Socceroos Head Coach Graham Arnold has voiced a call to action for Australia’s clubs, associations and member federations to come together in order to effectively determine the upward growth of Australian football.
Speaking as part of Football Victoria’s Community in Business (CIB) Full-Time Luncheon at Hyatt Place in Essendon Fields, Arnold touched on the Socceroos’ formidable journey through a COVID-19 affected qualification for Qatar 2022, the role clubs and associations play in the development of players, and how Australia’s historic football clubs can be critical to shaping the future of the code here.
For Arnold, the priority for Australia’s youth development pathways needn’t be anything but the overall prosperity and growth of its playing cohort.
“Everyone has a role to play to help people. And if I can say there’s one thing that really irks me in Australian football – it’s that we don’t care enough for the kids. The kids are the game, and for all the kids that play the game we should be treating them as our own kids, and helping those kids fulfil their dreams and have great lives. Because I can sit here today and say no matter what happens, football’s given me a great life,” Arnold said to CIB guests.
“We have a role in clubs, federations and in associations that you are like the father of those kids. However many is in your association or your club, you’ve got to behave like a father to help those kids achieve and fulfil their dreams.”
When questioned about National Premier League clubs having a greater influence on the production line of Australia’s future Socceroos and Matildas players, Arnold drew on his own experiences as a player and coach in Australia’s system.
“Our development side of things has gone down since the A-League started. I coached the team to the Olympics in 2008 where the players in the qualified team had played three minutes. We played against Argentina and we lost 1-0 against Lionel Messi and I had five players on the team sheet that didn’t have a club,” he said.
“We just don’t play enough football in this country, it’s crazy. When we talk about promotion and relegation, we’ve become America. And when I say that I mean we follow America’s way of having no relegation, and looking at our elite sports of AFL, cricket, NRL, rugby union – no one has relegation.
“So, one of the hardest things to drive for me, even when I was coaching in the A-League, is the winning mentality. Because when you’re sitting up in the grandstand and you’re still getting paid the same as what you’d be getting paid on the pitch playing, you don’t hurt when you lose.
“In my days of playing in the old NSL you’d get a $20,000 or $30,000 sign-on fee, and then win or draw bonuses but you’d get nothing for a loss. There’s no hurt when you lose now.”
Arnold went on to identify the necessity to push aside commercial interests and political squabbling within the game in order to facilitate its ultimate success.
“During COVID, I sat with all of the state federations about what I think and believe it’s quite easy to fix. For me personally, it’s to help the kids. And that requires all NPL clubs right around the country to lift and raise their resources and standards. And then all NPL all around Australia should play minimum 30-33 games. We don’t play enough football – right from grassroots all the way up to senior level.
“You look at the kids from the Olympic team that I’ve just recently worked with, 10 of them have gone overseas where they’re playing 48 games a year. That’s two full seasons in the A-League.
“You’ve just seen Oakleigh Cannons and Sydney United do what they’ve done in the Australia Cup, well can you imagine A-League Under-23 year olds playing against grown men? It’s already there, so, it’s not hard to fix. We just need to work together as a nation and do what’s best for the game, and not what’s best for commercial or politics.”
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