Finally one of the best news in football . Exciting times ahead in the club. Hopefully other clubs emulate this fundamental idea.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article South's Grand Youth Development Plan?
EXCLUSIVE: South Melbourne FC has launched an ambitious youth development program it hopes will revolutionise the club and produce future generations of Socceroos.

Have your say.

Good on South Melbourne. Probably the most likely of the "ethnic" NSL clubs to ever be able to make it to the A league. And as proud a history as they have, producing soccceroos who rose through the ranks of the club wasn't their strong points in the NSL era. I can only recall Ange Postecoglou, Con Boutsianis and maybe Alan Davidson, Oscar Crino and Vlado Bozinovski to have come through the ranks and play for Australia. Though those five were still pretty good.

I am not sure that all these past Socceroos would have had the $3400 per annum to pay for their training and playing. One of the major concerns is from the FFA is the cost of entry for junior players and this is a great example of a model that will do exactly that.

This thread should be in the state league forum.
Mods do your bit.

Great initiative by the club, hope it sees some success in the future.

Good stuff by Souths. Is 3 teams in Melbourne too much? Maybe not, maybe not.

yes, yes it is

i think they can handle 3 teams if souths can make it a non-ethnic club and engages with the community

Geelong is the place for a third team imo.

it was a non-ethnic club
until the greedy greek f--kwits who wanted "own" middlepark f---ked it all up

Edited by GDeathe: 13/10/2012 10:25:16 AM

Language? I agree a great initiative - the point is charging $400 odd dollars to 'trial' and then $3400 to train and play is not how the academy models OS work. The FFV has publicly said that they do not expect the academies of the APL clubs to cost more than $1100 - which is based on VCL and average club registration. I am not sure that I understand the cost of this.....

That's well played... managed to get the nationality of the people in there but only insulted the individuals, not the nationality.

Racism avoided.

The FFV may say they don't want academies to charge more than $1100, but then they go out and charge $50,000/season for accreditation.

Also worth noting that the trials aren't a couple of days running around - it's an extended coaching program designed to improve the players as much as to sort out the best.

I agree with the comments that it's a bloody expensive system, but you get what you pay for. End of the day the Euro/South American academies don't charge fees because they are secure that good work done will provide income for them - state league clubs here have no security in that respect so are in the unfortunate position of having to fund the activities from the participants.

Yep the Euro clubs have the funds to invest - locally the clubs don't. Couple of points - you get what you pay for. This cuts both ways - you get the talent that can afford it. Interestingly the new season is not supposed to begin until 2014 - the SMFC one is being put in place for season 2014 and everyone that registered has been told they will get a place. If player development is the goal - this model only goes part of the way as the best talent will not be there. The licence is expensive and the FFV is reviewing the set up as 11 of the current 12 clubs have said that they will not be involved under the current structure. Do I have a solution - no but I am sure that there is a more cost effective way to attract, nurture and develop young players to the game.

apologies the SMFC academy is being put in place for 2013 - that is before the 2014 APL season.

Smfc
The second largest club in Victoria after Victory.
With a boutique Stadium, a board made of professional white collar individuals, a youth program mirrored on the NCR format. Yep I agree should be in Aleague

The clubs (not just South in this case), have said that the FFV are using flawed calculations. The FFV for their part have praised the initiative shown by South, but they have said that it's a Rolls Royce model of what the FFV is going for, and that it's too advanced. Make of that what you will.

Forgot to mention they also organised the recent Lakeside Charity Cup... Were 7 clubs all played for their selected charities... $5000 was donated to the Koala Kids Foundation (kids with cancer)... Just saw it on their website.... Don't know of many clubs bothering to put in such a massive effort for community !!

Praise is a bit of a stretch, Rolls Royce is right - as I said there must be a more cost effective way to do this. The clubs have reviewed the costs and said it is not viable - this academy merely rams home the point. It does create negativity towards the whole concept of player pathway NCR etc as it will be seen as merely a money grab in the short term. Publicly it will be praised as a step in the right direction, privately they will be told to review and revise. Again - the right approach but flawed execution wise.

They said they were happy with the initiative shown by South and their willingness to engage with the NCR process. I'm not suggesting the FFV were happy with all the particulars though - they certainly weren't happy with the costs of this program, and were pretty forthright in saying that it wouldn't pass muster under their plans for 2014.

4 days days a week, 48 weeks of the year is a fantastic move by South.

The $3400 is highly questionable though. That is a vast amount of that must be going on coaching. Assuming 18 kids per squad (U12 - U20) that is $633,500 in income. If you include there sub-juniors in that, it will increase to around $835,000. That is before any other revenue (ie Sponsorships)

We would assume that the basic costs (FFA/FFV Fees, Strip, Trophy, Team Entry, Refer, Ground Hire, Utilities etc) would come to no more than $200 per player ($65K total) so that leaves about $770K in coaching and other value add costs.

Even with a full time Technical and Assistant technical director this seems to leave a lot of money flowing into the senior clubs coffers.

Also
Here is the link to the clubs brochure for the program

http://issuu.com/smfc/docs/2013-smfc-youth-program-online?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

Saw this on Soccer F, good argument

'On average parents pay this amount annually anyway via, club fees, then privateer academies, then holiday clinics, private tuition etc etc...

Internationally football is played/trained 10-11 mths. 4 sessions a week.
Has anyone noticed how our national youth teams are going backwards in performance...

Best to provide the national curriculum under one roof, with professional coaches.
Until money flows down from FFA /FFV... There is little choice but parents to fund programs.

Opinions are easy... At least SMFC is pushing the envelope, implementing a program, and moving in the right direction.'

Doesnt really say anything about the program apart from its 4-5 days a week and has an experienced coach.

Got no problem with them coming into A-league as a broadbased club, out of all ethnic NSL clubs South Melbourne had the best crowds, and unlike Heart, South Melbourne would represent a different area to what Victory already do(hint to Heart)

The question is though would a promotion to A_league end up just taking supporters from Victory or Heart?

Also another thing, wernt South and Perth Glory big rivals in the NSL? if this could continue into A-league the more rivalries the better.

Edited by aussie4ever4: 13/10/2012 02:04:21 PM

Unfortunately if we believe that a pay and play system is going to create the best talent. Everyone agrees on the initiative by SMFC - wonderful and progressive, but not everyone can afford a Rolls Royce. Yes there are those that pay for private academies etc but again not always the best and this is merely an academy that has planted itself in South ( River Plate ) I dare say that it would have been better to take some baby steps towards the dream This is not the concept that Hans Berger wants to create - have a look at his presentation on you tube to Football Queensland. In fact I would be interested to see how Football Queensland has organised their clubs as they will be creating their new league for season 2013. Anyone know?

Look I guess we can all offer our opinions and be keyboard experts..
They are doing the hard work of backing their judgement & adopting NCR in full.
They are a members based club, it's not a business,. A great deal of volunteers work hard down there (as in many clubs).... Difference is they are professionalising their youth program to try & improve the quality of players ..they are paying 5-6 full time coaches... NCR stipulates finances must be audited...how can someone say money is going to seniors when they have adopted NCR... People need to read NCR.

Most clubs can't be bothered to try & take the next step....it's too much work !!

Have no argument with you on any of that. There's certainly an issue regarding less privileged families being unable to put their kids into the scheme no matter how talented they are. It's a balancing act - hopefully the less financially blessed will find good training at 'smaller' clubs, or via the NTC, etc.

I think that we have all said that it is a great initiative. They do have a lot of good people working there gratus - same with most clubs. I've read the NCR preso - it is assuming much les than that. There will be no comp in 2013. If the sums are right then they are paying coaches over 100K . As I said - baby steps and they will no doubt review it for 2014 when the FFV tells them to.

SMFC will never get HAL licence. It's to closely tied with an ethnic group for FFA to allow it.
Geelong will be next, however not for another 7+ years.