Soccer - The plan to become Australia's number one
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 8:06 am
15 million strong community and 1 million club members?
Gees how many times have we heard soccer chiefs sprouting they will be Number 1 in Australia one day?
Gees how many times have we heard soccer chiefs sprouting they will be Number 1 in Australia one day?
The plan to become Australia's number one: FFA unveils 20-year dream
Date May 5, 2015
Sebastian Hassett
Football reporter
A 15-million strong football community, a boom in elite juniors and coaches, reduced fees for all players, increased respect for referees, major government co-operation, a nationwide schools competition and a bid to host the 2023 Women's World Cup.
Welcome to the 20-year vision for Australian football.
Football Federation Australia's ambitious dream for the next two decades of growth – the "Whole of Football Plan" – was formally unveiled on Tuesday morning on Sydney harbour.
This was not about the A-League but everything else around it grassroots, state leagues, junior football and women's football. Perhaps the only pressing matter related to the A-League was the reiteration that promotion and relegation remains off the agenda.
FFA chief executive David Gallop admitted that it was a wish list as much as a strategic plan, acknowledging it was deliberately conceived without restraints.
"We wanted to do something where we said, 'Ok, if we had our druthers, where would we want to be in 20 years' time?' It's now our job to go away to work out the revenue and cost implications for getting there in 20 years time," Gallop said. "We've engaged Boston Consulting to help us with our first four-year strategy and that will certainly be all about making investment choices for the game that will get us on the steepest growth path towards the 20-year vision."
FFA chairman Frank Lowy – whose tenure at the top ends this year – acknowledged the aspiration was lofty but necessary. He believes the key plank of the document is securing funding for appropriate stadiums and facilities.
"This will take many years to do. The most important thing, that is out of our control, is to have grounds, to have stadiums. The sport cannot provide it. This is really for governments," he said. "I think the governments are sympathetic. They don't have too much money to spread around but there is a budget. We've worked very closely [for example] with the NSW government. They have a plan and I think they will deliver."
Head of Northern NSW football, David Eland, said government help would only come when football made a unified approach.
"It's very positive, from the member federations, that facilities have been prioritised in the whole of football plan," he said. "But we have to be more strategic. We cannot rely on individual clubs – we have to go to governments collectively to get the best bang for buck. Northern NSW and Football NSW were very active before the last state election and we're very hopeful we'll see some results from that."
Gallop firmly believes football should not only expect a steep rise in television revenue – currently $40 million per year until 2017 – but in other financial metrics.
"TV revenue and media rights generally are obviously an important part and somewhere the sport needs to grow to compete with the other codes," he said. "We've just gone over 100,000 members in the A-League this year (115,000) but growing memberships across our clubs and making our clubs more sustainable commercially is an important part of what we need to do."
FFA technical director Eric Abrams has just completed his inaugural visits to all the member federations and his directives for elite academy implementation will be among the most urgent undertakings.
"He [Abrams] is now very focused on making sure we focus on increasing the pool as quickly as possible, that we start to develop high-performance schools around the country," Gallop said. "The plan is that we will pilot such a program in NSW in 2015-16. That's an immediate part of the plan."
Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou said Australian teams would only compete for major global titles when they began sourcing vast numbers of elite talent.
"The reality is that they [top players] are out there but we don't know them," he said. "We don't get to them and we don't give them the opportunity. Nobody is going to tell me we don't have at least 3000 boys and girls at every age group who have the ability and desire but maybe don't have the encouragement to realise their goals. It's now a matter of getting organised, but I have no doubt they're out there."
That "3000" is the magical number coming into elite programs – up from just 24, the current number of AIS scholarship holders.
"If you talk to a number of current Socceroos, you'll find a number of them were never identified through normal pathways when they were growing up. It's about breaking down those barriers, opening it up and making sure we don't miss anyone," Postecoglou said. "It's not just about the AIS, it's about beyond that and de-centralising that."
The Asian Cup-winning coach said the sport simply had to do a better job of creating awareness for potential pathways.
"The worst thing you can do is with a young kid, who potentially could be a future Socceroo or Matilda, is that he or she is not being looked at," he said. "That can be discouraging to the point where they do give up."
The FFA's Whole of Football Plan's key points:
- A 15 million strong Football community by 2035, including one million club members.
- A distinctive Australian style of playing that puts our national teams in contention for all FIFA and AFC championships.
- Hosting the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup as the driver of women's football participation and professionalism.
- National competitions that attract 75 per cent of participants to support a top tier club.
- A combined pool of 3,000 elite male and female players from 12 to 19 vying for future national selection and professional contracts.
- Academies that provide world-class coaching so that no Australian youth needs to go overseas to find elite development.
- A redistribution of resources to community football.
- Lower cost and higher quality coach education from the grassroots to professional tier.
- Making schools and social football the focus of an "anytime, anyhow, anywhere" approach to playing the game.
- Sourcing football facilities that accommodate the increasing urban density of Australian society.
- Redefining the role of referees as game facilitators, not just as arbitrators of the laws of the game.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/the- ... guh1o.html
