There is so much to say when it comes to the "effective" development of young players under the age of 17 years of age.
The FFA National Football Curriculum and Development plans embrace the period from when our players start particpation in the game till the time those talented few get to play in Australian Under 17 mens team, otherwise known as the Joeys.
At the Capital Football level, all development responsibility, within the current FFA National Curriculum, stops at the age of 15 years of age. The ACTAS responsibility is really all with ACTAS, Capital Football have next to nothing to do with it (leaving aside a financial contribution). After ACTAS, it's hands off at the ACT end of things at this point in time.
But the focus of this Post is the performance of the Joey's ( Australian Under 17 Mens) at the current U17 Mens World Cup. Nevertheless, member Federations have a big input, via the FFA NAtional Curriculum) into the technical competence of the players that find their way to the AIS and Joeys squads. They are supposed to the best of the best at age.
And this is where the drama begins!
The Joeys appear to have under achieved at this Under 17 World Cup, I say "appeared" because I am not so sure this is true. I am yet to be convinced and its one band wagon I would not get on in a hurry. Depends very much on how you measure success and what you are able to articulate as teh underlying problem(s).
The suggestion that the Joeys have under performed opens up a pandora's box of Football youth development issues that go to the very core of the FFA National Curriculum and Developments plans - and then to each member Federation with regard to their respective efforts in delivering quality development programs at age, performances at the National Junior Championships and later at the NTC Challenge (ACTAS).
The raw data from the last few U17 Mens World Cups looks like this:
2003 Round 1
2005 Round 1
2007 Did not qualify
2009 Did not qualify
2011 Qualified - Round of Sixteen.
Looks to me that on the face of it, the Coach and the supporting processes got them further than anyone other effort since 2003. But is this a reliable measure of "development"?
Read on, this is an interesting story and one that should give us pause for thought in repsect of two things - what we are doing for development of all players under Under 16 players in the ACT and what we might hope to do for ACT players from 17 to 20 years of age.
Craig Foster is at the forefront of a fantastic Football inititative in Australia. It's breath taking. Together with the Southern Cross University (SCU), FFA, State Government and Local Government, they have put together a remarkable concept that is about to become a reality. And its all about Football!
As you read this article, just think what we could have done with a part of that $26 million over ten years the ACT Government handed over to the AFL for an AFL Franchise Club start up in Western Sydney. Its not a good deal for AFL, it almost certainly ensures that very little will be available going forward for Football (the largest participation sport in the ACT region) nor any other sport, and its such a rotten deal, an atrocious waste of public funds in its present form. Oh well done Mr Barr. What a spectacularly poor decision for all young sports persons in the ACT for years and years to come. It is a real kick in the guts for Football.
What a clever piece of sports politics at election time. Having established that we seem to have completely missed the AFL raid on the ACT Treasury, did anyone on the Capital Football Board think to use our Football constituency to motivate theEducation, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Simon Crean at election time, at any time, to do some good for Football in the ACT region. Ahh, but then you would need to have a few good ideas. Or is the extent of our fiscal reach and sporting clout limited to applying for grant money - crumbs from the master's table! It makes you weep tears of frustration, particularly when others do it right under your nose. And the AFL deal is such an easy one to beat. Why aren't we out there - loud and proud! Who will lead us?
Why am I on this topic again? Simple! The kind of mistake made by Mr Barr and the ACT Government will hold Football back unless the ACT Government finds new funds quickly and in sufficient amount over time to make a difference for our young players. Only Capital Football could have stood in the way, been an obstacle to this profligacy, and secured some investment for Football. They got king hit and we are penniless by comparison.
Contrast our situation with the the football intitative undertaken by Craig Foster, the Federal Government, NSW Government and importantly, Southern Cross Uni. It demonstrates just how stupid the ACT Government was in handing out money for the equivalent of an A League team and one that doesn't even have the virtue of being domiciled in the ACT region. The vague promise of an "academy" is little more than political slight of hand, because you can bet it wont be in the ACT. Oh yes, and four games of AFL . Strewth!
The Asia Pacific Football Institute by contrast is a sensational idea. It will serve the Football community. A Barcelona-esque kinda thing. Wow! This is thinking right outside the square. Fantastic.
Now just stop and think for a moment about what we might have here in the ACT - Uni of Canberra, Capital Football, FFA, ACT Government, Federal Government, AIS, ACTAS and hand over the A League money Ivan to kick start the bank account and we might have something that is every bit as sensational. Something substantial and designed to last and serve the football community.
I am reminded of a thought that the ever forward thinking John Mitchell said in an interview with the NPL some time ago - he proffered the notion that we here in the ACT could set up a Football development entity that could develop players to the highest standards for the world market and in so doing, fund all our ACT community and talented development needs / programs. Not a bad idea to be starting with and I reckon that the Asia Pacific Football Institute will move into this space in order to underwrite all the other development work they seem to wish to do across the football community.
As Ron Smith is fond of saying - "are you serious". Well, Craig Foster and Southern Cross Uni certainly are!
What about the ACT? What will we do and who will lead us - where?
I'll follow up on this one. Again, we can learn a lot from others. Well done Craig Foster.
Soccer complex for Lismore
World game: Soccer legend Craig Foster with Page MP Janelle Saffin and Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Simon Crean at the announcement of the $2.5m soccer complex at SCU.
Mr Crean visited Lismore yesterday to announce a re-elected Labor Government would put $2.5 million towards the long-awaited Asia Pacific Football Institute in Military Road, Lismore. The institute would be built by Southern Cross University (SCU), which has set aside 14 hectares of land and $1 million for the facility, to be run by a newly-created ‘University Foundation’.
My colleague in Football Eamonn Flanagan (Nearpost National radio program) drew my attention to a very "hot" interview between Craig Foster and Ange Postecoglou. I hold Foster in high regard in Football and have a similiar view of Postecoglou. I don't know either person, except through the lens of Football.
For me, this video was hard to watch. They were dealing with a important matter to hand - the development of our best players and our participation in youth world cups. Foster was right to draw a line on the performance of the Australian Youth teams Postecoglou coached. Postecoglou was right to feel aggreived, as so much impacts on the selection, preparation and campaigning of an Australian team to a World Cup, that the proposistions put by Foster were overwhelming, appeared deeply offensive and unfair. But that's not Foster's go. As I watched again, it looked to me like a hundred other Football arguements I have seen at Clubs, and at games on the sideline or in the dresing sheds or the drive home, at Junior and Senior levels over many years. There are several happening right now in several of our Premier League Clubs and just as hard. This one was on national television.
Foster continues to do wonderful work in Football and Postecoglou is coaching and resurrecting an A League team others had given up for dead and doing it well. Both are good for Football.
Then I found another Craig Foster piece concerning the hapless John Kosimna, as he imploded as Coach at Sydney FC. Not a pretty sight and again, nothing like the full story for a fantastic Football player and Coach that Kosimna was and may still be. As with the other, I admire Kosmina, but what must be happening to him in this interview is written all over Foster's face.
Nothing wrong with being held to account for results. Coaches know the buck stops with them, but they have a right to expect others in their Club / orgainsation to be corageous enough to take thier share of the blame. After all, "success has a thousand fathers".
Bring this down to our Capital Football Premier League - I can think of three Clubs at this time who have, or, are in the throws of Coaching dramas, which if not resolved will cripple their competitive endeavours in season 2011. They just don't make national television, but they do embroil their local members and its just as important as the level of football for the two interviews and for a little while it is high local drama. Though let me tell you this - if we did have vision and audio of some of the local "debates" it would make a cracking "reality series". Football is nothing if not passionate in nature at every level of the game. Sadly, turn the passion up and down goes the good judgement.
Coaching a Football team, at any level, at any age, is a hard task. It's often a thankless one, for most it is without any sort of remuneration and all too often, can reap a bitter harvest of gratuitous unpleasant criticism that can make the coach feel it's all a waste of time.
We loose a lot of Coaches, just as we loose a lot of referees. Coaches are seldom abused on the sideline during the game, but a few too many of them indulge in the same unacceptable practice toward match officials and their own players. In these latter circumstances, Clubs, players and parents are happy to see the back of the Coach.
Coaching at the junior / youth level in Football carries with it considerable responsibilities. Parents of players usually volunteer at these early ages, just so that the young players can form a team and play. No Coach, no team, no play. Junior Clubs float on the generousity of spirit of volunteers, but they can't accept a team of young players without a Coach.
Coaching Senior Football is obviously different because of the age of the players involved, the all embracing demand to produce "wins". but I wager, that if you asked any local Football Coach if they could identify with the problems of coaching at the senior level - lets say the Premier League in the ACT region, they would quickly connect with the situation.
When the Coaching responsibilities step up to the levels of the persons int he interviews (see below), we are dealing with people's chosen profession and the "business" of a Football Club, not to mention Club and National supporter expectations. The stakes are high.
By and large, Coaches of Football teams just do the job as best they can, with the players they have and with precious little support or resources. Most would dip into their own pocket each season to cover off on mising equipment and other costs.
Investing in good coaching habits and practice is returned many times over at every level of football in the region.
Punishing a Coach by laying the blame for a poor season is often not fair and disposing of a Coach during a season, often says more about the inadequacies and poor judegment of those that appointed the Coach than it does of the Coach. Clubs can be so stupid, providing unhelpful intereference, rather than help and support to a Coach under pressure to win. Parents too often collude on the sideline and simply defame a coach, but with not idea themselves how to put it right or be prepared to undertake the task. It can get very nasty. Why would a Coach come back for that next season? Often they do not. Just like Referees.
Coach education and training has been the single biggest change in Football in the ACT in the last few years. Its a product of the new National Football Curriculum and without it, the curriculum will fail to take hold. We need a lot more of it, much more than Capital Football has been able to deliver or prepared to resource. We now know to an absolute certainty that it can make a decisive difference for the good of the game. It is the most critical point of association between Capital Football and Clubs. Simple as that!
So please watch these two vidoes from the past and reflect on coaching. Nothing wrong with a genuine conflict of ideas, but no point in tearing good people apart.
