Lestronge, mate you are SO right in your honest appraisal of kiddies soccer. All the "academy" scouts have to see is dad with the keys to the Cayenne in his hands, and momma that's just had the girls lifted and plumped . . . and he don't even care if their kid knows what shape a soccer ball is . . . they got money, they got ambition for lil Belvedere . . . and that's all it takes for them to real soon have a little less money.
Yep . It’s why the Socceroos are a joke at the moment and have been since the boys from wests Sydney and west Melbourne retired about 10 years ago .
It’s less about talent identification and more about how and when the “academy” can profit.
The reason I bring this up in an NRL forum is , I really don’t think the nrl has anything to worry about from football .
It used to be be football fans and those around that game would say “Australia is full of bogans that’s why afl and nrl are bigger “.
Now it’s pretty much rhetoric and well understood that footballs biggest issues is the parasites who have infected there junior development.
It’s really a pretty good argument for anyone against centralising youth systems and a draft .
The NBA has a similar issue with thier AAU setups , and scumbags convincing kids parents with TBH mediocre talented kids , that thier kid is the next Steph Curry .which leads to huge money turnover for these academy’s.
Because the nrl clubs have thier own systems , thier own pathways and really kids as young as 12-13 having youth development deals , it allows very limited accessibility for parasitic programs.
Theres still plenty out there though .