By Tom Degun
June 22 – Football Federation Australia (FFA) has revealed its plan to help develop and improve elite male football players in the country after releasing the outcomes of their National Competition Review (NCR).
Although Australia have produced some of the world’s top players in recent years, such as Everton midfielder Tim Cahill (pictured above), Melbourne Victory’s Harry Kewell (pictured below) and Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer (pictured bottom), the sport is not one of the most popular in the country, ranking behind cricket and rugby.
The NCR was launched by FFA in November 2010 to support its vision of “Making Australia a world-class football nation”.
The review looked closely at the competitions conducted by FFA, Member Federations and State League Clubs around Australia at Youth League, State League and Hyundai A-League level.
With the NCR now complete, five core recommendations – which recognise the important contribution that Member Federation’s State and Youth League competitions and clubs make in developing Australia’s elite male football players – have been made.
These are: an evolution of the elite player pathway to recognise the important contribution of state-based elite clubs; a clear definition of competition windows and participation requirement; the introduction of an elite club licensing programme; the introduction of a player points system to correct unsustainable player payments in State League competitions; and the revision of training compensation regulations to reward clubs which achieve accreditation.
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley believes NCR proposals will result in better Australian footballers being produced in greater numbers.
“The outcomes from the National Competition Review are the culmination of 18 months of work by FFA in collaboration with our Member Federations,” he said.
“Throughout this process, we have consulted with the football community and listened to what our various stakeholders have had to say.
“These reforms will allow us to seize some great opportunities and to address a number of important issues in the football community.
Buckley added that State League Clubs have long played an important role in developing young players in Australia and that these reforms will further elevate these clubs and competitions in this role and ensure there is consistency in developing youth talent around the country.
“Importantly, State League clubs will receive greater recognition for the work they do,” he said.
“These outcomes will also support the development of the Hyundai A-League as an even higher standard of young players emerge from the states to grow the entertainment appeal of the competition by improving the quality of play on the pitch.”
“Like other important initiatives including Small Sided Football, the National Curriculum and National Football Development Plan, I am certain we will look back upon the National Competition Review as having been fundamental to achieving our vision of Australia becoming one of the leading football nations in the world.”
It is expected that NCR’s recommendations will start nationwide implementation in time for the 2013 winter football season.
A women’s NCR will get underway later in the year and will seek to apply key learnings from the men’s process.
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