October - March: FFA can play their A-League seasons in Canberra

In Canberra the football season goes for 16 weeks - we try desperately to get a ground for extra training, or a match outside of this precious 16 weeks but the ACT SportsGround Office will quickly tell you you are out of order.

We even try and book the ground as a cricket ground - and then say we were so bored we started playing football.

Whatever it takes!

After the hallowed 16 weeks season, (ACT Government would rather have empty fields allocated to other sports than allow football to use some a little more) everyone is told it's the cricket, softball or some other season.

So we mostly head off to Futsal - of course playing cricket as told and other "summer sports."

So the FFA desperate to cut losses will cut the current A-League season from August start to maybe October. Perfect, for Canberra. But a disaster for every young footballer.

What a disaster.

A seven months off-season might be okay for local sports like AFL and Rugby League whose players or fans couldn't take much more anyway - but for footballers, paricularly young ones, acquiring the skills to get and stay at the top - you just gotta keep playing.

Five month season is only good enough for Canberra - not for Australia, and not for our young professionals.

Maybe FFA can play their whole season in Canberra - ACT Goverment, Sports and Grounds would understand.

Time to fly the field Mustafa Amini and every other young player under 23 - sad times for player development, and just when the tsunami of young players had come in.