Insiders blow the whistle on kids’ soccer

Soccer is the most popular team sport in Australia in terms of participation. AusPlay figures show soccer is played by 5.3 per cent of adults and 15.3 per cent of children.

Mr Burbridge confirmed the suspicion of parents that many clubs use SAP to subsidise their senior players, who are paid to play. He said it was “stretching the truth” to say the bulk of SAP or NPL fees went on coaches and ground hire because they underpaid coaches and the ground hire costs were shared between several teams. Most councils list their ground hire fees online, though it varies by site and the entity making the booking.

One NPL coach in Sydney, who requested anonymity because he is still working in the game said most coaches did not get full kit or good facilities for training and had to pay for their own accreditation.

“In my longstanding experience it hardly ever goes back to SAP, the coaches get the minimum subsidy for their services and most of the money goes to the clubs,” he said. “The clubs decide where the money is best spent and it mostly flows to the senior teams.”

A Football NSW spokesman said it recommended clubs put the money raised by SAP and NPL back into the programs.

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The Sun-Herald reported last week that parents and football insiders described a “cut-throat” and “cliquey” world at SAP and NPL level, More than a dozen parents and football insiders have since come forward to share similar experiences.

Mr Burbridge backed everything the parents said but described an even deeper problem behind the scenes with clubs lacking good governance, not understanding the reporting requirements of an incorporated association and allowing invoices from related parties.

“A lot of these board members get back on boards through fear,” Mr Burbridge said. “If people’s children are going to be singled out and victimised in regards to selections, people will just vote for the incumbent person all the time, they’re frightened to stand up and the football world is full of this.”

Mr Burbridge said the Department of Fair Trading could not look into the financials of every sporting club in the state, so it needed to be the responsibility of Football NSW as the governing body to investigate allegations and make sure clubs and associations are compliant.

One mother told The Sun-Herald her son had played SAP and then NPL for four years at two different clubs, one in the north of Sydney and one in the east. Recently the family pulled out mid-season because of the “appalling” and “cruel” way the club was treating her own and other children.

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She said the NPL club sought an extra voluntary payment of $750 on top of the “already enormous fees” of $2650 a season and showed favouritism to the children whose parents could pay that. She also claims she knew of parental payments to the coach on the side without any transparency.

Mr Burbridge said he has personally seen instances of clubs asking for extra payments, adding that the clubs must call these payments “optional”. He had seen them itemise things like physiotherapy that were meant to be covered by the base fee set by Football NSW.

He agreed the payments could affect children’s chances because team sports like soccer were subjective, making them prone to favouritism, cronyism and nepotism, whereas sports like swimming or running or tennis were more objective, based on individual points or times.

The NPL coach said most coaches get told they have four or five children already selected for them before they even start the try-outs.

“You might have 30 kids in the pool and then the club will suggest ‘we want this kid or that kid because their father is a long-term sponsor or on the board’ and the coach has very little ability to argue that another girl or boy shows more promise,” he said.

He said the clubs were meant to provide three 75-minute training sessions plus the Sunday game for SAP players but many were “taking a shortcut” and collapsing the three training sessions into two 2-2.5 hour sessions instead, which meant the children were up very late on a weeknight.

A Football NSW spokesman said it preferred clubs to run the three shorter sessions.

The coach said there was better oversight from Football NSW when SAP first began, with technical directors watching club games twice a season plus attending gala days and providing detailed feedback. However, this dropped away after four or five years and now it was rare to see anyone from Football NSW.

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The Football NSW spokesman said the organisation worked hard to educate clubs on best practice for youth development. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had delivered five expos a year for coaches and clubs to show the type of environment that should be developed, and this had continued with webinars and podcasts this year, and a coaching conference this weekend.

“Football NSW has worked with many clubs to assist with what a best practice trial process entails including set up, organisation duration and depending what the age and stage of the player, what coaches should be identifying a players potential on,” the spokesman said.

“Football NSW has just recently completed a study to identify the gaps and address the areas where further education is needed.”

He reiterated the statement by technical director Warren Grieve in last week’s story that parents could make complaints to Football NSW and this would be followed up with the clubs.