Are you trolling or are you really this dumb hahahahahahaha. 

When people actually have opinions this ridiculous its hard to tell. 

Que?

I would've thought the reason people think Europe is so great is the consistent quality of both the club competitions (well, at the top end anyway) as well as the sustained success of their national sides. Even the powerhouse South American nations still consistently send their best and brightest to Europe. Everyone knows that China and the Middle East pay more - if it was purely about salary we'd all be moaning that our players should be there instead of Europe.

The south americans go to europe for the cash and to live in decent countries. Personal reasons not for some dumb romantic idea about football and europe.

Also I'd like to see the stats for china and the middle east vs europe. They may pay insane amounts for a few players but europe offers professional careers for thousands and thousands!

Blaming having curriculums or the lack of etc for the dearth of Junior talent is pointless.
Our golden generation did not grow up with a curriculum.
The difference between junior players who became "Golden" and those of today is, back then, kids were out kicking balls around in the back yard every day after school. I know I did every single day ....even in summer.
This is where they developed flair, innovation and technique.....not in structured training sessions.

Now kids get home from school and sit in front of gaming machines and computers and then go to a structured training session.
This is a first world problem and it seems places like Britain are also suffering from it.
Even the poorer countries like Brazil will begin to feel it as their poverty levels decline and kids become more connected to gaming .The old street games in the favelas in Brazil where the "Greats" learned their skills may begin to drop away .
Nothing is going to change this so we have to change the structured training to include letting kids innovate and gain individual skills ...other wise our game will become too structured and boring to both play and a watch.

The NSL always had an eye on youth development. The A-league has always been about 'results at all costs' and has contributed very little to youth development.

Some on here would say that is justified as the stakes are higher in a professional league where owners pump millions into the operations and maintenance of a club as opposed to an amateur league with much lower running costs.

In any event, the landscape has changed ever since the FFA has been introduced and the production line has completely dried up as a consequence of these changes. 

Bro what are you even talking about

This is an opportunity to espouse the same theory I have been repeating for a while now on the NSL and the golden generation.

The ethnic NSL clubs were good at producing top footballers because  they were  part of an environment that had communities and families interested and passionate about the world game above all else.  It wasn't just about kids coming through from under-age teams to senior teams in the one club, it was about the family actually loving football and giving that love of the game to their children, and encouraging them to play 24/7.  Dads playing with sons in the backyard, kids playing on the street, families going to the same club and playing the game in whatever space they could find.,

These days, the focus is more on facilities, and better grounds, and coping with the large number of junior registrations - but that love and passion for the game that came from withing the family has actually been lost in the process.

We think a national curriculum, lots of grassy surfaces and academies which are sending families broke will produce better players - but actually nothing can ever replace the close connection communities and families once had with the game during the NSL era.  That has been lost.

No, there are more reasons than that. Of course the wages and the lifestyle are big drawcards. But so is the standard of football.

I'm sorry but however much you may hate the idea, specific countries in Europe have the best leagues in the world. The European Champion's League is the highest quality football competition out of all football competitions in the world (football clubs and countries).

People who love the sport so much that they would sacrifice just about everything to compete in it at the highest level are going to go where the highest quality of football is. And in places like South America and various parts of Africa, it appears people love the sport far more than most football-playing Australians. But if you're going to give up so much for the shot at playing professionally, of course you're going to seek to play in the place with the highest quality of football. So they go to Europe. Football in Australia, Asia, Africa, North America is nowhere near as good as the best competitions in Europe (although you find individual footballers who are as good). Then South America is not as good as the best places (although far better than lots of places in Europe). These are guys utterly committed to the sport. And that's why they go there.

Why do you suppose the best basketball players in the world aspire to play in the NBA? Why do you think so many of the best academics wish to work in Ivy League schools, the best UC schools or Oxbridge universities? There's a reason why there's almost an endless list of Nobel Laureates who work at those schools in the States, Oxford or Cambridge. They have the quality/pedigree/reputation, so they draw in the world's best. The world's best then do their best work there. It's no different with football.

The idea is hardly that offensive. All we can do is look to lift our game (the A-League, second division, eventual promotion and relegation, academies from about U9s attached to A-League clubs, etc.) and specific weaknesses in Australian football and Australian footballers (too many to list but really shoddy defending and not much evidence of 1 vs 1 ability is a big example). Then maybe our league will be better, our NT will be better and our footballers will start having success in the best leagues in the world again.

Our national league is shit. Sorry to break it to you.

@Select

I thought Australia was gaining on Scandinavia but it has fallen behind again.

I watched the Sydneyand Copenhagen derbies on the weekend and there was a clear winner. Not only the commentary but the football. The Danish league is so much more clinical, smart and skillful.

A good move for Australians (to go to Denmark).

That's a harsh assessment, but I think we've definitely reached saturation point.

If Portugal, a country with a population of 10mil and less than a quarter the GDP of Australia can sustain a league of 18 teams in their first division and a second division, then I can't see why Australia cannot?

Yes I know we have a saturated sporting market, but why are we so hellbent on filling stadia with 10k supporters on average? It will never happen here. We have to come to the realization that smaller/regional teams averaging 5k fans is a good thing in this country. 

In terms of growth, the J.League went from 10 teams to 18 teams over a 12 year period since their inaugural season. By contract the A.league has gone from 8 teams to 10 teams. 

Agree we too harsh on ourselves.
Our league has definitely improved no doubt, tactically its quite competent but i feel in a technical sense its still behind. Its actually quite good for our younger players because when they play against quality players week in week out its far more beneficial than the NYL.

Thats what Ange is advocating for more young players to be playing because there is not enough teams and still the season can be more longer, but the a-league is getting there year on year.

When brisbane beat Shanghai last week, the result didn't surprise me anymore because the inroads the league has made it probably raised a few eyebrows to our asian counter parts than ourselves but i had a feeling we could surprise them.

It might be a while before we get a lot of players in the big 5 even if we improve

look at the sort of players we have had recently get consistent time in big 5 clubs - leckie and jedi

If we focused on athleticism I have no doubt we could get a full team of big 5 players within a few years.

But the sort of players we are producing are the sort of players with skill sets better aimed at table topping teams. But table topping teams in the big 5 are a very high standard - too high for us now. So our best bet is to aim for top clubs at lesser leagues. Hopefully we will improve to the point where we can have a team of players from celtic, brugge, ajax etc.

But are Japan and Portugal unique sporting environments tho

The thing about the Portuguese Liga is that only 4 teams are averaging over 10k this season. It isn't a factor but FFA make a massive deal about it here. My home town has a population of just under 8k and we have a team in the second division. We've got a set up similar to Marconi with a stadium that can hold about 4k and we have 2-4 training fields outside the stadium. 

All our clubs need is to play at stadiums that are appropriate in size so it looks full. Whether it's 5k or 40k is irrelevant. 

I don't think the sporting environment really comes in to it. What I'm referring to is the idea (FFA's idea, not mine) that the league needs to have a resemblance of superiority with large attendances averaging over 10K, expensive marketing campaigns and all the other commercial trappings. 

Why can't the league run on a leaner model allowing for smaller clubs to occupy positions in the first and second division? I'd be amazed if the top NSL clubs could not cover travel/accom expenses for a season? 

Rubbish we beat our chests after we hold our own against a half decent opposition and falter after 10 mins post interval. 

We are hardly harsh on ourselves. 

Hardly a comparison. 

I do believe however our conditions (sumeer, pitches like suncorp) dont help us at all. 

Apart from Sun Heung-Min, can't think of any Asian players doing exceptionally well in Europe at the moment. Are we not the only AFC country struggling in this regards?

Preaching to the converted. Unfortunately we make every excuse in the book as to why we can't have 2 divisions with p/r between them

grazorblade

But it's not a question of technique or athleticism. You need both for a lot of positions.

What so many on this forum have trouble understanding is that if a footballer is not fast and is not agile, he won't be as good as footballers who have just as good technique and are also fast and agile.

This isn't the case for all positions. But for strikers, wingers, fullbacks and goalkeepers, they need athleticism and technique. They need the speed and agility. If they don't have that, chances are they won't be good enough to play for a top team.

For those positions, Australia needs to focus on athleticism as well as technique. I know that is considered heresy on this forum. Unfortunately, too many think in false dichotomies (either athleticism or technique). Sorry but for the positions mentioned above, you need both.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale, Antoine Griezmann, Dmitri Payet, Mario Balotelli, Thomas Mueller, Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Thierry Henry...

They're not just footballers who have great technique. They're (or were) seriously good athletes. So Australia needs to work on that too

its true though...

I do have an issue with some of these 20 year olds who have played less than 20 games of HAL and left for the rosy shores of Europe only to have their careers stall. 
But I dont think its as bad as some make it out to be. The following is a quick list of who are regulars at their clubs.

Mat Ryan  Genk
Jones@ Feyernood  look like being champions.  Champions league  next year
Langerak Bundesliga next season.
Leckie    Bundesliga 
Sainsbury  Inter                       ok so not a regular but training at such a big club.
Mooy                                      On the way to EPL next season with or without Huddersfield.
Rogic                                      Champions league every year with Celtic.
Jedinak  Aston Villa
Luongo   QPR

Just a few names of the top of my head. But not as bad as some make it out to be.

A lot of this is very true.

Even top European coaches say it is a problem in Europe and that there is less and less space available in cities for kids to play street football. We have a whole generation of  young techno zombies too. Just about every kid I've taught in the last 5 years under the age of 11 is addicted to computers and Ipads!

This isn't just confined to football. I've heard cricket coaches and former players say it too. A sport like AFL has a low skill base compared to athleticism being paramount . Naturally athletic players can essentially get fit and strong and play at a high level in AFL.

The problem is that if they stay in Australia, they're playing in a very average league at the point in their career where a HUGE amount of development takes place. Unless they're in a league of their own (and that in comparison to world class footballers who very influential in the knock-out stages of the Champion's League), they're so far behind the curve if they stay in Australia at that age.

Between the ages of about fifteen and early twenties, a huge amount of development takes place. Supposedly, Aussie kids aren't a huge way behind the best in the world when they're younger than fifteen. After that a huge gulf emerges. If they stay in Australia, that means that during that crucial stage of development while footballers from elsewhere are playing with/against the best in the world, those in Australia are developing nearly as well. So if they stay in Australia too long, it almost certainly results in them destroying any chance of becoming a world class footballer. You need to be with and against the best at the youngest possible age.

That's why for every other sport (tennis, basketball, whatever) you get people travelling to the other side of the world at the youngest possible age just for the chance at becoming world class. It's no different with football.

There's no physiological or anatomical difference between Australians and people from elsewhere. We're all human beings. But, unfortunately, while there have been too many world class footballers to count produced in Europe. As yet, not a single truly world class talent has emerged from the A-League (jury is still out on Aaron Mooy and Tom Rogic). Therefore, the most realistic (or least unrealistic) chance of becoming world class comes from moving to Europe as young as possible. There's a possibility of failure. But staying in Aus means almost certainly they won't become world class.

I'd say a low technique base. It involves skill but the kind of skill that naturally athletic people get easily enough. Whereas football (and cricket, tennis, etc.) require technique which usually needs to be learned for years and, usually, from rather a young age.

Ange makes a moot point about expansion, the young talent coming through from under 18 is quite promising as he wants more teams to expose these young players to quality players week in week out as he knows its better than the NYL or even NPL a shame the FFA dont have the understanding for the urgent need for expansion or even a second division.

The golden gen had the expose to start playing senior football at 16/17 years of age and build their experience through the NSL which is missing in the a-league.

Street football is still relevant in most Asian countries though, unfortunately australia being an 1st world country like most of the european and north american countries there are certain disadvantages, which is why the first introduction to kids starting football and giving them the tools to practice is important but also creative coaching is crucial at minimising the effect. 

Slater? LOL