COACHING, culture and finances – three of the many issues that have plagued the Socceroos in recent years.
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The Socceroos bowed out of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia following a 2-0 defeat to Peru on Wednesday morning (AEST) and the post-mortem’s have already begun.
Football Mid North Coast technical director Larry Budgen said it was difficult to pinpoint any one specific problem that Australia had to try to solve before 2022.
So he narrowed it down to three as something to build from.
Budgen suggested the importance of grassroots football was being forgotten – and it related to both players and coaches.
“The problem for me is that the coaching courses are diluted now,” Budgen said.
“Because people are so time poor – the courses are a lot shorter, (which means) less techniques are required for people to do so they have some sort of idea to take back to their club players.
“When I started a skills training course it was 28 hours, now it’s down to six.”
Budgen compared gaining a current coaching license from completing these courses as similar to gaining a driving license for a car.
“When you get into the high performance side of things you do get better coaches, but everyone has that C-license so it is a bit like a driving license,” he said.
“Most people can get it – and it’s not easy, but it’s easier – so you have some who are excellent and some who are not so good even though they have that advanced license.”
Budgen also suggested the Australian culture played a part in the fortunes of the national football team.
“Kids in Australia can play league, AFL, we’ve got the beach whereas most of the world that play our game … that’s it, there’s nothing else,” he said.
“It’s football, football and more football and that’s not going to change.
“We have kids turning up to training with a surfboard under their arm because they just had a surf first.
“That’s not going to happen in Italy, Spain, Portugal or Belgium but we’re never going to change our complete culture because of where we live.”
Finally, a lack of available funding had played its part in the current mess Australian football – and indeed the Socceroos – currently find themselves in.
“You could go through every state and say the systems we have in place for the better players is not good,” Budgen said.
“Because of the funding available, the NPL has now been put to the clubs for the clubs to run it.”
Budgen suggested the FFA’s vision of Australia being a powerhouse was little more than a pipedream.
“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to be a top 10 nation,” he said.
“Finances are a huge thing and player wages in Europe compared to here is like chalk and cheese.
“But if the FFA had more resources it would definitely help and that way you could produce more Daniel Arzani’s.
“We could talk about this for hours, but it does all start at grassroots level.”
