The sporting world is a very different landscape to the one we all knew just before the turn of this century. There is, as you would expect, some good and some bad.
We hear plenty across all sports about “pathways.” Yet as most are well aware all of these pathways are one-way. They have been created to try and identify talent, nurture that talent in the player’s formative years in the hope that a few will go on and make it to the elite level, and from those few an even fewer will play internationally.
While on paper such a system sounds great, as we all know there are pitfalls. As Malcolm Gladwell pointed out in “Outliers” having age cut-offs can distort the success of these programs. Gladwell claimed in his book when he looked at Canadian Ice Hockey that 40 percent of the players identified will have been born between January and March, 30 percent between April and June, 20 percent between July and September, and 10 percent between October and December. Those teenagers born at the start of the year are selected because many are stronger and more developed that those born at the end of the year. Then these identified get better coaching, players practice more and they play more games than their contemporaries.
The NHL in 2013 looked into Gladwell’s claims and found that his claims were true not only in ice hockey but also in baseball and football in Europe. However in what they called the author called the “Outlier smackdown” they pointed out that the 2013 NHL Draft had “only nine of the first thirty picks (The First Round) were born in the first three months of the year.”
There will always be anomalies, but there were many who agreed with Gladwell’s view.
Then we have the matter, which was only brought to our attention recently, of parents or clubs paying for children to attend trials in order to be selected to representative teams. This flys in the face of the whole pathway system.
There has to be a balance. However, in some sports a similar issue has now been created. With participation fees for juniors having risen to obscene, and some would say totally unjustifiable levels only those who can afford to play are able to play. So as has been stated by many previously, the best payers are being selected rather than the best players.
In an ideal world money should not a barrier to children playing sport. It should be open to all, from all walks of life. In such an environment in a short space of time those with talent begin to stand out. Talent that comes to the surface in various forms. It may be innate skill, it can be uncanny positional sense and the ability to read a game, a knack for scoring goals or simple leadership on the field of play. All crucial components within a successful team.
All components that can be lost when sports opt to pick athletes and try and turn them into players, which has again sadly become a regular trend in the past 20 years. The modern-day view being that it is easier to turn an athlete into a player than a player into an athlete. Those who have been around sport, watched, coached and played it tend to have a very differing opinion.
There have been many outstanding individual players who may perform poorly on a beep test, but possess ability that cannot be taught when it comes to a game. A number of top performers in team sports at international level have lacked a turn of pace, but have learned to read the game so well that they can compensate for that, and few would even be aware that they had this missing in their game.
In the days before sports science coaches had scouts who would scour local parks watching players and trying to identify talent. In some cases this still happens. Once identified the individual may be watched by a coach and offered the opportunity to change clubs, or they may be invited in for a trial to see how they cope surrounded by better, fitter and stronger players. The perfect set up was a combination of a scouting system and open trials. Trials where players that may not have been identified were welcome to come and show what they could do. These tended to be ruthless, as coaches whittled them down to those who may have some ability.
There is a strong argument globally that the talent identification process and pathway system in place today is starting far too young. As a result those who miss out on their chosen sport are walking away at a young age. As discussed in Podcast #76 in New Zealand they have done away with many junior representative teams.
The pathway system is one that builds up hope in young players and parents, often to an unrealistic and unhealthy level. When one hears of teenagers who have been led to believe that they have a chance of playing sport professionally finally realising that they are not going to make it attempting suicide, or being monitored in a place for fear that they may take their own life, you know something is very wrong with the pathway system. This is a subject that few involved want to discuss even though they are aware that it is happening.
There is also something wrong when these athletes make it to the top. As now many sporting bodies have come to the conclusion that the sporting public have an insatiable appetite for international matches. So the sporting calendar is now flooded with International fixtures.
With so many International games the National coaches understandably want to ensure that the best players are always available, so what have we seen happen? Our international players have become part of an extremely exclusive club. A club where they in the main only play internationally.
Cricket is a prime example. English and Australian cricket wonder why their domestic competitions have struggled, one of the main reasons is that the best players, those selected to play for the country rarely if ever play for their counties or state sides. What that has done is create a disconnect within the game. A disconnect with fans, and those hoping to break into the International arena.
Would Australian David Warner, based on his current run of form have kept his place in the Australian side had the game been run the way it was in the past? How many players keep going longer than they would have been able to in the past?
While being paid on a centralised contract where the money is extremely good, is it any wonder that they go on as long as they can. Many waiting for the tap on the shoulder rather than retiring?
The great thing about having these players return to play at the next level was you saw the up and coming talent test them. They put them under pressure by either outscoring them or taking wickets, especially those of the top players cheaply.
There was a quote during the recent Ashes series that the reason England’s Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson had kept their spots for so long was that there was no one ready to come in and perform at Test level. That is the problem you will have when you stick to the same players who are locked in on central contracts. That is the problem that you will have when the top players do not play in the competition below International level. How are you going to ever know how a player is going to fare at the highest level if you do not test them against those same players or back them?
The top players returning to club sides when there were not state competitions or international games was why the domestic competitions were so strong. The clubs that had developed those players who went on to play at a higher level still had a strong connection with those players. Which in turn inspired the young players coming through to believe that they too could reach the highest level.
The argument today is with so much invested in these players contracts they do not want them playing so much or unnecessary games which could see them get injured and then be unavailable. Yet, taking cricket as an example they allow centrally contracted players to go and play in the Indian Premier League during their International break. Those players who do pick up an injury then despite the huge salaries they are on with the Indian clubs, come home for treatment paid for by Cricket Australia. So the argument put forward carries very little weight.
Both the Western Force Rugby Club when it broke into Super Rugby and Perth Glory in the old National Soccer League when their professional seasons did not overlap with the local competitions looked to have their players linked to local clubs. They were expected to go and watch the club to which they had been linked and in the NSL off season some even played for the clubs. Similarly the Western Force players, because the Franchise was owned by Rugby WA, could allocate the players clubs for who they played and still select them for the Force.
This was why when the Super Rugby licence was taken away from the Western Force it caused a huge issue. As this involvement had resulted in a raising of the standards in local rugby, and we were just starting to see local players being recognised as being good enough to go on and play at Super Rugby level. This connection with local clubs was a key component to player development and also creating a supporter base. After all members of clubs wanted to see the players they were connected to succeed, and share in a remote way with that player’s success.
When he was captain of the Western Force Nathan Sharpe was also playing for Australia’s Wallabies. He was linked to Rockingham Rugby Club, about an hour south of the city. Yet even if he was not playing, when he did not have Force or Wallabies commitments he was a regular at the club at training or on match days. Sharpe understood the impact of him being a part of the club could have on others, and played a very important role in helping nurture the next generation.
in hockey a similar situation used to exist in Western Australia, where the High Performance unit is based. While initially the set up was to have those players on the cusp of international representation based in Perth the program has evolved to having the International squads based here.
In the past, and in recent times those players coming through and now the international players have been allocated local clubs via a draft. However with the increase in international matches these players are frequently unavailable due to the FIH Pro League. Even so there are still many occasions where there are no international matches and yet the players are still not available.
Clearly there are some clubs that make the players from interstate feel more welcome than others, and do all they can to help them fit in. This however has to be a two-way thing. The players themselves have to understand how important they are to the clubs and the sport in bringing through the next generation. In fact this interaction plays a big part in terms of attracting paying customers to home internationals and even the Hockey One competition, which has replaced the Australian Hockey League.
While some players welcome the opportunity to play club hockey and be able to try things that they have practiced in a less high pressure environment, many have said they enjoy the club environment because they are once again able to play with the joy that they had when they first started playing.
While many fans interstate have bemoaned the best players being based in Perth, because the clubs that developed these players rarely get to see them play the same is becoming true in Perth. Out of 24 Kookaburra players based in Perth, and with one round to go in the current competition only five players have played in 10 or more games of the 21 played. While 13 of the squad have played three games or less. One player has played just one game in two seasons for their local club.
Which begs the question if they are not going to play for the local sides maybe they would be better off returning to their original clubs to play?
While everyone understands that there will be international matches and these take precedence, what is becoming more and more irritating to local clubs and their supporters is that some of these players do not even come down and support the club when they are not playing, and when they are in town.
As the current season heads towards its finals there is some frustration that these same players have not had to play a set number of games to qualify to play for their club side in the finals series. Rule 4.5 C of the rules of competition stating:
HAHPP Players are exempt from this By-Law and are at all times eligible to play in a Final for the highest ranked Team in their Club Hierarchy. (HAHPP stands for Hockey Australia High Performance Player).
For regular players the requirement is that players “must have played at least three (3) fixtures prior to Finals for the Club in the Senior Turf League.”
To be fair of the five clubs that have already qualified for the Finals in 2023, three of the clubs have seen their international representatives play three or more, while the other two clubs would have three of their five players ineligible; one is not going to be playing as is currently coming back from surgery.
While most sports always want to see the best players on display in their showpiece games, this year there appears to be a growing discontent that these international players can be drafted in for finals games, despite not having played all year, at the expense of a player or players who have been committed to the cause all season.
One has to ask if the player relationships with the various clubs had been managed better would this be such an issue? Now the scuttlebutt is that the clubs are looking to propose that in coming years the High Performance players be excluded from all finals games. This confirms that this is something that needs to be addressed moving forwards, as one has to ask whether anyone benefits from the current situation?
What also has to be considered is the investment that has been pledged by the Western Australian Government to keep the Hockey High Performance Unit in Western Australia. In October last year it was announced that $135million was being invested in the sport to keep the sport’s national teams based in the state.
Part of the proposal at the time was that the administrative side of the sport move to Western Australia from its current base in Melbourne, something that was in part recommended after the fall out from the Hockeyroos blow-up of a couple of years ago. Yet it is believed that this has been taken off the table with senior management not wishing to relocate to the other side of the country. That being the case one wonders whether the state Government will reduce the level of its investment accordingly.
Clearly with tax payer funds being used to set up a state-of-the-art facility the people and the Government of Western Australia are going to want to see a return on that investment. Part of that will undoubtedly be the state hosting more international matches. One would also expect that the current situation in relation to player availability with local clubs and their interaction with the community will also need to be reviewed.
As with such an investment these players will be expected to give back to the Western Australian community. Which means that there will be more emphasis on them having a responsibility, whether they like it or not to inspire the next generation of players, by playing and being a part of the local club scene. With so much money being invested into the game there will be an expected pay-off that will be a benefit to all in the long term.
While Hockey’s international players remain to all intents and purposes amateurs one can understand why the likes of Australia’s cricketers no longer drop back down the levels to play. Yet this disconnect is both harming the game itself and its support.
The tangibility and accessibility of Australia’s top sports people was one of the key aspects that made it such a great sporting nation, and why its international teams were so loved by the masses. In many sports that has been lost in recent years, and people wonder why the support for the game has waned. Sadly many have failed to see that part of these much-talked about pathways is making it believable to as many people as possible that they too can fulfil their dreams and emulate those that they watch live or on their various viewing platforms. If the top players links to state teams and counties, and also their links with clubs sides at which they started are cut, then that key connection is lost. The ability to inspire has gone and so too has a very important link.
Yes, sport may have advanced since those days at the start of the year 2000. It may have become in many cases more professional, but if you fail to connect and engage with those who already follow the sport and who are your key audience you will rarely achieve what you should.
