It was but it is too ethnic central ie Croatian clubs had croatian fans, Greek clubs greek fans, Polish... etc 

It wasnt 'inclusive' like the AL which is the best thing about the AL 

Ahhhh Assimilation not Multiculturalism hey??? Those pesky uppity wogs how dare they speak their parents language and wave their foreign flags around? hahahahahah

Not that I really disagree with you, just hate how it is used to bash the old clubs.

Anyway, can anyone tell me what background you had to be to follow Perth Glory, Adelaide United, Northern Spirit, Carlton SC, Newcastle, Brisbane Strikers? Just asking for a friend? :)

piss off

Question - how old were you around the time the NSL was disbanded?

I know you're a lot younger than me and I barely remember the NSL yet you speak with such authority as to it's standard of play etc

Back in the 70s/80s many of my mates wouldn’t have been seen dead at a Marconi vs Sydney United wog-ball game. 

Do they go (still?) to Roar games?

FFA cannot get anything done, the other codes get everything done. Thats why they will always be the poor cousin!

Cheers for the videos Quickflick.

Henry was special in his hey day wasn't he?

1v1 players are about risk, the same goes for players that are press resistant that like to make risk worthy pass or dribble to break a line or two instead of playing the safe option as a 2 touch robot which coaches want them to do in risk adverse situations on the pitch.

Thiago Alcantara is a great example of risk taking No.6/8.

When players that take risk often it could lead to mistakes which will happen, otherwise how could a player learn if they dont? They will learn better decision making and better execution if they are allowed to express themselves rather than get over coached in what to do and often than not it places fear into the players and eventually the player will not enjoy playing the game they feel they want to play.

It seems with the team oriented culture it does oddly enough encourage risk adverse styles of play and coaches and might be a major drawback in coach education in Australia.

Too emphasis on results instead of player development might have that consequence as well.

i was 14 when the NSL was disbanded i dont speak that highly of the standard (i think the AL was worse initially S1-4) then surpassed it by a mile S5-current 
but the development was much better i played and was part of the youth set up the idea and full focus was to develop players good enough to go to Europe. The idea was to send players on trails anywhere in Europe to get recognition - loads of friends went on trails to Croatia, Holland, UK etc - some of them did alright for themselves one of my best mates played with Leckie (he is doing pretty good now) 

I've said this before i didnt actually like the NSL i experienced a load of racism and abuse 1st hand even as a junior but its development was superior from grass roots to seniors in every way and if you ask me the Socceroos being good is far more important then the domestic league being popular 

Question: when does a "plastic" club stop being plastic? Is 15 years enough? Was APIA (founded 1954) still plastic in the late 1960s? Was Chelsea (founded 1905 and parachuted straight into the Football League) still plastic in 1920? When did they become non-plastic?

Or is it pro-rel that makes a club non-plastic? In which case, if the A-League introduces pro-rel tomorrow, does that suddenly mean that all its member clubs are no longer plastic?

The whole notion is ridiculous. You might be able to call BBL franchises plastic because they were all centrally conceived and manufactured. But A-League clubs all have independent ownership, are generally well-rooted in their football communities, and have rivalries that draw on really existing tensions (Sydney vs Melbourne, East Sydney vs West Sydney, etc.). Sure they have pretty short histories, but you have to start somewhere. Perth Glory is already a quarter of a century old (as old as Sydney United was in 1983), and have played in the same ground, with the same name and same colours that whole time. There are 18-year-old fans drinking in pubs today who can't remember a world without Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory, etc., and that's a real achievement.

I think that having a stable, sustainable professional national league is just as important as national team performance, and you shouldn't romanticise the Socceroos during the NSL era. There were dark days for the national team during this time. The fact is the Socceroos NEVER qualified for the World Cup while the NSL was in existence, sometimes bowing out tragically (Iran 1997), sometimes farcically (NZ 1981). Conversely, while the A-League has existed the Socceroos haven't failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Moreover, in the late 1990s and early 2000s the federation could barely get their act together to provide matches for the Socceroos, this despite having the golden generation in their prime. If it wasn't for the Lowy takeover the fruits of that talent crop would have been totally wasted.

I actually don't know the answer the exact answer to this but i know part of the solution would be youth academies becuz you get kids that grow up with the club from under 6 to U23s they and there family/Parents are around the club all the time it becomes a community 

but the rest of it i couldnt tell you 

Well said. I think Henry was one of the greatest strikers in history.

I think that some people get overcoached and lose their individual flair and aggressiveness. I remember Massimo Luongo saying of Daniel Arzani something along the lines of he hasn't had his  individualism coached out of him.

Very significant remark. And when you think about the last World Cup. We only looked like we might score when Arzani was on the pitch for his cameos. For 80% of the match, our risk-averse passing got us nowhere. The only way for there to be more Arzani-type footballers is for individualism to be encouraged. It shouldn't lead to footballers being told off. In many cases, it shouldn't even be checked.

And as the videos of Henry show, having footballers with these individual skills helps the team. It leads to better passing and more goalscoring opportunities. But it's not possible to develop those type of footballers if individualism is stamped out from the get-go. Individualism needs to be encouraged and coached effectively. And then tactically refined as the footballer gets older. That's how the Henry's are developed.

i'd argue the 2006 squad was a 'NSL' developed team 

I'd also argue the last 2 world cup  where we basically had mostly AL developed players where terrible (we didnt win a game) 

I dare say the NSL Socceroos side would of qualified via the Asian confed as it is shit house confederation (not the OFC was better but the South American play off was a difficult game) 

I dont look back at the NSL with anything other then facts the league was a shambles matter of fact it was a disgrace 

BUT one thing no one can refuse is somewhere between the NSL and AL development has fallen off a cliff - i dont buy into this whole football is more globalised and it is harder for players to make it these days argument to me that is the biggest bullshit 

the AL isnt without success stories Jedi, Ryan etc But they are too few and  too far between our national team is a bigger disgrace then the NSL ever was i dont think people even bother with it anymore becuz the squad is over-paid and totally useless - someone posted on another forum the socceroos best 11 and i honestly thought to myself WTF is the point of the national team right now? even if we got the easiest group imaginable in a world cup (based on Pots) i still dont see us getting out of the group the AL and the FFA need to take heat for this and if you ask me with the general sports watching population it has lost interest. 

I like Football and i honestly couldnt care less for the Socceroos becuz i know they are hopeless - growing up all i wanted to be was a Socceroo (how times change)   

The standards have dropped so low people on this fourm are actually asking if there is a way to watch the Eredivisie to see a couple of Aussies play, other saying we should tee up friendlies against NZ which 12 years ago there would of been outrage at such a waste of a friendly - to me Australian football is a joke and though the NSL was a shambles the AL is dog s**t compared to it and the national team is an absolute waste of time thanks to the AL 

That's mostly to do with the switch from the OFC to the AFC. Not anything the A-League has done.

People actually fail to realise moving to Asia has been one of the key factors that has lead to football going down the toilet in Australia 

It has been expensive, we dont qualify for the confeds cup anymore or any other U20 or youth world cups anymore but becuz qualification is ez we send under done teams to world cups 

The Socceroos brand would be better off not making a WC rather then going to a world cup to not a win game the last 2 world cups they were a f**ken disgrace 

It has allowed mediocrity at its finest becuz you dont need to try that hard like we used to win the 5th play south American play off  

Every player that started against the eventual World Champions in 2018 WC developed their game to its highest level in the A-League before going overseas.  They lost 1-2.

 The best the 2006 Socceroos could do against the eventual 2006 Champions was 0-1 loss against 10 men

Both played against cheating World Cup Winners so this is a 100% like for like, scientifically-validate by me comparison.

A-league wins player development for Socceroos.

I'm so over the bashing of the old NSL clubs over the fact that they are ethnic clubs. id say embrace them and let them compete alongside us. 

One match was group stage (and first match at that), the other was a knock-out stage match. Huge difference. Anyway, you can't have a 100% scientifically sound comparison based on a sample size of comparing two single matches.

But if you do want to push that particular envelope, the Socceroos were defensively very good against France. But that was it. In all other aspects of play, they were innocuous.

How many shots on target did they manage in open play?


I don't accept the soundness of the premises on which such a conclusion is based. The overall quality of the 2006 Socceroos was far higher than the overall quality of the 2018 Socceroos. Only Aaron Mooy and, potentially, Trent Sainsbury would have come close to being good enough to start in the 2006 Socceroos.

However, I don't think that should necessarily lead to the conclusion that the NSL wins for player development for the Socceroos. The 'Golden Generation' could be a fluke. Also the 'Golden Generation' could be better than the 2018 Socceroos by virtue of some other factor independent of coming through the NSL. There are so many variables involved.

Yep zero goals from open play, no win since 2010 World Cup...

Surely your trolling.

That’s why I like the French with their player development, they might not be like Spain, Germany or Holland and have a distinctive style of play but their preference for developing individuals over system based players over the years makes them one of the best exports of football talent in the world. 

2014 and 2018 where AL core Socceroos how many goals did they score from open play? how many games did they win? 

Is isnt like they a hard group in 2018 (2014 was a group of death) 

1. How many AL development players will be playing in the UCL this season? 

2. How many AL players will be playing in the ECL this season? 

Depends how you define local. I think people should follow a club in their own country - a bit of a complex issue in Australia.

I grew up in Portugal so I support Porto but I live 30 mins away. It is very common in Portugal to support one of the big three and your local club - which I do. 

In Australia, I support a club in the area I grew up in and a club that I played for. Now I live 30 mins away. 

I always get asked who I follow in the EPL - I tell them I don't really have a club. I tend to watch whoever is there. E.g. Wolves (Portuguese connection), Leeds (Bielsa/Kewell/Viduka) and Liverpool (Klopp) at the moment.

Yep the 2018 Soccerros failled in one area: scoring goals. That doesn't make the A-League a failure at developing Socceroos.

Even v  Marwijk couldn't believe how diabolically bad our finishing was. Literally any other team at that World Cup would have scored given the same opportunities.  Leckie. Kruse. Rogic had chances to bury France.  Let that sink in....

Same in 2014 against Netherlands. 

People idolize the golden generation-watch the games carefully.  Down 0-1 against Japan till the 84 th minute.  Offside goal against Croatia. No chance of scoring against Italy.

What the A-League hasn't developed is a striker.   Whose fault ?

2018 had France and Denmark came in as one of the best teams in Europe.  France won the whole damned thing..

Because Lowy decided to kill it. Also 5 of 8 starting AL clubs were ex-NSL so cant say it died, Lowy just used creation of AL to get rid of the pesky effniks 

This is basically what happened.  He was given a free reign to do whatever the hell he wanted.
So in the process, a 50 year old club (the Oceania club of the century) was not permitted to join (and the club that did end up coming in from Melbourne was part owned by the FFA for the whole of the first season).

Wasnt much difference down here mate. Monday morning at school was all the Greek, Italian and Yugo kids giving each other shit over the weekends results and the Skip kids yelling at us to get the f**ck off the footy oval so they could kick they egg ball around, you know a real man's game.. Then all of a sudden in 2005 these same Neanderthals are walking around with Melbourne Victorious tops and telling us it's  not called Soccer anymore and when they light flares and punch on.at the soccer it's not as bad as when the ethnics did it....  hahahah f*ck me no wonder the A league fans think we are bitter... wouldn't you be?

I think the old hatreds are starting to simmer down a little as both camps realise that we sort of need each other to have any hope of this bloody ridiculous game of ours having any hope in hell of being popular let alone Aussies ever being any good at it... live in hope.

To answer the kid who asked how long before a club stops being plastic.... I think a club should at least have the right to choose it's own name colours and identity and not have their whole persona and ip dictated to them by the FFA. A license to participate in a competition ,owned by some rich wanker, does not make a club, it makes a franchise...  The old Soccer clubs are just like the old milk bars and fish and chip shops in the burbs.. cast away in favour of another  shiny Westfield...  But a lot of these old traditional places are still thriving and a lot have gentrified and improved the way they do things and the clientele they target.  I hope the Westfield stores survive the coming changes as well.

 

This. Plus Cahill gives away a blatant penalty (not given) against Japan that would have put them 2-1 up with minutes to go.

2010 Socceroos gained as many points against arguably better opponents while playing a man down for more than 30% of game time ... and losing Kewell and Cahill to suspensions.