1.  The point remains that we were competitive against European and Sth American opposition, doesn't matter how easy it was to get there.  Just prior to the establishment of the A-League, Australia was the 4th best performed country in the U20 WC, that is, over the entire history of this age group.

2.  Actually, Nigeria and Ghana were quite strong in the early years of this age group.

3.  There might be something in this, although sounds a little bit speculative.  Probably incorrect to suggest we were any more physical than European teams.

Fair points Waz.

To be fair for the FFA the introducing of the curriculum has seen a bigger emphasis on skill and technique in our young players more than any time before even way back to the golden generation.

Largely due to SAP and the coaching they receive at elite level and often than not has seen a upskill on technical development and the amount of players I’ve seen at youth level going back maybe the last 8 years has come along way are a lot better technically.

The down side is maybe they are overcoached and often we struggle to see players think for themselves but that’s something that can be improved on.

I do agree they need to focus more on it, as these things also need to evolve as well plus it cops a lot of stick from sideline critics so i think it’s important these things get bigger priorities in the future.

This is BS. Roar fleeces juniors at other clubs with it "preparation centre" programs where U5's are paying $1,225 per year, which then funds the Roar "free" academy (check out link below). The scheme is so good that MV has started doing the same in Vic, with many gullible parents coughing up $2,500K to play in community leagues with promises of MV trials.

https://forum.insidesport.com.au/FindPost2616380.aspx

I wouldn't put it past them running scams like this, typical Roar though bunch of scabs. 

I agree with a lot of the stuff being posted such as pro/rel, etc. 

I'd like to add a point that I think most people won't think about. I've been coaching for almost 10 years at NPL level in NSW from U13's to 1st Grade and there is one thing I've noticed. Our youth squad sizes are too small (16 players) - why is this important? When I was in Portugal, I watched my cousin play and I was shocked at the amount of players they had on the bench. The squad size is about 20 players.

• More players means players have to earn their spot in the starting 11
• If there injuries, players are away, sick, etc and so players are always guaranteed game time
• Most importantly, less players means the intensity at training drops and game problems are difficult to recreate when it is 8v8, 7v7, 6v6 depending on how many players are unavailable for that particular training
• Interesting enough, I had my most successful seasons at U18, U20 and 1st Grade level when I had bigger squads - U18 and U20's I had extra players training with us during the season.

When was the last time you saw a kid kicking a soccer ball in the street?  When I was a kid that’s what we did, after school and on weekends, go outside and play.  The streets and ovals would be full with kids.  These days kids are stuck inside on their playstations, Xbox’s and ipads.  They still play structured sport to please their parents but once it’s over they zip inside and go online.  The passion for sport just isn’t there anymore.  

It's not really about the ps4s and xbox's etc, it's more about the 15-18 year olds who are extremely talented quitting football to chase skirt more often.

Yes but was it worth having your ears bleeding the from whinging from the parents of the kids who weren't getting much game time. 

My kid travels by bus 5 and half hours one way every second week to play in the Newcastle NPL comp.  (Leaves at 6am - returns at 10pm.)  They have a squad of 16. Some weeks he gets a full match (less say 10 minutes) other times he only gets 20 minutes.

He will probably give it up next year because of that exact reason.  I understand why the coach does it but I also understand from his perspective why he's losing interest.

Will he join a more local league or just give it up entirely? 

Play with his mates in the suburban comp.

whilst I admire his current dedication..I have to ask where you live that his closest NPL club is 5.5 hours away ?

Mid north coast NSW.

Gold Coast too far away?

The zone we are in is captured by Newcastle.  Pretty sure Lismore plays in the Gold Coast comp.

It's a 5.5hr bus ride.  4 hours if you drive to Newy but the kids all have to go by bus.  The bus takes all 4 teams which is why it's an all day affair.

This. The creation of the A league has actually been detrimental to the prospects of our national team. Previously in the nsl, players were semi pro so amyone even half decent like a Danny Allsopp or a Danny invincible left as early as possible and did not have the safety net of coming home. This meant we had a lot more players abroad. I remember reading the crawford report when it came out and it said they estimated that about a third of our overseas players would return home to a fully pro league which ended up being very accurate. given we had a lot more teams before in the NSL, the combination of less teams in the a league, a third of our players returning home to take local spots, less incentive to go overseas (or stay overseas) and more money to afford overseas imports (there are a lot more now than in the nsl) means we have a severely reduced national pool to choose from. I predicted it at the time...

The golden gen was "created" due to our national league being so poor and poorly paid. The success of our national league does not directly translate to the success of national team and is why i support our league being run by the ffa and still do. 

One way to improve our national pool would be to have a minimum of number of under 21 players selected on matchday. Say 4 minimum. This would a. Promote more youth which has been a problem area. B. Introduce more australian players into the professional world of football increasing our natiinal pool. C. Prevent clubs from recruiting drifters, deadwood types such as a Matty Simon, Anthony Golec etc who are never going to be called up to the socceroos again but coaches turn to because they dont trust youth 

That's very very rough on the kids.

1. This is answered by his point 3
2. They were playing overage players due to birth certificate issue 
3. Its true even the old heads of the AIS have come out and said they we dont look enough these days at physicality in our juniors and pointed to emerton who was an elite athlete as a junior. 

Point 3 has real merit imo.
As much as I believe learning the skill/possession game we lacked in the past our physicality sure helped in the early years.
I recall many opponent NT players after our games saying we sure let them know we were there !
Granted that in part made up for our lack of skill, I feel if we kept a little of this character in our style of play (ala Uruguay/Argies etc) to this day putting the fear in your opponent is a +.

Point 4 sososo much.

It is but at least the option is there for them to do it.  So credit where credit is due. 

Apparently before we got to town there was no NPL for the area because the Newcastle mob didn't want to travel up the coast once or twice a season..

Just on this the Newcastle Jets have sides in all the comps but they all play a year up.  So Under 13's in the 14's, under 14's in the 15s etc.. (They're called the 'Emerging Jets'.)

I just had a look at the ladders and they're doing fairly well.

You'd probably call this a bit of a production line,  http://websites.sportstg.com/comp_info.cgi?c=1-10182-0-518206-0&a=LADDER

Under 18's in the 20 comp are currently 2nd
Under 16's in the 18 comp are currently 1st
Under 15's in the 16 comp are currently 1st
Under 14's in the 15 comp are currently 3rd
Under 13's in the 14 comp are currently 3rd
Under 12's in the 13 comp are currently 1st

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_FIFA_World_Youth_Championship
Qatar were runners up in the 1981 World Youth Championship, defeating Poland, Brazil and England on the way to the finals.
We should be investigating what they were doing with their obviously-successful youth development programs at the time!

My non-sarcastic answer;
* Youth football tends to be a bit more random than "adult" football.
* The purpose of youth football is to develop players for senior football. Although I'm happy to cheer any youth Socceroos teams on, I do so with the hope of seeing the players develop and start to get into the real Socceroos team. If a magic genie gave me the choice of;
a) Australia winning 3 x Under 20 world cups in a row but also not getting out of the group stage of the senior world cup for the next 3 x World cups
or
b) Australia getting out of the group stage at the next world cup.
I'd pick b) every time.



>1.  The point remains that we were competitive against European and Sth American opposition, doesn't matter how easy it was to get there.  Just prior to the establishment of the A-League, Australia was the 4th best performed country in the U20 WC, that is, over the entire history of this age group.

The bolded is a bit of a stretch.
Australia came 4th in the 1991 & 1993 U20 WCs.
The A-League was established in 2004-2005.

There were 5 U20 WCs between Australia's 4th placing and the establishment of the A-League.

For all the talk of 'youth results don't matter' surely you'd be better doing consistently well at these tournaments than not.

(a) it would mean your development 'system' was working
and
(b) the players would be in a fairly prominent shop window. 

A point I reluctantly concur with being a teacher of kids 4-10 years old.

Most kids' major passion is their IT devices - not sport. If they were allowed to sit inside and play with IT devices, most would do so instead of  playing outside at lunch and recess.

There isn't  much street football, cricket, etc, played anymore. Most of the time one sees  Dads playing with their own kids, but not groups of kids organising their own games.

Good to read an informed post on this subject, FL.

That is from somebody involved coaching in the system and qualified at semi-pro /pro level. 

Regarding physicality, interpretations of contact have over time become more strict to the benefit of skillful players. Focusing on (wanting a return to) producing more physical players won't necessarily benefit you in the current paradigm.

Worth remembering that a lot of our past youngsters were first gen Aussies, so many grew up in a culture where football was second to God.

Finanicial security also plays a bigger part now. Nowadays even if you aren't that good at school there are plenty of options available for you that pay well. Versus hoping that your football career kicks on (lots of time and effort required... with a low chance of success).

Even at my grass roots club we have had players stop playing because they can't risk an injury that will stop them working (many earning apprenticeships do this when they finish school).

As I said in another post along the exact same lines last week, I think a nationally accredited state based academy system, criteria for NPL/HAL clubs in regards to academies, a full pyramid and adopting coach education (and targeting kids in sports) similar to what has recently been done in Iceland would be a start

well, yes and no.
Lets talk top levels re physicality and skill obviously right now more so with a few of the past.....
Just consider the CB/CM combos over the years by winning clubs.
Defense is the fist line of winning, physical and skill.
Fergie's era, Stam,Vidic,Ferdinand, Nevilles weren't soft, Evra - then middle Scholes/Keane, Cantona/Rooney - you could name more physical and bonus brawn. Ibra
RM, Pepe - Ramos !/Marcelo/Kroos/Benzema and more
Barca, Puyol/Alves/Pique/Deco/Suarez and more
Pool, Hypia/Carra/VVD/Gomez/Milners/Fabinhos more.....
City, Kompany/Fernandino/Aguero/BSilva
Juve,Cannavaros/Chiellinis/Nedveds etcetc

Nah, physicality is still strong in the game, even when the Barca ticka tacka evolved and to date.......
The HUGE diff on these top liners they are fitter faster than ours and some, they get away with a hell of alot whereas our Roo players are slow and slower than most of the asian countries we play today.
Prior we used to physically get over them, now they have improved their skill but their fitness levels above us.
We need to get fitter faster mixed with some brawn.

At YL we are soft as, I've been watching from the sideline for years and years, playing more synthetics our boys are getting softer and the officials pick them up for a minor transgression, its getting OTT..
Were breeding softies as well as great passers going backwards to reset how many times in a game :).

Releasing players once they turn 19 is a joke. It happens all the time. I think there is a quota players can't be older than 20. At that point the club needs to make a call. Players develop at a later stage, all that talent goes to waste, all that nurturing down the drain. 
the whole system is a shambles. You have players deemed not good enough for the A league make it  in other high quality leagues.

Timotheou initially (Schalke) now somewhere in Belgium, Duncan (AGF Arhuas), John Iredale (Wolfsburg). 
How many more are simply wasted playing yet the league recycles players.