In my local football association, the leagues are “non-competitive” up until age 12. Although, having said this, go down to any sideline at an under 6 game and I bet you most parents will know the score. The competitions after the age of 11 start to keep track of results, tables and also gradings. Now there is grading for U9s and above, but the divisions are separated into the last names of Socceroo’s and Mathilda’s rather than 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd. I think this is a nice addition as it promotes Australian Football and provides kids with an idol to look up to. But from the age of 12 the association is basically telling players whether they are good or not so good at football.

But I am just thinking out loud (or more specifically on a keyboard) what if our association had a non-competitive comp throughout the winter season? would it and could it be beneficial to football in the community? Social 5 – aside football has recently taken off in the area with new competitions opening up every off season. Futsal has been branded as a fun way to play football on a smaller scale. The fields are smaller, less players, smaller goals and shorter game duration, with rules in place to keep the game flowing. So, could this translate to normal football?

Why have a non-competitive league in the first place? Well, I believe that local football is losing players as a result of the fun being taken out of it. As we get older the outcome of a match becomes more important than the enjoyment of the game. I have spoken to a few people who said they quit the game once they got to all ages because it got to serious even at the lower divisions in all ages. I personally think that having a non-competitive league would increase retention and maybe attract new players as well. The more people playing the sport the better, someone may play it because all their friends are playing it and may go on to be a lifelong contributor.

How would this all work? Well, for starters there would have to be some changes. Firstly, no slide tackling. Slide tackling is one of the most dangerous parts of the game and for people to have fun it also needs to be safe. Futsal has survived for many years without allowing slide tackles and there is no reason that normal football can’t be the same.

No injury or stoppage time, within reason. I say this because if it is non-competitive then the timing should not be as important, and you do not want non-competitive games delaying competitive ones where seconds on the clock might make a difference. Having said this if someone is being substituted and they take forever to get off the pitch or the opposition constantly makes substitutions in the last 5 minutes to whined down the clock then exceptions could be made and perhaps the game would be allowed to carry on a little longer.

Unlimited substitutions. Football is for everyone and everyone should get an equal opportunity to play. This is a lot easier when you are not limited by not only the amount substitutes you can make but who you can substitute.

Self-appointed match officials. Each team will referee one half. Match officials at community level are very scarce and there would be no point wasting an official on a non-competitive match.

Reduced registration fees. This would be largely attributed to not having a match official. Without the need to pay a match official there is no need to pay them and you would therefore expect to this to be accounted for in the registration fees.

A higher priority given to competitive teams. This is more for wet weather situations where some grounds are called out, some are called in and the association has to decide who plays where. At the moment, the higher the division the higher the priority. However this may not be an issue in the future if all or most of the fields are converted to artificial grass that can be played on in all conditions.

No tables or finals. Its non-competitive. NON-competitive. Tables and finals are what makes a game competitive in the first place. You can’t really have both. Leagues would be separated by age throughout the juniors up until they get to all age. They would then be randomly pitted against each other as they would have been assumed to have a random amount of skill level throughout the team.

My final verdict on this inconclusive. There is not a large enough data set to 100% say that the main reason players are leaving the sport are because it is to serious. If there was an overwhelming amount of people leaving the sport for that reason then Yes, it should be something for the association to consider. But if its not and they decide to do it then they may not retain the players are losing and could even drive others away. In addition to this the association that is mostly run by volunteers and this wole process may waste an immense amount of time trying to set it all up only for it not to work.

The only way to find out if players are leaving because it is to competitive is to ask them. The only way to do that is to survey them, and we all know how much people love to do surveys. The surveys would have to be conducted at the start of the new season, it could be attached to a prompt to play football again. If the individual says that they are not playing, then it could supply a drop down menu full of all the options that people have previously supplied for not playing. Non-returning players could also supply more than just one reason for not playing as that could potentially be the case.

All in all I think that it could have a benefit on local football as long as it is addresses the issue. If the association did not carry out the proper research and still went forward with the idea then I think it could have the opposite effect. Therefore increasing the dropout rate, decreasing new players and being a massive waste of time.

How would this all work? Well, for starters there would have to be some changes. Firstly, no slide tackling. Slide tackling is one of the most dangerous parts of the game and for people to have fun it also needs to be safe. Futsal has survived for many years without allowing slide tackles and there is no reason that normal football can’t be the same.

No injury or stoppage time, within reason. I say this because if it is non-competitive then the timing should not be as important, and you do not want non-competitive games delaying competitive ones where seconds on the clock might make a difference. Having said this if someone is being substituted and they take forever to get off the pitch or the opposition constantly makes substitutions in the last 5 minutes to whined down the clock then exceptions could be made and perhaps the game would be allowed to carry on a little longer.

Unlimited substitutions. Football is for everyone and everyone should get an equal opportunity to play. This is a lot easier when you are not limited by not only the amount substitutes you can make but who you can substitute.

Self-appointed match officials. Each team will referee one half. Match officials at community level are very scarce and there would be no point wasting an official on a non-competitive match.

Reduced registration fees. This would be largely attributed to not having a match official. Without the need to pay a match official there is no need to pay them and you would therefore expect to this to be accounted for in the registration fees.

A higher priority given to competitive teams. This is more for wet weather situations where some grounds are called out, some are called in and the association has to decide who plays where. At the moment, the higher the division the higher the priority. However this may not be an issue in the future if all or most of the fields are converted to artificial grass that can be played on in all conditions.

No tables or finals. Its non-competitive. NON-competitive. Tables and finals are what makes a game competitive in the first place. You can’t really have both. Leagues would be separated by age throughout the juniors up until they get to all age. They would then be randomly pitted against each other as they would have been assumed to have a random amount of skill level throughout the team.

In my local competition teams start grading at the Under 9 stage. Players are graded into groups of perceived similar skill level. From U9-U11 they are placed in non-competitive groups that are usually given a name, this year it was the names of Socceroo’s and Mathilda’s players. When players enter the U12 age group players are ranked into div 1,2,3 and so on.

The grading system itself is massively flawed. There is no such thing as a qualified grader and there no pre-requisites to become one especially at community level. This is a problem for a few reasons. The first is that people who have not done any courses on Talent ID or grading as a whole will often pick the player that’s the fastest, biggest and strongest. But these kids might not be the most skillfull or talented. These teams quite often just end up playing route 1 style of football because they will have big strong players at the back and quick players up front. What they should be doing is picking the players who have a combination of skill and the physical attributes to back that up.

This however does have its drawbacks, this often means that clubs should be sacrificing the desire to win as the only priority. This poses a problem though. Good players want to go to good clubs and good clubs are the clubs that win. Meaning that often clubs who try and do the right thing lose their players to clubs who are perceived to be more successful. But success in youth football should not only be judged on the result of the game. It should be judged on the development of players, this can be measured objectively, for example a player improves their shot accuracy by 20%. Or subjectively through the eye-ball test.

Now, we told you what gradings are, but many of you reading this will want to know how to stand out and give yourself the best possible chance at making it to the level you want to. In all honesty and I will state this at the end of the post as well but if you really want the absolute best chance possible then you have to put in the work. Working hard on your skills and technical ability as much as humanly possible is the best way to ensure you achieve the results you want. It is also more impressive to a grader or a coach to have a player who can use their skills to get themselves out of a tricky situation rather than a player who just uses their strength or speed. So number 1 tip, work on your skills and technique.

In terms of things you can do outside of your own ability this is quite subjective. But appearances do matter. So, one thing I would say is, look the part. Make sure your wearing boots, socks and shin pads as a start. Also wearing proper football shirt, short and socks doesn’t hurt, even better if you wear your favorite players kit. This has the added benefit of being easily identifiable by the name on the back of the shirt. Graders often have a large amount of kids to choose from and the easier it is to identify individuals the better. Bright kits also make players easily identifiable, anything fluro will help even though in most grading players will be given a bib, you are still able to see the shirt through the bib.

When you are at the grading in your favorite kit, maybe in some bright boots there are a few more things you can do in order to help your case. Coaches and graders will not pick you if you never get the ball. I recently had a player who was isolated on the wing and never touched the ball until the last 5 minutes after they were told to move into a position to receive the ball more often. After that the player turned out to be amazing and i ended up selcting them. But I would never have known that until someone who had previously coached him told him to get on the ball more. So, if you are not getting the ball, go get it or demand it.

This leads nicely into my next point, communication. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to the coaches or graders who are watching you. It shows a great deal of condfidence which I think is a positive. Also when you are playing there is two types of communication that coaches like to see. Instructional and motivational. Instructional is telling other players what to do and also listening to what other players are telling you. A very good skill to have and massively stands out at a young age, although it does come with experience and you want to be telling your players the right things not the wrong ones. Motivational refers to the communication that inspires teammates and can lift the team. It also demonstrates a winning mentality, a key to any successful team. Saying things like “C’mon lets win this” or “Great shot Jimmy, you’ll get it next time” are both examples of positive motivational talk. On the other hand, what you 100% do not want to do is winge, complain and be negative towards any of the other players, it shows a character flaw and may be perceived as arrogance which is a highly undesirable trait.

If I had to put it in a priority list, I would say technical skills how often you get on the ball, communication and then your appearance has the biggest impact on how well you do at a grading.

In my local competition, teams start grading at the Under 9 stage. Players are graded into groups of perceived similar skill level. From U9-U11 they are placed in non-competitive groups that are usually given a name, this year it was the names of Socceroo’s and Mathilda’s players. When players enter the U12 age group players are ranked into div 1,2,3 and so on.

The grading system itself is massively flawed. There is no such thing as a qualified grader and there no pre-requisites to become one especially at community level. This is a problem for a few reasons. The first is that people who have not done any courses on Talent ID or grading as a whole will often pick the player that’s the fastest, biggest and strongest. But these kids might not be the most skillfull or talented. These teams quite often just end up playing route 1 style of football because they will have big strong players at the back and quick players up front. What they should be doing is picking the players who have a combination of skill and the physical attributes to back that up.

This however does have its drawbacks, this often means that clubs should be sacrificing the desire to win as the only priority. This poses a problem though. Good players want to go to good clubs and good clubs are the clubs that win. Meaning that often clubs who try and do the right thing lose their players to clubs who are perceived to be more successful. But success in youth football should not only be judged on the result of the game. It should be judged on the development of players, this can be measured objectively, for example a player improves their shot accuracy by 20%. Or subjectively through the eye-ball test.

 

Currently speaking we know football has one measure to define the outcome of a game. Goals. The team with the most goals wins we all know this. But is it potentially threatening the development of players? What has typically happened is that because kids, parents and coaches want to win they often set there teams up like this. Big kids at the back because they can kick the ball long and fast kids up front to chase the balls over the top leading to scoring chances. Any payers in the midfield also acts like the back except they are usually small but still send the ball long when they get the chance.

Teams that play like this maybe successful at junior level but as soon as all the other kids catch up the results start to slip. Furthermore the kids have been deprived the opportunity to learn the proper skills in order to adjust how they play. You can literally almost spot these players as well once they get to the older junior age groups and seniors. A typical striker who has always been quicker than everyone else will look to play on the last man and always look to run forward regardless of the situation. Rather then potentially dropping in between the lines or coming to the ball or dropping out wide. They are one dimensional.

But what is the best way to correct this cycle? A full change of the scoring system at junior and sub junior level perhaps? Something has to change either way because at the moment this is how it is working and think about it. How many of the most successful teams in the world play like the team I mentioned above?