Are you better off just organising and s(p)ending your kid to go train in Europe for a year than fork out 5+ years worth of elite junior fees here?

Risk & reward seems the same to me personally. At least they could potentially come back & milk it having Europe on their player CV.

Good luck to your lad..... home he makes it.

all the best to him mate.....having made the decision.
Main thing is for the boy is train train train improve his skills.
Keep us updated when possible.

Hi All, if of any interest, we decided to stay at A grade community football on the Central Coast. It may or may not be the right choice but his euro coach reckons just play at a decent standard but focus mostly on skill devlopment. All that travel to Newcastle and I don't think is worth it. And, aafter watching his community team on the Central Coast, they are light years ahead in terms of skill and professionalism than the three NPL teams we experienced in Newcastle. 

Speaking of youth develop, does anyone know about about the Talent Support Program that some, if not all, state federations run?

If he really want to be a pro and you have an EU passport, WTF are you still doing in OZ, use that passport and move OS and his chances of becoming a pro improve exponentially!

Interesting this has come up. My son works with a lady whose son plays off the bench for Sydney FC.

She was telling him that they used to carpool with that lad Tilio and leave for training at 4.30pm, 4 nights a week and get back at 10.30pm at night.

Amazing what sacrifices people will make for their kids. Such a big commitment for such a rare chance at a contract.

Thanks guys for your input. Incredibly appreciated.
Still a bit torn!
Yes, his goal is to be a pro. 
His ex-pro Austrian coach - who coaches some Mariners adult academy and jets players, suggests staying at his local community club. He says in Europe no one has even heard of NPL. He suggests the excess travel time and playing in an average NPL team provides little advantage. Different story if you are in one of the big club academies. It is also true that his local community club here on Central Coast is a better quality team and better quality coaches (hard to believe I know) than the three NPL clubs in Newcastle he has trained with. I can confirm that from what I have seen as well. It's a travesty that we have a community club here at 16s that could probably easily beat many NPL clubs - but nowhere for these players to go if you can't break into the boys club at CCU. (Mariners well that's another story)
However you make the point about 'being in the system' and the advantages that can bring. That's could be a deciding factor.
My son holds a EU passport and we have no hesitation of going over for trials when the time comes. He has around him support with links to clubs. 
His coaches says playing at a high level is important at his age but technical skill development between 15-17 is really the crucial factor. Hence why he trains 6 days a week and has 1v1 coaching once a week, in addition to any club action. 
We've probably got a week to make a decsion. 

Below are my thoughts based on my 10+ years as coach and parent in Vic NPL & community comps.

As a regional parent/kid, you guys are in a tough position and question you need to ask your son and yourself is, is football his chosen career (ie does he want to become a pro) and how much are you both prepared to sacrifice to get there?

If thats the dream then personally you have no choice but to join NPL either in Newy or preferably Sydney. As good as regional comps are, the capital cities are where the talent is concentrated which is why both CCM and NJ youth teams now play in Syd NPL comp.

Unfortunately as a junior there is a lot of snobbery regarding leagues and if you arent in NPL as a junior then many doors are automatically closed. In Vic AL academies only shop in the FFV Talented player programs and sometimes NPL, plus majority of the strong NPL clubs wont even consider "community" kids for trials and majority of State Fed talented player programs only shop in NPL as well. Is NPL comp that good, not really, not enough talented players spread accross too many teams but Federations love the income (in Vic it is $40K per year per club for 4 junior teams so do the maths) and it is the only show in town.

Once in NPL, work hard, get noticed and get into seniors comp ASAP and again many NPL clubs (particularly the effnik's) have links with OS teams and can arrange trials for talented youth. Also AL tends to take established performers out of NPL ahead of their own youth so that is also another pathway into pro ranks.

If being a pro isnt his dream, then reinvest the travel time into study and continue playing in the local comps and let nature take its course. If he is good enough he will get good seniors opportunities.

I have seen a few regional juniors invest heavily in the dream and end up with nothing so with current state of youth development in Aus, I'd suggest you stay local and focus on school and let nature take its course.

Unfortunately Mid, you have inadvertently nailed the biggest issue holding back Aus football, the perception that AL is the only game in town and everyone needs to help them generate returns for their investors.

So instead of creating another "unique" process to try help AL, why dont we just implement a traditional transfer system which allows ANY club to sell players locally and OS, same as every other traditional football organization around the world does.

Absolute armature opinion from me mate but sounds like the community club is the way to go.. Unless your lad is ultrafocused 2.5 hours of travel and 2-3 hours of training a night for 3--4 times a week will grow old very quickly...  Playing at a decent level and getting good coaching and advice is just as valuable as sacrificing it all for a small step up .... in my opinion. 
Good luck with it all, keep us all posted

So, let me get this straight Mid. You propose that unpaid NPL Aleague players get loaned out to  rival NPL clubs to get game time ( at the expense of existing players who are better than them AND are getting paid to play) , why aren't these players getting game time at their awesome academies you are so proud of?    I'm disappointed that you could believe it would be a mutually beneficial deal for both clubs? How?  Would love to hear how you feel an NPL club would benefit from fielding an 18 year old not good enough to make an Aleaguee NPL squad? 

for SFC - why would they do that? SFC's NPL side play in the same league. However I agree that other clubs, particularly in Victoria where the youth teams play in NPL3, should definitely consider this though. 

I have written an article on this...

Just to make matters worse for players on the central coast, Central Coast football have just severed ties with FNSW and FFA and now stand alone. This stoush is just making it harder in an area with a plethora of football talent. None of the clubs can now participate in the FFA cup. The situation is madness. 
https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2022/01/football-australia-de-registers-cc-football/

Forum question... and I honestly don't know the answer....

Question.... Why can't A-League clubs loan out their youth players needing match day experience to NPL sides even if they still pay the wages...

I would rate some of the NPL coaches as excellent ... take Mark Crittenden of Blacktown City .... excellent coach... why do say SFC or WSW not use this club for their better say 16 to 18 year olds... there are other coaches as well...

The talent wasted by the bigger clubs is hurting Australian Football... I am sure clubs like South Melbourne would welcome some MV or MC youth into their sides .... would be a benefit to both...

Technically gifted midfielder. Small for his age (but rapidly catching up). Lacks finishing skills (in my view!).
There's no academy involvement in either case. 

what are his main attributes? If he is of good technical level and skillful already, how much will an academy do for him? a 15 yo playing week in week out in the NPL sticks out and probably gets better recognition IMO and potentially an aleague contract in a year or two. Needs to start thinking how he can show how good he is? how can he be different from his peers? can you really do that with 30 other youngsters?

Hi all, based  on parents wirth experience, what would you do? My 15 yo son is still looking for advice, and it's getting to the pointy end.
1. Play NPL in Newcastle - coach seems okay, my son knows one player in the team. Means 1hr 15 min commute each way for me 3-4 x a week. Standard is reasonable across the board. 
2. Play for local community club on Central Coast. My son says standard is easily higher in that team than any NPL club in Newcastle he has trialled for. These are kids that should potentially be in mariners or CCU but for whatever reason were never given the chance. The coaching is outstanding as well. Same training schedule as NPL. Obviously comp not as strong, but club is very strong. He knows many of these players. 
The question that I want to know, (and I appreciate your prior comments) would NPL Newcastle for a 15 yo bring any real advantage? 
He will continue to focus on develoing with his two coaches as well and self-train. 
Many thanks for your insights. 

Talented 17-20 year old Aussies are attracted overseas too soon, where they spend more time playing in lowly reserve comps or sitting on the pine, at a time in their career they should be playing 30-40 games a season and scoring goals.
Kwame Yeboah and Brandon Borello are great examples. Both looked wonderful prospects at Brisbane, then raced off to Germany before actually achieving anything.
Yeboah then played a grand total of 76 games in the next 5 seasons.
Borello played 59 games in four seasons.
Two potential NT players who ruined their careers.

As I stated, and we agree weak football culture is our problem.
But this just does not play out with kids not playing and training in their own time,  as pointed out weak football culture results in administrators establishing weak football architecture. It’s not just the kids, but everyone and everything around them.

All good points - but I think it is more about the culture than the architecture. Kids play FIFA more than live with a football at their feet all the time. Training - even every day is still not the same as living and breathing football every day. When kids wake up and kick a ball around from morning to night all day, where people play for the love of the game we will have a football culture  - until then we will have a football industry. 

Maybe explains England's youth development, but doesn't explain Central and South America. Nor many parts of Europe without those levels of investment and of course there is Africa to consider.
From my observations, Its about weak football culture, much of this is reflected in our football architecture [Closed Football League with associated salary caps, EOI for entry into First Tier,  and regulations, NPL Licence requirements, Member Federation involvement in youth identification and development, no transfer system], we don't use the proven Global Model and we pay for it.
These all contribute to our poor player development outcomes.
Let alone our geographic location in the world, we border no world powers in football, this also isolates us from the pressures of competitiveness.

Lack of money

CF English football has spent one billion pounds in 10 years of the elite player pathway
4 per cent transfer levy helps

Ah. That'd explain it.

Thanks

That's football NSW annual report. Those areas you mention are part of northern nsw football. 

Sorry I think I meant to say it's the parents issue not a prob for the kids!

Thanks for the link. Where's Football Mid North and Far North coast in that? 

In fact where's Ballina, Byron, Maclean etc? (Or have I missed something?)

Can't hack the travel to Sydney? Tell that to the 13 to 17 year olds travelling 5 hours each way to play in the NPL Newcastle from Coffs. Some of the kids were coming from Yamba and Maclean (1 and half hours north) to get on the bus in Coffs at 6am and then travel down.

I realise you're not saying the travel is too much just pointing out what you've heard.

Harden up young fellas.

So Central Coast is one of the largest associations, with 14.5K players. From what I can tell, the entire northern NSW football federation only has about 33K registrants and some of these would be central coast players but registered in northern NSW. 
https://www.soccerscene.com.au/northern-nsw-football-record-strong-player-registration-numbers-for-2021-season/
It would be good to hear other voices, but I'm really not sure we have the development system right in NSW to cater for where the players are, but acknowledge the constraints outlined.
I think one short sighted issue has been not taking into account population projections. In the 1970's there were only about 70K on the central coast. It's risen roughly 6x fold since then.