A few things...
While football can be an expensive participation sport for youngsters in New Zealand it doesn't necessarily have to be.
1. You don't have to be part of the FTC/NTC structure to represent your country - despite what the Federations are telling junior players and their parents. There's a bit of a history building of youth players who invest hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into FTC/NTC only to find themselves nowhere near good enough to make an age group team when better players walk in from academies or clubs last minute and take the places. FTC and NTC seem for the most part to be more about cost-recovery and less about talent identification, otherwise why would the 'National Talent Centre' be restricted to ONLY those paying FTC players?
2. Lack of money isn't necessarily an issue if you have talent. Do you honestly think a smart club will let a highly talented youngster walk away just because they can't pay their subs ? Fee write-offs do happen all the time. Private schools literally fall over themselves here in Auckland to snap-up the most talented youngsters - Sacred Heart and St Kents both spring to mind as examples this year - both picking up a number of players from other schools with the lure of scholarships (and also no doubt using the carrot of having the current NZ U17 coaches). Wynrs sourced significant amounts of funds annually to advance under privileged kids in the sport.
And then you've got the parents who are constantly 'shopping' their kids around for the best deals.