Uncovering the landscape of youth football in Western Australia

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Western Australia football landscape

The recent inclusion of seven Perth Glory NPL players in the extended 28-player Joey squad for the upcoming AFC U-17 Asian Cup has sparked curiosity to explore the state of junior football in Western Australia (WA).

In this article, we will delve into the intricacies and nuances of the local youth football scene, shedding light on its current status and inherent flaws.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of the system, it is crucial to examine its structure. The JNPL initiates at U13’s. From U16’s, up until senior football, teams are not subject to promotion or relegation. Instead, the league placement solely revolves around the standings of the Men’s first team.

As a result, we often see a jumble of constantly changing allegiances among players, fuelled by the success of clubs in the season prior. This dynamic leads to a lack of loyalty and makes establishing clear pathways into the first team difficult.

Armadale SC’s U18 JNPL team perfectly depicts this problem. They currently occupy 12th place in the table with only one point, having conceded 54 goals in 11 games. It’s clear that they fall short of the playing standard. However, as it stands, they won’t be relegated due to the Men’s first team’s current third-place position.

To address this well-recognised issue, recommendations have been put forth by both the NPL and Junior Standing Committees (last in 2020) to restructure the current framework.

The NPL Standing Committee proposed a solution involving the establishment of two leagues within the JNPL: JNPL1 and JNPL2. The objective is to foster more closely contested competitions throughout the year. This can be achieved by either aligning all NPL teams with senior NPL teams or structuring the leagues based on finishing positions from the season’s previous Championship rounds, followed by divisional stages.

On the other hand, the Junior Standing Committee recommended that the future competition structure of the Junior NPL be merit-based, promoting a meritocratic approach. This would entail clubs being promoted or demoted based on their performance at the end of each season.

Both suggestions were noted but not implemented by Football West at the time.

Returning to Glory’s Academy success, their flourishing talent production line can be attributed to a plethora of reasons, including but not limited to:

  • A clear elite player development model and age-specific curriculum
  • Sole professional team in the state
  • Ample opportunities for youngsters
  • Talent absorption within the region
  • High-quality youth coaching

Furthermore, when analysing the cohort of Perth-based players chosen by Brad Maloney for the upcoming Asian Cup, a noticeable pattern emerges; with the exception of two individuals, all of them are current members of the Perth Glory NPL (U21) squad.

This leads us to two significant conclusions. Firstly, it suggests that the overall standard of football in Western Australia is comparatively inadequate, as these 17-year-olds are excelling in the state’s premier competition at such a tender age. Secondly, it highlights the distinct approach of Glory, who are actively providing opportunities for these young talents.

At present, Football West is conducting a comprehensive assessment of junior football in Western Australia, and starting in 2024, implementation plans will be put into motion based on the findings.

Both players and clubs will be eagerly anticipating the rectification of the fundamental deficiencies that have persistently plagued the junior system.

The Junior Review WA Survey 2023 can be found here.

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IMG takes commercial lead on inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup

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Image Credit: Vietnam Football Federation

IMG has been appointed to lead the global commercialisation of the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup, giving the new Southeast Asian national-team competition an established international sports business partner ahead of its first edition.

Under the strategic partnership, IMG will manage worldwide media and sponsorship rights sales while also overseeing broadcast production for the tournament, which takes place from 24 September to 5 October across Indonesia and Hong Kong, China.

The inaugural competition will feature 14 national teams, including all 11 ASEAN members alongside guest nations, with matches split between two divisions. Division 2 fixtures will be played in Jakarta and Badung, while Division 2 matches will be played in Hong Kong.

The agency’s role will include selling sponsorship and media inventory internationally while helping establish the broadcast infrastructure required to present the tournament to audiences outside Southeast Asia.

The partnership builds on IMG’s existing strategic relationship with PT Garuda Sepak Bola Indonesia, which has been working with the Football Association of Indonesia since 2025 on areas including commercial strategy, media rights, production and digital development.

For FIFA, the tournament creates another international football property in a region with a large and increasingly connected football audience.

For IMG, it adds another major regional property to a football portfolio that already includes competitions and organisations across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa.

The immediate challenge will be turning the inaugural tournament into a sustainable commercial property capable of attracting broadcasters and sponsors beyond its first edition.

If successful, the FIFA ASEAN Cup could provide Southeast Asian national teams with a recurring commercial platform while giving IMG another foothold in one of football’s developing markets.

Brazil is coming. But what is the real price of bringing football’s giants to Australia?

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Image Credits: Shutterstock

There is something undeniably exciting about Brazil coming to Australia. The five-time World Cup winners will face the Socceroos twice in Queensland from Friday, with Townsville and Brisbane set to host the blockbuster fixtures.

For Australian football, these are the kind of games that should be anticipated, celebrated and capture the public’s attention. But they also raise questions: how much should Australian football pay to bring the world’s biggest nations here, and when does the bill become too big? 

The cost of bringing the big names

Australia has always paid up to bring big names down under. Last week’s NFL game in Melbourne, at a cost of between $10 and 15 million dollars to the Victorian Government, is just the latest example.

It could cost the same amount to bring Brazil to Queensland. A report in The Sydney Morning Herald last year revealed Brazil was reportedly seeking around $7.5 million per match to play in Australia. The fee is in line with other major international events; Western Australia reportedly faced a bill of around $12 million in taxpayer funding for the recent Perth Italian Football Festival.

I’m worried Football Australia won’t get return on investment to make this particular event worthwhile. The enormous fee to bring Brazil to Australia can’t immediately be justified as an investment in our footballing future. Instead, Football Queensland and the state government could have put these funds into grassroots facilities. Part of Football Queensland’s scrapped state headquarters investment plan was to spend $8.5 million to refurbish fields, lights, drains and irrigation at Mappas and Meakin parks. Instead of these plans to invest in the state’s youth players and academies, money has been spent on two international friendlies.

So ahead of the fixtures, the question remains: will these games inspire the future generation, and will participation grow? The NFL match was impossible to ignore: a sold-out MCG and a live audience of 2.1 million on free-to-air, not even including those watching on ESPN and Netflix. Football Australia is not simply buying 90 minutes of football; it is buying the attention that comes with Brazil. So let’s see if they can maximize returns. 

Ticketing Tells a Story

Ticket sales provide insight into the interest in the fixture. Brisbane has sold much quicker than Townsville, but neither have sold out as yet. The fact these games didn’t immediately sell out may be considered surprising as there is a genuine appetite in Australia for elite international football at the moment, evidenced by SBS’ World Cup viewership numbers of 17.1 million.

Brazil is bringing some of its brightest stars: Vinicius Junior, Raphinha, Bruno Guimaraes, Marquinhos and Endrick are among the headline names in their squad. The star power is there. So why haven’t these matches sold out? There’s a chance it comes down to the competition and the visibility of the event.

The viewing problem

The timing of this fixture could raise eyebrows amongst fans. As much as Australia and Brazil will draw huge crowds, both games fall on either side of the AFL Grand Final. The 2024 AFL Grand Final, which involved Queensland’s Brisbane Lions, drew over 4 million viewers on free-to-air. Brisbane, who have won the last two premierships, will feature once again on Grand Final day. Therefore, fans who could’ve attended may instead be making the trip to Melbourne.

Then comes the strangest part: one of the fixtures Australia will play will not even be available on free-to-air television. The Townsville match will be shown free on Network 10 and 10 Streaming, as well as Paramount+. The Brisbane match, however, will be available exclusively on Paramount+. That creates a disconnect. If governments and football administrators are spending millions to bring a global sporting brand to Australia, why should a large section of the Australian public need a subscription to watch the second match?

The Brisbane game is behind a paywall, limiting the national reach of the event. Reach is surely part of the justification for spending big on Brazil, it’s not just that 50,000 people get to sit inside Suncorp Stadium. It is that millions of Australians get exposed to the spectacle and if that audience is restricted, the value of this fixture is limited.

A solution could be to spend the money on advertising the match to the public to try to generate interest across streaming and free-to-air. With less than a week until the first game I don’t believe the advertising has done enough to generate enough interest to justify a $15 million price tag for the two game series. 

The Brazil friendlies will be spectacular. They should attract big crowds, create memories and give the Socceroos an excellent test against one of football’s most recognisable nations. But for the appropriate return, attention must be measured. Does this fixture carry on the Socceroos hype and keep the eyeballs of the general public on our sport? I’m not convinced. However, if these matches bring new fans to football, strengthen the national team and create lasting investment in the sport, the enormous price tag could still be justified. But if they simply produce two nights of football before the attention disappears, then Australian football has paid a premium for a very expensive show.

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