FFA Hitting The High Notes

Been away for the last week so apologies for the lack of posts.

I have been hugely impressed with the FFA recently with the youth initiatives they have announced. The introduction of Small Sided Games, National Youth League and now the Marquee Youth Player scheme are all terrific programs for the development of youth in this country.

Small Sided Games (SSG) will bring uniformity to our kiddie development programs and should ensure we produce more technically rounded players in the future. Of course with football there is always going to be those that want to resist change, I suspect mainly to simply demonstrate that they can. Lets hope the FFA stamps on this attitude firmly. My local junior club down the road will kick off SSG in two weeks, so I am looking forward to seeing what it’s all about as I am out and about walking the dog on Saturday Mornings.

I am also looking forward to the National Youth League (NYL). There has always be a pathway for the top 20 or so players into the A-League via the AIS. Now with the introduction of NYL we will see 70 odd junior players ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-one find themselves in the spotlight and shopfront of our national comp. With a bit of help from Foxtel we may even see the NYL gain wider exposure via the soon to released Football Channel.

The just released news that the A-League will introduce a second marquee player next year is welcome news in itself. The fact it is for Under Twenty-Three Australian (NZ in Phoenix Case) Players is even more exciting. The ability for A-league clubs to hang onto their brightest young talents for a few more years is tremendous for the league and with $150,000 excluded from the Salary Cap we should see the some of our top young players opting to say for a while longer.

So a big thumbs up for the FFA
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