Capital Football - mission is to spread the game...in Futsal as well.

Capital Football have a clear mission to spread the game, the joy of the game.

So when the recent Futsal teams were announced for the National Championships to be played in Canberra there were some interesting mutterings from around the local futsal scene.

Previously Capital Football has run the Cobras and Colts, two teams in all divisions. Makes sense as the games are run in Canberra, it gives more boys and girls a chance, maybe their only chance to play Rep football.

Of course the Colts is the second team, always weaker I suspect, sometimes much. But I never heard a complaint from a player or parent about this opportunity, some say gift, to get a chance to compete in Rep land.

Have you seen how proud the Colts players are in their Rep gear in Futsal National Championships week?

So when this years squads have been announced - all sorts of holes and inconsistencies have appeared in Boys U16, just one team, in girls 11 and 12 just one team. There are probably others.

And in many age groups we have two teams - so how does that work?

Budgetary contraints and a lack of quality in team selections have been a couple of rumoured reasons.

Hard to believe that even when Coaches have offered to Coach for free as they have I'm told in the U16 age group, and with players paying to compete as they do, that budgetary constraints are a real issue.

Also a lack of quality has been rumoured to be a reason. This is valid - but no-one who loves the game, players or parents will really see this as a valid reason.

If Capital Football are serious about their mission to spread the love of football, amongst our young people some serious thought needs to be given to next years selection process.

A thought:

If there is one team in the any age group - say 9 players - how without an aspiring group of Colts, if one or two players drop out of Cobras in the next season, do we get players of a futsal standard to start anywhere near the previous squad.

Or indeed how is it possible to break into next seasons team against a squad who have been trained and played Nationals, when all you had the chance to do is play North or South Canberra Futsal?

Seems to me there is something much much more important than ensuring our Colts teams are "quality" and it's the joy of giving a player a chance, perhaps their only chance to play Rep football and get that experience.

What is the point of having the National Champs in Canberra, making it cheaper and more accessible than if it were elsewhere for our kids.

Tell a kid in U16s boys you can't play because although we have volunteer Futsal Coach and you all pay, Capital Football say either our budget has run out, or your Colts side is crap.

Seems to me the reason we should be running football at the young age is for the kids - once we put quality over participation we've lost the real reason kids play football.

Note: My beautiful daughter missed out on Futsal U12s - because there is no second team. She couldn't careless, she's off to Music Camp...but when I heard similar issues occured in other age groups seems to me the thoughts of those trialling at Futsal and from the feedback I've had - the issue of boys and girls participation should be raised.

How do you build a better core group of elite Futsal players? By just having one team per age group? Doesn't gel with my community football values.