I admire your socialist idealism Foal (truly). However, unless a sport is serious about ploughing really massive dollars into unearthing the best talent and then doing the humungous amount of work to create the best environment to nurture that talent (say for 5-10 years based on 10,000 hours principle), then the best talent - that can afford it -will go wherever that environment exists. NZ clubs and federation and sport not able to provide that at present so providers stepping in, ie "market forces" (remember that show?)
As NZ is so small financially we as a sport don't have the money to offer great football talent with no money the opportunities they deserve. Rugby can do it because we are the best in a small handful of OECD rich countries that play the sport and have the media/corporate/sponsorship backing to sustain the NZRFU and its franchises. Local club rugby is clucked.
If you are a big rich country then you can create those environments for talent that can't afford it. Not here. Here we do the best we can, but in no way is it ideal.