http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/9194995/Pay-to-play-not-OK-says-top-NZ-coach-Milicich
"the man who successfully challenged Kiwi football bosses, overturning a proposal to charge players $2000 each to play in this year's under-20 World Cup in Turkey..."
Now we know the real reason Milicich wasn't re-appointed !
Also reveals the actual costs to NZ Football of competing in FIFA age group World Cups - $10.000 - i.e. stuff all !!!
Milicich's criticism and De Jong's response:
"Unsure over NZF's claims on cost, Milicich also struggles to understand the rationale of charging 21 players $2000 each when Fifa covers all flights and on-ground costs during World Cups.
Fred de Jong, NZF's high performance director, confirmed Fifa's role, saying NZ Football's actual event expenses are about $10,000 - for insurance, staff costs and medical supplies.
De Jong said the player contribution is to manage wider, two-year campaign windows, not balancing tournaments in isolation.
Milicich does not agree: "Costs of $250,000 does seem extraordinarily high. In our previous [2011] campaign, yes, that was the budget. But this one? No."
- no doubt running age group sides through qualification tournaments etc. costs money but asking teenage players (i.e. their parents) to pay $2000 for representing their country really sucks bigtime.
Apparently there is now a revolt amongst parents of the current u-17 side unhappy with the fee - perhaps some players will now pull out? What a mess !!! No doubt this wrangling is why the team hasn't been named yet.
Two weeks from the u-17 World Cup and no team named, no warm-up games or preparation announced. A right balls-up...