Youth Team.

This cohort of young players roughly covers the ages from 17 to 20 years of age. It was (and still is for that matter) as John has described it, "a tragic vacant space" (in terms of talented player development).

Capital football has introduced some modest initiatives to fill this space - an Under 17 HPP Summer squad and the Mens Summer 20's competition. The latter has been woefully under-subscribed by Premier League Clubs in 2010 (only five teams in 2010 and two from one Club - WVFC), which seems to reinforce John's observations on the current developmental environment in the ACT in this age bracket. The SUmmer 20s was (in 2009 and is (2010) a first rate initiative by CAPital Football, but what do you do if the PL clubs just don;t support it. What does it say about PL CLub attitudes to youth player development. In my view, quite a lot and little of it praiseworthy!

It is this second echelon of players, the ones who did not make it through first time around, that so often conceals a rich vien of talent - if only they could continue to be developed. Without it, not much happens. Such a waste! John Mitchell attempted to redress this situation through the ANU PL club. For that he gets full marks! But it was as he says "slim pickings" and as it turned out, a very hard road to travel. But then, it wasn;t really "club football" as the rest of the PL Clubs would see it to be.

John makes it very clear what it really means to coach to develop, as opposed to coach to win in the Club Premier League environment. Nevertheless, he has had his wins and positively influenced others in Football.

The ANUFC have withdrawn from the Premier League and with it has gone the ANU Under 20 Elite Program (and John Mitchell - for now). A really good idea that lasted two years. Its not been an easy two years, beset with difficulties, that started in late 2009 and continued into 2010, perhaps a few too many than was reasonable to expect, given the nature of the program.

John talks candidly of his experiences, with his customary sense of innovation and far sightedness, illustrating a remarkably good solution for the development of players between 17 to 20 in the ACT and linking the desire for an A league team in Canberra. You see he hasn't really given up on youth development. Just a bit battered and bruised. If that gives his detractors comfort, it is an unworthy thought.

John Mitchell challenges you to think, but it is hard not to miss the frustration and weariness of a passionate Football Coach, who for now, has reached his limit of endurance.

So sit back, cup of tea to hand and listen to Part 1 of this fascinating interview.

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What Happens When Your Child Is Assaulted And Injured In A School Football Game In The ACT??

What Happens When Your Child Is Assaulted And Injured In A School Football Game In The ACT??

A parent and several young players who play for a Premier League Club in the ACT told a frightening Football story at training last week. It’s a very worrying story on Junior Football for every parent with a child playing Football in the ACT, particularly when they play in schools sports Football tournaments / fixtures. This one seems a long way from resolved.

Apparently there was a School's Football tournament last week in the ACT. The players represent their school and in ordinary way of Football you would think it would be a fun thing to do.

Until something goes very, very wrong!

A young player was "king hit" by another player and sent off. The alleged offender is said to be an ACTAS squad player. Both players were registered with the FFA and participate in Capital Football competitions / fixtures. The Referee's report has been provided to the father of the victim, confirms the send off for "violent conduct" and would appear to warrant substantial disciplinary action.

But by whom? Not a question you usually ask in football.

If this were a weekend Capital Football round game, the League Manager would have already taken action. It’s a “no brainer”!

Head Coach ACTAS Men's Football Program Talks About Player Development.

This program is broadcast on 2xxfm, 98.3mhz through the Australian Community radio network on Tuesday, 13 April 2010.

The Head Coach of ACTAS Men's Football Program, Mike Milovanovic, reflects on the performance of the Nara Ichijo High School team that played recently in the ACT, the player technical standards set by Japan, the amount of training required to achieve the standards of a Japanese High School team and his general expectations of the individual player technical abilties on arrival at teh ACTAS Men's program.

It's very important to see it from the perspective of the Head Coach of ACTAS for the Men's Program. His role is pivotal to the development and future opportunities of those teenage boys who aspire to higher honours, perhaps a professional career in football. ACTAS concerns itself with the preparation of these young players for competition / selection for and AIS scolarship. It's serious business.

It goes without saying that the ACTAS program must be first rate, but what about all the development that preceeds selection for ACTAS? That's Club and Capital Football core business. In truth, one cannot work without the other if we are to be as good as we can be in football.

ACTAS Coach is a firm believer in having his players engaged in as much football as possible - properly selected and constructed. If a young player is fortunate enough to be selected for ACTAS Men's Football, here are two facts that illustrate the level of committment:

• The ACTAS program is a 46 week program
• ACTAS play 44 scheduled games per full program

How many times does your Club team train? How many times does your HPP squad train? What's the quality of the training at Club and HPP. How long is the season?

The challenge is in front of us.

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Japanese Under 17 Squad From Nara-Ichijo FC visits the ACT

These opportunities don't come along often enough in our region. Go and see them play! 

Japanese touring side Nara-Ichijo FC from Canberra’s sister city of Nara arrived in the capital on Saturday morning for a series of fixtures.

Schedule

Monday 22nd March – v Canberra FC under-16 (Deakin Stadium), kick off 18:00

Monday 22nd March – v Canberra FC under-18 (Deakin Stadium), kick off 20:00

Tuesday 23rd March – v ACTAS (AIS), kick off 16:30

Tuesday 23rd March – v AIS (AIS), kick off 20:00

Wednesday 24th March – v CP HPP under-17 (Hawker Football Centre), kick off 16:00

Members Common Sense Wins Out Over HPP. Referees and Clubs Meet for Pre-Season Discussion. Refresher on the 1-4-3-3 System of Play

Program Broadcast on 09 MArch 2010 at 2xxfm, 98.3mhz through the COmmunity Radio Network.

Tonight's program is a diverse offerring:

• President of the Capital Football, John Logue confirms that the Board has reconsidered it's position over the issue of playing squads for the HPP and agreed in substantial part with the views expressed by the Members (Zone Reps and Chairs of the Standing Committees). See earlier posts for further comments of this matter. In short, there will be no playing squads for the HPP, with the exception of the Under 13 Boys - which is a curious exception.
• What do you really know about the 1-4-3-3 system of play? We have two short explanations - the first from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and another from UEFA, with the Coach, Harry Rednapp of the EPL team Tottenham Hotspurs giving his views ont he system of play. Very intersting.
• The State Coach of Referees, Clive MacKillop brings us up to date with the availability of referees for 2010 and the issues that arose form a meeting between key Referee officials and Club Coaches.

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