The FFA's Zullo mission

Michael Zullo, Queensland Roar’s electrifying teenage winger, is on around $30,000 a year.

Comments (29)  |  Your thoughts?

Believe it, for it’s true.

This is no way to run a football league is it? Something that has, by the way, already occurred to the FFA.

Zullo was among the A-League’s true entertainers last season and not far behind were his contemporaries, Robbie Kruse and Taj Minniecon, both of whom take home similar amounts – enough to procure a daily loaf of bread but with little left for the butter or jam.

I confess to being a big fan of all three of them, along with a handful of other fresh faced kids some A-League coaches were uncommonly courageous enough to regularly select last campaign.

Slumped on my lounge, watching an A-League game, it is not uncommon for me to leap off my bum, screaming to an innate TV screen: ‘Bring on the kid!’, by way of advice to a coach whose team has fallen behind with 30 minutes to go.

And, sorry to boast, but almost invariably I am right. The kid, whenever the coach obliges, always makes a difference even if he isn’t necessarily able to bring the game out of the fire, at least not on his own.

There is something distinctly thrilling in football about giving a youngster a go.

The game’s history is full of it and one need not cite a better example than the 16-year old Pelé in the 1958 World Cup. Diego Maradona made his professional club debut at 15, Ferenc Puskás at 16, Johan Cruyff at 17, Zinedine Zidane at 17, Ronaldinho at 18, etcetera.

So goodness only knows why it is that some coaches, among them some dreary uncourageous men who steer A-League teams, are so reluctant to put faith in young, ambitious talent.

We know the stock answer, of course. You need experienced players to win things, blah blah blah.

In which case, why don’t we bring Alfredo di Stefano out of retirement and sign him as a marquee, or better still, bring Stanley Matthews back from the dead?

I sense that the coaches with this kind of pathological resistance to youth are about to get their comeuppance. I sense that next season will be a good one for youth promotion so stand by for having your funny bone tickled by the entry of ambitious kids, like Zullo, who want to impress, excite and put on a show.

One reason is the advent of the Youth League, which will compel clubs to contract a host of young players who, in turn, will gain a stage, forcing the senior coaches not to ignore them.

In addition, with imports being a bit on the nose after so many flops among them last season, and with the usual off-season talent drain to foreign destinations, clubs will be forced to replenish their numbers with youth.

Meantime, the FFA has now intervened to protect the league’s youth quota with an additional $150,000 salary allowance, above the salary cap, for players young enough to qualify playing for the Olympic team.

This was a splendid initiative, a compromise move by the FFA which is no doubt concerned by the lowly wages the salary cap imposes on the league, leading to inevitable player emigration to richer pastures.

The salary cap will be increased again next season and, together with this initiative, it is likely that the climate for a braver use of young players will be enhanced.

Meaning that Zullo, and his like, will get a better deal and he will stick around a little longer to entertain us.

Speaking of youth, the Joeys’ path to the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup was revealed recently.

Pitted against Saudi Arabia, China and Turkmenistan, the Australians are in ‘the toughest group’, according to coach Martyn Crook. He warned that the Saudis and the Chinese are teams to be feared, given both have been Asian champions recently at this level.

I say the draw is wonderful. At this age level, the tougher the draw, the better it is for our players.

The reason is that, at 17, the object of participating in tournaments of this kind is not just the natural aim of winning them but as a medium for developing our elite young players.

Personally, I couldn’t give a hoot if Australia doesn’t win the U-17 World Cup, provided they try to play a way that is good for their development and that they emerge from the tournament better players.

Crook can’t be blamed of course for wanting to win and for wishing the draw had been easier. He probably believes he will be judged on his results and, unfortunately, he’s not far wrong.

But with developing quality players for our senior national team being the ultimate aim of fielding a Joeys team at all, there would have been no gain whatsoever in their being drawn against a bunch of easy-beats.

top

Join the Discussion

PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.