Bombers4EVA wrote:Get rid of match payments all together. Maybe the government may have to bring in a Amatuer League Football Payment Tax for players getting paid to play "Social" football. That's what the Amatuer League isn't it??
Amateur football died in the late 70's & 80's with the then SAFA competition. Then in the mid 90's the SAAFL endorsed players being paid by having the two divisions, P1 & A1 from memory.
There are some clubs out there who refuse to pay players, and that is their choice, BUT, in this day & age, those clubs will not progress unless they have outstanding numbers to choose from, ie prestige Old Scholars and boom suburbs such as Golden Grove. It is simple economics, supply & demand. If there is a strong supply, there is no demand to go seeking. If there is no ready supply, for clubs to progress there is a demand for good players & if a club IS in that situation, dollars
will become involved. Whilst I admire their morals in a way, in another way I think it's selfish. The people who are making these decisions are making moralistic calls on what they see fit at the current time and possibly not considering what their decisions will reflect in the future, prime example being Kilburn. They have stated money is not the issue, but to have gone from heaven to hell in the space of 2 years, reeks of some bad decisions being made. The way it it sounding, Kilburn are going to be struggling to be in existence next season.
There are other issues too, ie the nature of the local residents. Kilburn being the example again - they really are up against it with such a multicultural populace, surrounded by an industrial area - there are not many locals to draw from.
As has been mentioned, the lifestyle of today's kids has changed. In olden times when we played for the passion, kids couldn't wait to get home from school, get changed into their favourite teams gear, hop on their bikes and go down the local park to kick a ball around till dinner time, do some homework, maybe watch an hour of TV before bed at a reasonable hour. It was a highlight of our life when we got a new footy or new boots. As we grew older it was all about cars, girls, beer and again........footy.
There are still a lot of real good kids out there who play outstanding football. What I saw of NEMJFA under 16's last year and a bit of under 18's this season, the standard is way better than what it was in my day. Sadly though, they are the minority.
Now most get home from school, raid the fridge, sit in front of a TV or computer screen, smoke, nip out behind the shed for the bong they think you don't know about, get pissed on a Friday night (or more often) with their other deadshit mates and think they have achieved something when they finish "Grand Turismo 5". As far as being in bed before midnight......good luck.