Club football doesn't mean anything other than "Club Pride" to be fair.
Isn't that just a matter of who has the best set up? Sounds like some of those Schools in Auckland are quite well resourced.
Partly.
The biggest issue with school football is that, because there is not freedom of movement between schools like there is clubs, it creates uneven competitions.
Generally, the largest boys' school will dominate because of playing resources. That can be distorted by demographics, scholarships etc.
But if you're at a school that is shark at football but you are quite good, your option to move is quite tough.
If you're at a school that is good at football, but you don't quite make the top squad, again you're a bit f*cked.
The result is that the best players don't play against the best players as often as they do in club comps (where players can move more or less freely).
And that is why school football is mostly recreational. At least to most folks.
it's not quite that simple in Auckland - if like you say your at a crap school then move and play for a good club - vice versa if your at a good school and not getting a look in then play club football instead.
The problems arise when schools (or clubs) try and demand to a player that their patch is greener than everyone else's.
Club and school are almost entirely exclusive here - there would be very few (if any) kids who are playing First Team football and First XI (in the top league) at the same time.
There was another thread that asked what we needed to do to develop better international players, one step would be to make schools play midweek and let them train the boys 3 or 4 times a week on skills and then let them play on the weekends and train a couple of times a week with their club for exposure to high level competition - schools provide the contact time and clubs provide the competition.
Probably will never happen in Auckland but it would make a massive difference.
I agree with the midweek thing. But how do you make schools do it? You can't.
This is the underlying issue. Schools have unbeatable access to players and heavy influence on them.
NZF and the Federations have practically no leverage to get the schools to do anything at all.
In Wellington at least Capital Football have manoeuvred their competitions to allow players to play for both club and school, and many do.