Franchise system

1. The standard of the game is raised.

2. The game is structured to appeal to the public - to bring in both new playing blood, and also new football fans.

 

It is evident that many of the Yellow Fever fans are under 30 - probably under-23. The great mass of the playing public is younger even than that. It is a generation keen and ready to embrace the game.

But the game is run by people in their 40s and 50s (of which I am one) who are running the game as if it is still the old football club scene (the old grassroots as the egg chasers call it).

 

People do not want to go and watch club football, but there is a demand to see good quality "professional" football.

There has to be a clear separation of the two - which does not happen in New Zealand. The NZFC clubs are by and large made up of well meaning amateurs. And they are not taking into account both the playing and spectating needs of the public.

 

Young players need a clear pathway to a professional or semipro career,and it is in the interests of the NZFC clubs to nuture and develop those players.

 

There is the chance to play professionally in New Zealand now, through the Phoenix. They are a professional club, deliberately separated from the politics of grassroots football. They are in a league which is growing, and which is in the next few years going to finally take the game to heights unheard of in football in this part of the world - the Beckham game shows that the Phoenix are a wonderful vehicle for bring top class football to this country - and next year tey will play against the likes of Celtic or Barcelona (the A-League have said they are going to bring top clubs down for their preseason). They are also going to tap into the growing stature of the game in the US and Asia - which is all good news for the sport.

 

But the NZFC have to now get their game in order to bring our players up to the next level - a level that was exposed by Waitakere on Friday night.

 

Simply put, Waitakere was chock full of players who even Blind Freddy could see were never going to compete at that level. There were few if any promising youngsters coming through, the team (Benjamin Totori and Jason Haine, apart) were all park footballers, or English lower league hasbeens. It is no wonder they failed, and it is no wonder that crowds are not going to turn up to the NZFC to watch the standard, long ball rubbish, we put up with week in and week out.

 

What I believe the NZFC should be doing is to have a two tier league. A semipro franchise first team league, and then below them a development league. They already run two teams so there would be little extra cost.

 

But taking a leaf from Major League Baseball which does not have a reserve grade. the development league teams would be based in a regional town, in that francise's Federation, mirroring the minor league system which works so well in baseball.

 

For example Hawkes Bay's development side could play out of Gisborne, Wellington's could play out of New Plymouth, Canterbury's out of Nelson, Dunedin's out of Invercargill, Hamilton's out of Tauranga, or Rotorua, Palmerston North's out of Taupo or Wanganui. In Auckland, Waitakere's development team could play out of North Shore, and Auckland City out of Bill McKinley.

 

Now each of these Development league sides would be run by a sub franchise, which undertake all the day to day running and financing of the club. But the players all come from a pool, owned by the senior franchise.

 

And this is where the standard of the game can be raised, for the development teams need to be run along the Olympic model. Three senior players on the park at any one time, the rest to be made of under-23 players.

 

So basically what you are doing is playing a franchise first team in the main centre, and then you are playing the reserve/under-23 team in another centre. Which is how the major league/minor league system works.

 

With the development league being restricted age-wise it will encourage the identification of new talent and clear out the deadwood players.

 

One thing I noticed with both the under-17 and under-20 New Zealand teams, were the better ball skills of the players, compared to the previous generation of long-ball plodders, the Jeremy Christie, Jonathan Perry types. This generation of youngsters will get a decent league to play in, where they are kept away from the grassroot clubs - where too often players drop to the level of the competition - Mark Burton and Aran Lines are two players I remember doing the same at the Kingz - arriving with tons of flair and technique and then dropping quickly to the old NSL standard from where they never recovered. The youngsters will also keep on a "path" to a professional career.

 

As for the senior franchise teams. They have to be run on a more professional basis, less like park football clubs. New coaches are imperative. And they should take a leaf out of the Phoenix in terms of marketing.

 

There is a potentially huge market out there from new immigrants who come from football playing countries. And rugby is in a state of disarray. Their game is being shown up to what it is, flawed.

 

The opportunities are huge. We just need some new ideas to take advantage of them.

We can't let this be another 1982.