Local filmmakers Michael Cain and Oscar Vieira are behind the project that will tackle topics such as the national curriculum, the waning youth production line, the state of the A-League, expansion, the Socceroos and women’s football.

With the working title of ‘When Soccer Died’, the duo have interviewed many powerful figures in football, from ex-Socceroos to broadcasters, coaches, administrators, former Matildas and officials, to explore how the sport in Australia has lost its way.

Vieira, a freelance cameraman, and Cain, a Channel 10 journalist, are both passionate football advocates who came up with the idea to make a film.

“I’ve been concerned for a long time in terms of the direction that Australian football is heading, sort of going away from what made us a unique footballing country,” Vieira told The World Game.

“I went to Cainey and said we should do a story on this. For years me and Cainey have talked about the issues, the continuous themes in the game. We want to shine a light on what’s going on.

“We thought we'd go and speak to people involved day-to-day in football and see what they think, both positive and negatives, in the current environment of Australian football.”

A virtual who’s who of Australian football has been interviewed for the documentary including SBS chief football analyst and former Socceroo Craig Foster, SBS presenter Lucy Zelic, journalist Ray Gatt, commentator Simon Hill, veteran coach Ron Smith, former FIFA and FFA whistleblower Bonita Mersiades, former Socceroos Peter Katholos, Craig Moore, Ned Zelic, Luke Wilkshire and Les Scheinflug, among many others.\

#whensoccerdied. @gatty54 @bonitamersiades @jim_sneez
@RobertGrasso @FNR_Radio @DFS_AUS
@FTdotnew @TheFootballSack @dippedin @NedZelic
@Elia_Santoro @rob_mcknight @rawprawn25 @SydneyCityTV @TheRealBozza @Zorb74 @Nikolaki78
@HamiltonAzzurri @hecivan70 pic.twitter.com/JVJ7M2EJHV

— Michael Cain (@caineyten) August 17, 2019
The film will touch on the controversial introduction of the national curriculum, the closure of the Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) successful football program and the influence of Dutch tactics.

“My issue with the Dutch curriculum is its sort of a square peg in a round hole,” Vieira said.

“You’ve got to have your own identity. And if we were going to follow someone the Dutch system probably wasn’t the one to go with.

“I think everyone fell in love with Guus at the time, and we fell into the Dutch system and the Dutch are having to reinvent themselves at the moment in a way.

“We’ve gone down a path that was perhaps outdated. Football has evolved a lot in the past 10 years.

“It seems like what the AIS were doing in the 1990s a lot of the top academies are honing in on in the last 10 years. We’ve gone away from a system where we took the best of what they were doing all over the world but also kept it very Australian.

“Football’s all about identity and I feel we’re very lost at the moment to be honest. The people we’ve spoken to have reinforced what we thought – we’re kind of in no-mans land.”

Craig Foster-“I don’t care if participation is up. I don’t care for those stats. Tell me how are we making better players,more affordable for families & find new revenue streams.They’re the stats I care about.” #whensoccerdied @johnnyddavidson @RobertGrasso @bonitamersiades pic.twitter.com/W5ixnI7yKn

— Michael Cain (@caineyten) August 21, 2019
The film also unearths the fallout from the end of the National Soccer League (NSL) and emergence of the A-League in 2005, as well as the stagnation of the new competition and how it has tried to expand.

“Everyone we’ve spoken to so far have been very concerned about the domestic game, the A-League, from the AIS being closed in 2017, to youth development,” Cain admits.

“The national curriculum was a good structure to have, but it’s almost like we’re in a box. We need to have a Plan A, B, C and D when it comes to playing the national sides and we’ve only got Plan A at the moment.

“The A-League, a lot of people are saying the A-League’s boring now. We need to have that competitiveness.

“We’re in a country where there’s four different football codes and it’s a big pie, and it’s precarious because it has to be entertaining, but it has to be a good product as well.”

According to Vieira, many of the subjects they have spoken to for the documentary believe that in the past 14 years Australian football has lost its individuality and become corporatised.

“Just put one football team in Sydney, one football team in Melbourne, one in Brisbane, sort of like Super Rugby,” he said.

“And it lost the beauty of that unique sort of individual character and it tried to turn into what the formula of the other mainstream sports is. Whether its youth football, whether it’s the A-League, or whether it’s the Socceroos or the Matildas, it’s just all very vanilla.

“And it’s not what the system the Vinnie Grellas, the Mark Vidukas and the Harry Kewell’s came through. It was very unique, individual, different, quirky and you see when the FFA Cup comes around, you see that passion sort of creep back in.

“You sometimes see the potential when you go to a Sydney derby, you see the house rocking and you see it going nuts and you go this is football at its best. But then every other week, unfortunately, it reverts back to this really corporate thing.”

André Gumprecht former German Bundesliga player-“Just because a player may not be up to a certain level in their teens doesn’t mean they won’t develop into a great player in their 20’https://t.co/AxOjjEc8PJ Australia we shell them like peas.” #whensoccerdied @bonitamersiades pic.twitter.com/YFqPn903Aa

— Michael Cain (@caineyten) August 23, 2019
Viera and Cain insist their film is not about being negative, but about spreading awareness and pushing for change. The pair hope to have the documentary ready for screening before the end of this year.

“We’re trying to get as many of the voices people respect and understand into one space from a verity of different fields and get their opinion and find some common themes,” Vieira said.

“So people can see that it is really an issue, and if we can get enough people in that space we want to reinforce it and we want to make people aware, and we definitely want change.

“We want the people who make football in this country to be recognised, because in some ways since Lowy’s revolution after the Crawford report there has been positives, there’s definitely been positives. But we sort of threw the baby out with the bathwater and didn’t coalesce all the things that make football great in this country with the new regime.

“What we want is for football to be run by football people who understand its uniqueness, and bring awareness to what the current issues are with as many voices that are respected in the game as possible.

“There’s always hope. Football people are always hopeful. But I think people are well aware of the challenges going ahead.”

Vieira and Cain are speaking to distributors and are hoping to land a deal for it to be shown on Australian television.

“We haven’t got a platform for it yet,” Cain said.

“We’re looking to pitch it to a few different places. We’re still got a few people to speak who we want to include in the documentary – Joey Peters, Remo Nogarotto, Rale Rasic.

“It just shows everybody cares about the game. They’re so passionate and worried about the game – that’s something that stood out, everyone’s worried about the game.

“It’s almost like the FFA is saying nothing to see here, everything’s fine. There’s a lot of criticism towards the FFA but it’s not about that. We want to try and get answers.

“It feels like we’re back at square one again with Australian football. Like we’re a rat on the wheel… where have we gone wrong?

“It’s not about let’s bash it but let’s try and find a way to get back on the right track again.”

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/when-soccer-died-new-doco-to-lift-the-lid-on-australian-football

Sounds great.

When and how can i watch it?

Looking forward to watching this.

This is disheartening to read, but it rings true: “It feels like we’re back at square one again with Australian football. Like we’re a rat on the wheel…

I wonder if unrealistic for us to think that we can ever move beyond merely keeping our heads above water.  We go through periods of treading harder, but the water just gets deeper.  We're at the bottom of  a deep well, and that tiny bit of blue sky we can see above us is way, way up there, out of reach.

I hope there is some balance to it ...

Its so so so easy to cherry pick and find fault with the management of FFA ...

However in any analysis you need a starting point.

This is the starting point...

Soccer Australia was broke and could not afford to fly out the Socceroo's, The Matilda's did a nude calendar to pay for basic stuff, we had made 1 world cup.  We played in the weakest federation and National teams received near to no coverage,  most national games were never broadcast.

The NSL went broke, many clubs over the years folded, they had no media deal, no broadcasting, crap media.... turf wars between NSL clubs and Regional Associations rep teams.... many players where not paid...

There was no media deal, no matches were broadcast, and media coverage was almost non existent, all our decent players played over seas.

Lets start at this point and acknowledge how fucked we where .... I fear the past will be presented as some kinda golden age ..

I am more than happy to throw crap and says whats wrong.... but I do acknowledge also where we were and how far we have come as well... 

Yes - it does sound like it will be an SBS preaching about all it considers wring while reminiscing about what were realistically not great times.

Don;t get me wrong - things can be learnt from the past. But a realistic evaluation of where we are now, where we want to be in the future and some discussion about how to get there would be good. Sadly it looks like another whinge-fest.  

As for claiming credit for Kewell let him speak for himself.

 "I learnt the most by playing in the backyard or at the local park with my brother Rod and my mates.Hitting a ball up against a wall for hours on end with different parts of my foot, juggling a soft drink can up against the backyard fence, that is what it's all about."

Yup. The article makes it sound like it is going to be pretty damn biased. "Old soccer good, new football bad. The national curriculum the end of football as we know it". 

Yeah, can’t say I’m thrilled at the prospect. Sounds like a yawn fest of wingers and biters 

It’s funny, but many of the points you raise still apply today (except the best players bit as HAL hasn’t developed any)

I have no interest in anything SBS has to say about football in this country.

They're Luddites:  always looking backwards and driven by bitterness at a world that's passed them by.

If they are going to do something like this then it needs to be balance of the good and bad.

Not just a ranting session of how had the Dutch 433 or removing of the AIS has ruined our player development.

Thier is also good in the current system such as SAP and SSGs that needs to be mentioned, and they also need to mention of the global factors outside of our rein especially in the investment side which is hard to keep up.

Otherwise the whole thing will be a waste of time if it’s a rant session.

OK lets see
I said
Soccer Australia  was bankrupt and could not afford to fly out the Socceroos nor support the Matilda's..... FFA can and does...

The NSL was bankrupt ... neither FFA nor indy Hal are bankrupt 

Many NSL clubs folded ... so has the Gold Coast with Clive Palmer, the NZ Knights picked up by the Nix, some changes in owners and NQF kicked out, in part true.

Broadcasting of the NSL was non existent, and most Socceroo matches... as I understand it every Hal match has been broadcast and every Socceroo match... side note for a few years local a local Newcastle station broadcast Newcastle games at Newcastle vid below

Turf wars between NSL clubs and Regional Association rep teams.... can we compare these to Hal teams V former NSL teams ... hhhmmm maybe my humble opinion the NSL V RA was far more bitter...

Media deal and main stream media coverage... almost non existent pre Hal 

Many players in the NSL never got paid... if you want to compare the difference here its massive ..

As for playing in Asia rather than Oceania .... does anyone seriously question this

AS I said I hope its balanced as if they come in with we had this great golden age and SBS always has had the answers then they have lost me...

But you may be right, maybe Football is in a far worst position than pre Hal

Random observation, I am aware in NSW of two Football heart lands ... one SBS always talk about its called Western Sydney especially those NSL clubs ... the other is the Hunter / Newcastle and it hardly ever gets an SBS mention... for your own sake watch this clip of a team called KB United who drew at times over 18 K to their matches .... ever heard SBS mention them... just watch this vid and maybe ask why... It was broadcast by local Newcastle TV .... 

If you can't watch the entire vid watch from say 2:40 to 3:30 were they say the crowd .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Qz1f1Jr5Y&t=369s

Many of  these people don't have a great grasp of how things have changed - and- don't know much about professional football - or - haven't studied the changes in the modern game.

Craig Foster, Craig Moore, Ron Smith and Luke Wilkshire do though. Their insights will be interesting to hear.

Andre Gumprecht's opinion that just players are not great in their youth years, but can progress to pros,  is also true.

However, many of the commentators,  including Ned Zelic, Les Scheinflug ad Rale Rasic ( who I've interviewed) don't really know how a system has changed, because they haven't studied how it has.

Remember we did  not qualify for World Cups for 32 years. That is from 1972 until 2006!

In this supposed Golden Age of Aussie underage glory, many of those players never, ever qualified for a senior World Cup.

In that 32 years the Socceroos were knocked out by the likes of Iran, the Kiwis and Israel.

The tactics and structure of teams in Aus have improved immeasurably since 2006.

I've undertaken coach education  in the old era and the new. There is no comparison.

Looking forward to this.

Can anybody say with a straight face our national team is in a better place than it was 20 years ago?
I don't know if it's new dawners that don't know any better but we have gone backwards in 20 years and every other team in the world has improved in that time.

Looking forward to seeing how they destroyed our kids future by trying to implement the Dutch system which is incompatible with our players.

I don't know who many times I have to say it on this forum, and other coaches who have heard it must have been asleep at FFA coach education, but we do not have a Dutch curriculum in Aus.

It is a combination  of French, German, Dutch and Spanish methodology.

I've also pursued exclusive Dutch KNVB coach education. It is different from the FFA system, but with many common methodological practices.


All football  curricula need to be constantly updated to stay current. Unfortunately, this hasn't happened, as we have had no TD for all age groups for 6 years or so with the gap between Han Berger and Rob Sherman as FFA TD.  Erik Abrams was not responsible for players in age over mid adolescence in his FFA TD tenure.

I'm sceptical of SBS's motives these days however I'll give this a go at such a time when it's released.  On the surface it doesn't appear to be constructive however,  anyone can slag off the FFA without providing solutions.  

This is NOT an SBS doco. The guys who are making it have stated they are looking for someone to show it and/or distribute it. All SBS have done is write a story about it. 

I am definetly interested in it what people in the game have to say about the current state of the game and hopefully, ways to improve the game.

This is the problem. I think there were many positives over the years, but the political point scoring of football people got in the way of the greater good. We have seen the try the NRL/AFL path lead absolutely nowhere. Maybe out of this we can find a destination in which Football can grow its unique footprint on the Aussie landscape. 

The guy making it, Michael Caine is a network Ten tv sports reporter in Sydney. 

OK debate is worthless, you can cherry pick FFA they have made beyond mega mistakes ... its beyond easy to find fault ...

But to infer that SA & the NSL where superior and issues are similar ... is akin to when Trump say's don't believe what you read and what you saw and see...

But SA where broke to say they did not  .... lost for words...

So believe the sulky ones who believe they are the chosen ones with a special relationship and a special understanding.

The biggest fuck up by FFA and SA & the NSL, was their disconnect to the park teams ... 

As I have said and pointed out heaps of times FFA have made some unbelievable mistakes... but there has never been some golden age ... 

Riddle .... for those thinking about our coaching standards... i.e reasons for the preserved decline...

The biggest cause started is 1973 .... 

As a result of the lack of funding to continue the operation of SA it was placed into liquidation and dissolved and the ASA (FFA) formed to receive $15m in government funding and make a fresh start.

The NSL Report showed that over a 3 year period the NSL clubs expenditure was $52m more than their combined revenue of $69m.  Translated into 2018 $'s that's a $25m pa loss for the clubs or the same annual loss as the A-League clubs have been making.  In summing up where the NSL stood at the end of the period studied the NSL Report said:-

0. "Notwithstanding its lack of success, including the current position where the League has no major sponsor or television partner, the NSL has proven to be remarkably resilient, although this largely appears to be as a result of the commitment and passion of club members and benefactors rather than through successful club business models."

0. 
   

Good try. SA went broke because when Lowy took over the Government withdrew funding (grants) from SA and then gave Lowy $15M to start ASA (FFA). This is a classic phoenix restructure (used often by builders) to clear the decks of the old business and start fresh. You have to ask yourself, iIf there really was "dodgy" stuff going on why weren't there any prosecutions or legal proceedings? The "books are worse than we expected" is a classic line used by politicians all the time to justify breaking promises.

You will note that the Crawford report did not find any insolvency issues with SA nor did it recommend winding it up. That was Lowy's decision, just like it was his decision to ignore the Crawford report recommendations and also shut down the NSL.

Also you do realize that FFA ran at a loss inf 2018, 2017, 2016, 2012, 2011 and 2010 despite receiving significantly more income and grants. Perhaps they should be liquidated?

I dont believe SA was fantastic and agree it needed to be changed, but I dont think we are in a good place again and just cant see any signs that there is a plan to improve.

If you are interested here link to old reports and stats, lost of interesting reading: http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Bookshelf/index.shtml

was curious if this documentary was ever made?

Can't find it anywhere?

Kind of wish KNVB had a free grass roots course so people could compare. Dissent and debate is necessary to improve, but it's been frustrating the lack of informed dissent. At least get right what you are criticizing. In any case would definitely like to watch the doco

my own take
1) we seemed to decline sharply in the quality of youth we produced post sydney 2000 olympics, before the new dawn. The missing generation includes those born 1981-1985 who would have been at the critical development age where players get their first first team minutes during the 2000-2004 nsl eras. I suspect there was a post sydney funding cut to the ais. I'd love to see a year by year breakdown of ais funding. I suspect the lack of wins in 2000 and the general cut in olympics sports funding after 2000 really hurt us as the ais in the 90s was a rare highlight in that era
2) The decision to not force a league teams to have junior teams was completely insane. Too late now, but should have been accountability for that. It meant the massive boost from 2005 qualification was stifled by 20 years of failure to produce players for big clubs. The fa and later the apl have been remarkably good at missing opportunities to capitalize on the national team performances.
3) The nsl era had three eras, a time where our youth development was very ordinary and we got knocked out by some very weak teams and the post 90s time. After that we produced better players, but had a very difficult qualification path, terrible luck! Then we started producing poor players again but the players who developed pre sydney 2000 matured and gave us those magical memories in 05/06 
4) Our biggest issues were caused by not following the crawford reports recommendation for the a league and the fa to be separate. We should all hope the a league survives as an independent body, because the nst is run by the fa and if they become the top division post collapse we are back to square 1 (with the fa running the top league). With the bodies separate the fa can finally invest in grass roots as well as reintegrate all the teams cast away for too long
5) moving to asia meant 5 straight world cups. Was easily the most important development in australian football
6) With so many problems in the game and so much to criticize and praise both old soccer and new football, it is kind of remarkable that the ntc has become the lightening rod. We don't have a pyramid, we don't have resources for kids to practice at home (though some might on their own initiative), we have a real lack of facilities at grass roots, we have only recently made steps towards a nst, we have only recently brought about a league underage teams and still not every team has one, we have a short season, the fa running the a league reduced the need for clubs to make money off transfers, we don't have a transfer system.....How in the world did people look at this huge list and scape goat the ntc? It is like the country being on fire and everyone is debating about the local coles supermarket

You could ask him on X, see if he responds to his old tweet:

https://x.com/caineyten/status/1162553885824671744

Cheers lets see if he responds

No updates on this. What a shame all that footage has been buried. I'm now intrigued by who buried it and why.

That Cainey flog blocked me on X back in January for no good reason; he went on a bit of a spree that day from what I read😅

Need petrol on the fire because we aren't already burning enough.

Makes the assumption that "Dutch Curriculum" training of youth equals Dutch game tactics and management for seniors.  Shows their depth and understanding of the topic right there.

From that, I may presume that they have set out to prove that their cognitive dissonance and conspiracy theories will be thrilling and informative.   Need to open the eyes of the non-believers and take us back to 32 years on non-qualifying and those wonderful years of the 70s when we ruled the world of football.  Those years when immigration from Eastern Europe brought us everything that would ever be needed, forever.

SBS has been shit ever since it was handed to the ABC to run.  ABC sport is massively pro-AFL.  They will love this.

The new SBS are an ideal venue to destroy the game from within.  If you have anything negative to say you can be sure they will include it.

Have at it!