FFA: Skill Revolution Begins

Bring it on!

The FFA has released it's National Curriculum. See media release below.
It talks skills, Aussie psyche and how all elite teams will follow the 4-3-3 model.

Can someone please tell Pim Verbeek!

But three things caught my eye...

1. By 2010 each State/Territory will need to appoint at least one ‘Skill Acquisition Trainer’ whose role will be to ensure that skill development programs for talented players are universally implemented.

2. Football Clubs, schools and academies will be accredited and rated. Adoption of the Curriculum will be a pre-requisite to accreditation and rating.

3. And there are two development streams. “The first is for talented players who aim to play the highest level possible, and the second is for community players who just want to play the game and enjoy the sport..”

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Great about time we got rid of the shonkies pretending to be an Academy, or even a Football Club.

In my view: Handing a ball out and sending the kids out to play with a parent does not make you a football club, nice to have a social club, a run and kick, but it's not a football club is it...no more than telling them to get in the pool makes you a swimming club.

Han Berger will be on the World Game on Sunday there is a whole chapter on the cost of football...so I'm looking forward to seeing ideas on that.

At a social level, with our community/business leverage...the game should be free for Under 10's


Football Federation Australia (FFA) today announced another new landmark initiative with the unveiling of a new National Football Curriculum (NFC) which has the long term aim of improving the skill level, quality and performance of Australia’s top players and teams.

“The National Football Curriculum is the next important stage of the Talent Identification Development Review and the National Football Development Plan that was announced in November 2007,” said FFA CEO, Ben Buckley.

“It sets the blueprint for the quality and style of Australian football for the future and aims to significantly improve our skill levels.

“It is the first time we have had a national curriculum which sets the basis for the development of all young players and coaches, whether at community or elite level.”.

“The key objective is to create a talented player development program that emphasises skill and sustains international success for generations to come, as well as a coach development system that produces quality coaches who are able to implement the curriculum and realise similar goals,” Buckley said.

The NFC has been developed by researching best practice in talent development and identification in football and other sports and tailoring it to football in Australia.

The evidence-based curriculum has been developed by FFA’s National Technical Director, Han Berger, following on from preliminary work by the previous National Technical Director, Rob Baan.

Berger, who started in the role in January, will oversee implementation of the NFC.

“The new national curriculum recognises two streams of development,” Berger said.

“The first is for talented players who aim to play the highest level possible, and the second is for community players who just want to play the game and enjoy the sport..”

Berger said the NFC is for male and female footballers aged between 6-19 years, from those playing Optus Small Sided Football to the 11-a-side competitive environment.

The guiding principles of the NFC are:

- the approach is ‘game-related’ rather that ‘isolated’, which impacts all training and exercises
- an emphasis on skill development
- a proactive style of playing that corresponds with the Australian competitive psyche
- the mandating of the 1-4-3-3 formation for all FFA controlled development teams (eg. Qantas Joeys, Westfield Young Matildas) as the best developmental model, and the best structure for the proactive playing style
- the integration and mutual dependency of physical conditioning with football training so that they are not separated

Berger has consulted with all national coaches, Institute coaches and State Technical Directors as well as Member Federations in developing the curriculum.

Berger said that, as part of the implementation process, a number of actions are required to ensure compliance to the curriculum. These include:

- It will be mandated for national development teams and for programs under FFA (and member Federation) control
- Each State/Territory will appoint a Technical Director, funded under the FFA’s new Member Federation Charter, with the State Technical Director reporting to the National Technical Director
- Coach Education Programs will be reviewed to reflect the NFC
- Specific levels of coaching qualification will be required for all higher level coaching positions (National Team, Hyundai A-League, Westfield W-League, National Youth League, Institute and State technical Directors)
- By 2010 each State/Territory will need to appoint at least one ‘Skill Acquisition Trainer’ whose role will be to ensure that skill development programs for talented players are universally implemented.
- Football Clubs, schools and academies will be accredited and rated. Adoption of the Curriculum will be a pre-requisite to accreditation and rating

Additional material will be added to the NFC to assist coaches and clubs with the ongoing implementation.

The NFC will begin an Australia-wide roll out in the coming months.

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Aussie football: It's too expensive

FFA Technical Director Han Berger talking at the National Junior Championships in Canberra yesterday said there is a chapter in the National Curriculum (coming soon) about the financial barrier for football.

Football became the World's game because it's so easily accessible for everyone, rich or poor, everyone can play. So if there is a financial barrier, which I think there is in Australia, we have to do something about it and make football accessibly for everyone

Amen Brother!

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Canberran to Coach Australia.

Former Tuggeranong boy Ante Juric will Coach the Australian inaugural Under 13 side. Ante was sitting alongside FFA Technical Director Han Berger at the trials in Canberra today.

Interviews with both will be aired on the Nearpost Radio in coming weeks.

This week we will have FFA and Perth Glory Coach Nicola Williams in the studio, one of the few professional female football coaches in Australia, maybe the only one.

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Futsal or Outdoor Football: FFA Which do you prefer?

With the National Futsal Championships about to start in Canberra next week thoughts in the Capital are turning to Indoor Football, or Futsal as it's known.

I'm biased. I love the outdoor stuff, but in my later years spent years playing futsal, and came to love it as I got older and slower.

And if you ask the kids, many, many, prefer indoor over the outdoor game.

Which do Football Federation Australia prefer?

The answer seems clear, and Futsal players will not be happy.


Clearly the Indoor version is second fiddle or even lower down the FFA ranks.

Before Futsal joined under the Football FFA umbrella, the Futsal organisation organised and ran camps and overseas trips for representative sides of all ages.

Today despite their increasing numbers their are far fewer official tournaments, overseas trips and training camps.

The Futsalroos are the men's national side. This year, they will play in the KL 5's in March, then the Asia Cup in Thailand in May.

They need to come in the top four of the Asia Cup to go to the World Cup in Brazil next year.

Camps to prepare? Nil.

Women's National Futsal side? Doesn't exist. Not anymore.

The FFA clearly have put their limited but now growing resources into the Socceroos firstly and now the Matildas.

And you may imagine how people within Futsal, who see this as their number one sport, must feel, when having been taken over by the FFA see their game bursting at the seams in terms of registrations, but getting a smaller and smaller piece of the financial pie, and perhaps more importantly, a smaller and smaller piece of the planning pie.

For five years the games were on SBS. Now there is nothing.

What is the future of Futsal?

And the FFA have gone Dutch thanks to Guus. We now have Rob Baan and Pim Verbeek, and the Dutch don't really value Futsal, certainly not like the Brazilians.

Come to think of it when did the last Ronaldhino come out of Holland?

Does this mean Futsal has little place in the FFA development pathway?

Futsal, so long the darling of SBS, popular in South America and belong, seems to be heading nowhere in Australia despite its popularity.

As outdoor football becomes a 10 month a year game what place is their for a National Futsal League, men and women's in the FFA'S plan?

What place for training camps, representative sides?

Quite simply the FFA can't have Futsal taking some of the next generation of A-League players. We've hardly got enough top footballers as it is.

In Thailand the professional futsal league play their players $1500 per month. The players train twice a day.

In Australia Futsal has been left behind as the FFA swallowed all the football codes, indoor and outdoor, men and women.

Any young person playing Futsal would be well within their rights to ask "What have you done for me lately FFA."

Where is my National League, International Friendlies, Tournaments, prospects for the future.

How does Futsal fit into the National (Dutch) Technical Plan?

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Finally Football's development plan out tomorrow

And you know it's important because Frank Lowy will be alongside Ben Buckley to announce it.

So what can we expect?


A plan to guide the development and enjoyment of all our young players boys and girls.

Small sided games with an emphasis on touch and skill. No secret there.

But will it incorporate a Youth league. Yes I expect, and a Women's National league as well.

How will territories, like Canberra, without A-League affiliated clubs, fit into a youth league if the Youth teams are attached to an A-League club?

Remember Canberra has produced Ned Zelic, Joe Simunic,Carl Valeri and Nikolai Topor-Stanley in recent times.

How will territories like Canberra, without A-League affiliated clubs, fit into a Women's league, if women's teams are attached in some way to an A-League club?

Remember Canberra has produced Julie Murray, Sasha Wainwright, Lydia Williams and Caitlin Munoz in recent times.

Are the younger versions expected to head up to the Central Coast at the age of 16 to play Youth team football, and the Women to do the same.

And if the Central Coast select only one or two Canberrans what about the rest of Canberra's players?

Will all Federations be allowed a Youth team even if there is no A-League team in town.

For the women should the teams take on the names of the A-League clubs. Is this a good marketing tool or not?

Canberra can have their own Youth team and a Women's team. There are enough players and qualified coaches at all levels in this town.

Linking them to a club, the Central Coast Mariners might be a nice idea. But the club is more than 4 hours from Canberra.

Or will a football hotbed like Canberra get it's own place. Surely if the game is to keep growing across the country, Canberra need their own youth and Women's side in the new set-up.

I await the announcement with considerable interest.

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Junior Football: How does your club rate?

If your son or daughter is playing junior football, or maybe your a coach or a fan,

It's time to rank your local club against the FFA benchmarks outlined below.

In Canberra all clubs have changed their junior football structure to meet the requirements of the Mitchell Technical report over the last few years.

There is still a little way to go for some clubs in Canberra but we are way ahead of other states.

The FFA are about to release a Technical report which has been signed by ALL States.

All States and clubs will bring in the new structure over the next three years.

Check out how your local club is tracking:


The aim is to give children a better learning environment which will assist them to become better players and for the elite to become more technically adept.

Basic more touches at an early age, more involvement in the game, which means smaller pitches, less players and removing the points factor, should assist player enjoyment, player development at all ability levels.

Makes complete sense to me!

Key details in the report are:

From Under 12's down, it will be small pitches with smaller numbers.
Points will be taken out until 10 years of age.

Under 11 and Under 12's will play 9 a side on a modified pitch.
Intra club for children in Under 6, 7, and 8, and smaller teams and pitch sizes for the younger players. In many cases, no goalies.

Aussie kids will not play eleven a side football until the age of thirteen.

Age 5,6, 7, 8 and 9. kids will focus on the game. Talent ID will begin at the age of ten. The best ten year old players will be joined with the best junior football coaches to improve these children's' skills.

A big issue for many States and clubs, but the support across the country is unanimous.

Lets' hope things get moving for the next junior season and more kids get to have more fun, more often.

Seeing the Under 7 standing in goal, for 15 minutes on a freezing morning, with nothing to do, hopefully will soon become a thing of the past!

And seeing a group of players playing 9-a-side at under 7 level will also be out of favour. The kid who never gets the ball!

In smaller size games surely that child will have a better experience.

Can't wait, can you?

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Capital Football heads skills development

Capital Football is a head of the game

Capital Football are well placed to take advantage of the recommendations in the soon to be released Talent Identification Development and Review, formerly known as the Baan report.


In fact the FFA will send two representatives to study what has been happening in the ACT.




The Mitchell Technical Report introduced in Canberra three years ago is well on track.


Small games, more touches is the way forward for improvement of players skills and enjoyment.


There is still some way to go but good to know Capital Football is on the ball.



Has your club got it's development program sorted?

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Match Report: Rob Baan 5 Eamonn Flanagan 0

Match Report: Rob Baan 5 Eamonn Flanagan 0 (that was just the first half)

Rob Baan has finished the Football Federation Australia’s technical report.

“I handed it to the FFA board and now we must wait.”

Why Rob? Why must we wait? Fozzie will want to know the details right now.

“Because the board have to look at it and see what can be done.”

Are there any positives in the report?

“Its all positive, very positive,” he laughs

Well any negatives with the current set-up?

“Well somethings need to be changed in the new set-up.”

Like what Rob?

He smiles.

“You’ll have to wait for the report.”

p.s. Dare you to tell Fozzie the technical report is finished.

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