Guernsey lose under-21 Muratti
Sunday 13th November 2011, 5:22PM GMT.
TWO quality goals deservedly saw Jersey retain the Ambassadeur Bowl on Saturday.
The strikes from Charlie Petulla and Harrison Jukes, one in either half at the Track, killed off Guernsey who were full of endeavour but failed to take their chances when they arose during a scrappy under-21 Muratti.
‘Perhaps we deserved to get something out of the game on endeavour and work ethic, but on football ability Jersey were the better side,’ said Guernsey coach Steve Ogier.
Full report in Monday’s Guernsey Press.
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Once again we lose to Jersey because the GFA continue to sanction the ridiculous and blatent policy of only selecting North players. As a result we have a number of inadequate (at this level) players and the rest are complacent – as Steve Ogier recently discovered!! This isn’t just at u-21 and u-18, but all youth levels. All other clubs should withold subscription fees to the GFA until this bias is stopped. Essentially all the other 6 clubs are having to subsidise an extension to the North youth training programme. Not to mention the young players being told they will not be considered for island selection whilst playing for certain clubs. And yes … that has happened (more than once) – from so called Island coaches!
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BOB,have you any proof that only north players are picked for gsy,and players are told that they must play for certain clubs, or is it because north have the best players. but if you have proof you must take it to the g.f.a.
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BOB- you name some players who you think should have been selected from other clubs??? The squad was picked with the best possible players available at this age group, and if you think any different you clearly have no local football knowledge. We lost the game due to not taking our chances… nothing to do with the fact that North have a big group of talented youngsters.
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I wonder if it’s got anything do with the fact a North coach Coaches at u16,18,&21 rep levels?.
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Bob (and whatever yor surname is) do you have proof of players being told that they must play for a certain club or is it just hearsay? I am sure the powers in charge would like to listen to what you have to say.
By the way I am not afraid to publish my name.
Graham Richard Skuse
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The reason I don’t publish my name is that I am involved in youth coaching and I would not want players I coach penalised for my comments. As you can see I have no faith in the fairness or integrity of the GFA Youth set-up. There is nobody from the FA overseeing – no quality control measures and no accountability. It is just handed to club coaches who then do as they please. Please remember that this is funded from all the clubs subscriptions and so should be accountable to the clubs. I suggest a survey of club youth coaches to see what they think (the ones i speak to feel the same way as me). I will write (anonomously) to the GFA with my views. Anyone who watches Youth football will be able to name several players who are constantly overlooked in favour of inferior North players – many of whom don’t even get to start at club level. I accept that North do have many of the better players but not as many as are selected.
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GRAHAM. COULDNT AGREE MORE, IF THESE COMMENTS ARE FACT THEY MUST BE DEALT WITH,AND NOT GIVING YOUR NAME OR SPEAKING WITH THE POWES TO BE DOES NOT HELP ANYONE
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Bob
Whilst accepting your points I think you lose all credibility by not giving your name or naming the players that you feel are being overlooked, after 40 years in local football administration I agree fully with some of your points, I am still in administration but that will never allow me not to print my name although I accept that not to print is indeed your proogative.
Graham Skuse
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Hi Laurie
There is only one thing wrong with Guernsey football and three quarters of Guernsey football admisistrators know it, at the age of 70 I have seen it all and grown out of the tee shirt but I believe that I am still young enough to see the problem eradicated.
All The Best
Graham
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I’m not sure I agree that the coach only picks from North. North just happen to have the best players and he knows them best so it’s perfectly understandable if the team has a heavy North bias. I think the players available on Saturday were more than capable of winning.
It’s pretty obvious that a lot of coaches are selected for island jobs because they are well known to the GFA and often coach the best youth team. The GFA then make the false assumption that their club side’s success is a reflection of their coaching ability, which it isn’t. Their sides do well because they have the best players. Simple as that.
I watched the game and Jersey won because they had an excellent defense. In addition the team as a whole kept the ball quite well, particularly so in the 2nd half. In contrast Guernsey managed to complete more than 5 passess………….once. I don’t blame the players for that…….
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Bob ,it’s the same old story with you.Mybe you should put your name down has island coach.
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Unfortunately I was not in the island to watch the U21 Muratti but friends have told me that Jersey were way better than Guernsey in all ways. I have heard from very good sources that Island coaches have told players that they need to move clubs if they want to represent the Island in the past. The worst for doing this was Martyn De Garis and I know that he has told U21 players that they would make the squad if they moved clubs, not necessarily to North and this was in the past, but he definitely has done this before. Tony Vance had to speak to him about it and tell him to stop doing it as he was upsetting local club coaches
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If there is a problem and you want to talk about it give me a call on 07911 102048
or i’am at most 16,18 youth games.
Cheers
Digger.
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GRAHAM. YOU ARE SO RIGHT, AGE REALLY DOESHT MATTER, YOU EITHER KNOW FOOTBALL OR YOU DONT.THIS HAS REALLY OPENED A CAN OF WORMS,BUT BEING INVOLVED IN THE PAST, WE NEVER PICKED A PLAYER ON WHO HE PLAYED FOR, BUT ON HIS ABILITY.AND THIS MUST BE SORTED OUT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE IF TRUE.
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Firstly Bob you seem to have alot to say but wont give your name, grow a pair of balls, so we can really see who you are and what coaching pedigree you have to back this up.
Secondly what players not involved Saturday would you of picked? Because without naming them its pointless having this whinge because there is nothing to disucss.
Thirdly what North players involved do you think shouldnt of been?
I also think you will find the selection is made by Steve Ogier in his role in over seeing the Representive sides. Who is actually not affiliated to any club on the island and for the record dont think he has ever coached North.
Lets be honest there is a reason North are currently the defending champions at Under 16, Under 18 & Under 21 Level (Obviously no under 21 league this year)So straight away that tells you something about the players that currently play for North. (I think between all 3 Leagues North only lost 1 game)
There are non North players that probably would of been involved Luke Winch (Suspended), Ashley Williams (Injured), James Hamon (Quit Football) but they obviously werent available. But apart from these lads not sure who else would be considered good enough, if I have missed someone please let me know, I’m big enough to admit I was wrong if there is a certain player that I have missed.
On the day Guernsey didnt play well enough and Jersey did, thus why Jersey won (Funny That!)
There are alot of Accusations flying round and to be honest I dont think certain people actually understand or have a clue what they are talking about! or without supporting anything we will never know.
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Why do people not accept the better team won and give credit to the team from the premier channel island ?
WHAT HAVE DONE TODAY TO MAKE YOU FEEL PROUD
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Digger,
Will you be at those games trying to get players to sign for North if they are good enough?
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Jersey on Saturday were the better side. A lot more comfortable on the ball and always had diffrent options. They had the ability to change the tempo of the game and knew to just keep the ball even when there was nothing on.
Guernsey played far too much long ball stuff which Jersey just mopped up time after time.
On the subject of North bias:-
You only have to look at the attempted U-21 League from last season. Started with 4(!) teams and ended with 2!!. This showed the gaps in our game as opposed to Jersey. North walked that league because of the ‘home-grown’ squad they had but it also highlights the lack of U-21 players in local football. Most clubs could not raise a side for this league and dropped out. Sadly, this is a ‘legacy’ of the failed makeover of our local leagues by the then GFA.
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@william woodford
One player who you have missed is Sam McKenzie from Belgraves who is playing regulary in the first team and has had a great start to the season. In my opinion him and Jack Domaille (both U21s) are the youngsters who Belgraves have a great opportunity to build a new first team. I gather Domaille is out injured at the moment so was obviously unavailable for the U21 Muratti but he is definitely good enough and both of these, in my opinion, are head and shoulders above a couple of defenders who were picked for the squad.
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Bob- Your a mug…
sounds like your a Jealous father whos son is simply not good enough to rempresent the island and you’ve turned bitter on the coaches because quite simply – north have the best youth available.
If a decent player showed interest in moving clubs what do you think a coach is going to do… turn round and tell them they are not welcome!?! your living in a dreamland pal.
Squad choices for island sides are down to Steve Ogier who is not linked with any club…
Still waiting for names who you think should have started along side me on saturday…
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Gerald
Fair comment I have seen Bels play a couple of times this year and Sam Mckenzie has looked a decent lad. (I wasn’t aware he was under 21) not sure if he would of started but agree stronger than a couple of lads that were on the bench.
Dozy def would of been pushing for a start if he was fit but as you say is currently injured. (I missed Dozy my mistake in my original post!)
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As a player who has been through youth football and represented the island at u16 and u18 I would like to share my views on this particular game and youth football in general.
I was at the track to witness the match and on paper I felt Guernsey had a strong team out and could very much win the trophy back. However it became very apparent that once Jersey had scored first and Guernsey rarely threatened that Jersey would push on for the win. My personal opinion is that while is great that a club like North is producing player of island quality and win many games/trophies at youth I feel what they are lacking is the ability to grind out results when things aren’t going their way. Jersey wanted it more had a more competitive edge and this is something that is clearly lacking in youth football.
I fear future murattis will go a similar way. Rovers currently have a very strong minis and youth set up and I can see them contributing many players for future island sides.
What is worrying are the scorelines Last week in Under 14s, Rovers 21-0 Rangers. Guernsey football will go no where and continue to loss murattis if these results continue..
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Suarez -it took 21 posts but at last somebody woke up and smelt the roses and realised the REAL ISSUE which you highlighted in your last paragraph.
I have no connection with North but do not blame them-perhaps just recognise that the quality of their coaches has developed the best players over the last 10 years. You can argue about one or two individuals who may have merited a place but you miss the bigger issues. Where players of equal ability play in successful or struggling sides the former will always stand out-more touches of the ball in games etc -a simple point but if you don’t get it just ask yourselves why Tom Cleverley and Phil Jones suddenly found their way into the England squad !
Rather than pick fault with North and their players, it is incumbent upon the other clubs to raise their standards to try and match them firstly as teams and then this will allow individuals to shine.In turn more competitive league football may just help our Youth Rep teams to compete with Jersey and other Counties. It is hardly surprising that our best players struggle to step up to the plate when they are never challenged locally. Just wonder what the score may have been had North not used a lot of these players in their first team over the last couple of years.
A final thought-I think you will find that the North coaches you all want to criticise have all tried to improve themselves by undertaking FA courses (Bob this is the quality assurance you are looking for). You can argue the merits of these but when the GFA look to appoint coaches at Youth level this is something they will always consider.Oh yes and by the way you do also need to nominate yourself and commit to all the extra hours of working to try and get a result for the island.
So Bob there is the challenge to you if you think things are wrong-sadly I suspect you prefer to backstab from a distance like too many others and bury your head in the sand. Refer back to Suarez’s last paragraph and try and come up with some positive ideas on how to change things rather than petty cheap shots.
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I also watched the game so Mal…….I’ll have a go.
Basically it’s all down to the coaching. Watching the Guernsey side was like watching any typical English amateur team. Fit, committed, technically pretty good and absolutely no understanding of how to play the game.
Case in point:
1. Far too many players trying to dribble the ball out of tight areas when surrounded by opponents. They’re simply not good enough to do that and get away with it on a consistent basis (very few are). If they were they’d be playing in the Premiership. Coaching point: play within your technical limitations. That’s not to say you have to tell the players they’re crap but they think it’s alright to try something clever and when they lose it, it somehow doesn’t matter. It does matter and they should be taught from the age of 12 onwards so they can start to make better footballing decisions of when to try the clever stuff and when to keep it simple with a one touch, backwards pass that isn’t very interesting but keeps possession.
2. Following on from 1, coach them to value possession. You don’t see Barcelona, Milan, Spurs, Arsenal etc lumping speculative balls forward or even passing forward to players running away from goal or even crossing it into the box from poor angles to just 1 attacker with 3 defenders around him. That’s not smart. That’s dumb. Risk vs reward. What’s the likelihood of that solitary striker being able score vs the risk of him losing the ball. Coach them to value possession and don’t rush the ball forward by learning to way up the risk vs reward outcome of every situation.
3. Team shape. Why aren’t they coached to spread out when they win possession, be tactically disciplined to stay out wide and wait for the ball to come to them rather than following the ball like 8 year olds. Why don’t they switch it out of crowded areas to the team mate on the other side of the pitch in acres of space? When Guernsey attacked down one side they never had a corresponding team mate on the other side available for a quick switch of play. Result…….winger is forced to continue going forwards. If he does then move the ball into the middle there was no one making a run down the other side as everyone had come into the centre. Basic football understanding: expand your shape when you win the ball and stay spread out.
4. Pressing – virtually non existent. Admittedly this could have been a deliberate strategy by the coach but when a striker did push up to press he wasn’t supported by the midfield allowing Jersey to bring it out from the back at leisure. If you press you press as a team……..but they didn’t know that.
5. Total lack of movement after passing. Have the entire u21 side not heard of the concept of pass and move football. Time after time a pass would be made and the guy who made it would just stand still as if to say……’there you go, you have it. I’ve done my bit’. Don’t they teach them about moving into space to receive a return pass? What about teaching them how the passer’s movement can drag defenders away from the man on the ball giving him more time?
That’s what I mean about game intelligence. Each of those 5 points requires no real technical skill, just a better understanding of how the game is played at the highest level. They might not be as good as a professional team but what’s wrong with trying to copy the way that a professional team ( a top one) would play and that all comes down to the coaching they receive at youth level. You can dribble round all the cones you like and run like the wind but you’ll always struggle if you don’t know the tactical side of the game. What, when, how, where etc.
The FA to their credit have recognised both the technical and tactical deficiency in players coming out of Enland for the last 50 years and are finally trying to address it. We would be well advised to recognise the same failings in our own players if our youth and senior teams are to have any chance of not being the underdogs each year.
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Hi Richie,
No offence meant mate but you talk a great fight, ring me on 07781142477 and I will invite you to Blanche Pierre Lane.
Regards
Graham Skuse
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To everyone.. (Especially Bob)
I played for North from the age of 9 to 18 years old as a goalkeeper, and was never picked for the island team, despite being told that I was good enough for it.. I then moved to Sylvans after not being able to start ahead of good players such as Tom Creed…
It has not always been this way, and there weren’t many North players in the island squad when I was playing Under 16 and Under 18 etc…
I’ve also played with many of those North players that were in the Under 21 Guernsey squad, or for the Guernsey Grammar School.. And I can assure you I was part of a winning side more than I was part of a losing side… You also have to consider the absentees at University, where a lot of people who are away would have a big chance of getting in the side…
I think this Bob bloke isn’t giving enough credit to what North have done and how committed they are…
You won’t find better coaches who are as passionate and strong-minded as Ross Cameron, and as dedicated to the youth’s and higher level’s football as William Woodford…
I am not even a North player any more and like I say, my last club was Sylvans… But I honestly think there is jealousy peeping through here, and if you want other players to be noticed, then it’s probably better to take a leaf out of Northerners Athletic Club’s book eh???
I personally think Gabby Agbonlahor should be involved in the England line-up… And so what i’m a Villa fan…? Everyone has an opinion on who should be in what squad… And you are entitled to them.. But Bob… You aren’t the coach… And your opinions sound like accusations… Stop complaining and do something about it???
You are obviously losing a lost fight here…
Peter Mitchell (Top-Bloke)
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richie bingham. spot on in every comment
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Bob just seems to have got a hammering on here. Maybe Bob should count up all the medals the north lads have got in comparison to the great players he would have put in the U21 team, probably a load of players from his failing club. Maybe on this occasion voicing your opinion hiding behind your computer screen wasnt the best idea. Up the North
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Ricky
So its all about medals is it? Well – that’s very easy to achieve just by all the best players playing for the same club. Pretty hard not to win a medal I would suggest!
Who do North’s juniors play against to get tested if all the good players play there? The shortsightedness of dominating at local club level never ceases to amaze me. We live on a small island with a small population. There are a limited number of good players in each age group. Having them all condensed into just 2 or 3 teams is ridiculous.
Seeing junior results like 21-0 stuffings should be ringing alarm bells everywhere.
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As people know I am currently with St Martins Football Club but regardless of that the North appear to have the best youth set up, why? does anyone remember the late Martyn Le Prevost who really set up the section and ran it with a fist of iron, now some eight or nine years later North are reaping the benifit, I was always taught, dont get angry get even,the moral being if it works down the Grande Fort Road it can work elsewhere, at St Martins Darren Le Tissier is doing a very similar job and already some of the mini section are coming through into the senior set up.
Again Bob my name is
Graham Skuse
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This is not the Premier League, Champions league or World Cup we’re talking about. They’re called ‘Development Leagues’. The aim is to develop our players into better footballers and so raise standards from the ground up. Not just seek to recruit the best players to one club and then stand back and gloat. My gripe is not with North – they clearly do a grat job of developing players (River Marsh – get well soon – is probably the best recent example of this … and a one club player).
BUT the GFA need to get a grip. They are not doing anything to encourage youngsters. The quality of ‘coaching’ at Island level is shockingly bad and there is no fairness or transparency in the selection procedures. I repeat = if you’re at certain clubs you will be favoured . FACT. It’s interesting that people criticise me for being anonymous but don’t actually dispute this well – known fact.
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GM – you are spot on with your comments there.
Every person associated with football on this island should be hugely concerned with what we’re seeing at Corbet Cup and U14 level. I refer to the weekned of 11th to 13th of November, where in the U14 league there were 42 goals scored by three home teams and 4 goals scored by the away teams, results being; Rovers 21-0 Rangers, Sylvans 10-3 Geomarine Rovers and Vale Rec 11-1 St Martins!
How are results like these beneficial to the development of island football?! As GM said, at what point do teams like Rovers, Sylvans and Vale Rec get tested? And I mean consistently not just in the odd game against each other.
In my opinion, we as coaches, club officials and GFA officials need to take a step back, forget our own inane desires and start putting the development of our very own flesh and blood first. Imagine for one second how those children feel after such a game… on one side you have morale and confidence being destroyed, on the other side you have average (at best) football players thinking that what’s important is how many goals they can score against this team and whether they can beat the score of the oppositions previous mauling.
I say lets challenge these so called better teams and in the process improve the quality of football on this island. Which in the long run comes full cirlce to the opening argument at the top of this page, maybe if we start this process of ACTUALLY challenging our youngsters at U14′s and corbet cup levels, by the time they are ready to play in the senior inter-insulars they might be better equipped to challenge on such a level, year in year out.
How do we do this? That’s open to debate, but I put this to the coaches of the so called ‘better’ teams; next time you face so called ‘inferior’ opposition why not give your kids a real test, why not play the game with one player less? Or maybe even two?
The game would no doubt be more competitive, your players would have to actually work hard, they would be tested and would, in the process, improve.
As for the opposition, well they would get more time and space on the ball, allowing them to build confidence and improve their ability, which in turn would raise standards of football on the island. It’s just one of many simple ideas…
So, to the coaches of Vale Rec (Corbet/U14), Sylvans & Rovers (U14) and North (U16/U18), could you deal with the possibility of scraping a result or actually being challenged for a league title? How would the club committee feel about that? Does it really matter how they feel about it?
We all have to realise that we have a responsibility to our children, it’s time to put them first!
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Westerner
Very well said.
I read a couple of weeks back that one FA county league is refusing to publish one-sided youth game results. A result is recorded as either 1-0 or 1-1. That’s to stop kids being humiliated and while I’m not at all a fan of protecting kids from real life, I suspect that the himiliation siffered by the Rangers kids who lost 21-0 adds weight to that brigade’s argument. However, far better to simply prevent the 21-0 thrashings happening in the first place than to cover them up.
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A couple of years ago it was suggested that a ‘mercy’ rule be brought in whereby if a team reached shall we say 8 or 10 clear goals the game would be stopped and a friendly game of mix and match was played but the powers never considered it important
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Good to see that people are finally realising the real issues as noted in my previous post.
Westerner-I understand where you are coming from and fully endorse that competitive football games is what we should all strive to get. However I think your idea has two main flaws which would fail to raise overall standards:
1. You are not tackling the underlying issues at certain clubs- we are simply accommodating their failings by asking better organised clubs to drop their standards to make a match.Surely better for these ‘weaker’ clubs to raise their standards and therefore attract better players to their clubs=more competitive teams?
2. To allow your ideas to work it is the better players within age groups that suffer as it is these players that need to be taken out of games to even them out. Surely that is not helping these guys. I witnessed this at an u12 game a few weeks ago-Vale Rec were beating North very easily within 20 Minutes at which point four of the strongest VR players were substituted and sat out the rest of the game. Try explaining this position to these guys who have worked hard to improve themselves, attend training twice a week only to get 1/3 game due to the weaknesses of another club.
The answer surely needs to be a structure that allows these better players to ‘play up’ rather than relying on them to effectively ‘play down’. There would need to be the will to produce such a structure but perhaps 1 year league bandings may help.i.e U11,U12,U13,U14 leagues where players could still play within the 2 year age bands. This way a strong year 7 player currently restricted to U12 football could play in U13 football to challenge him. Obviously he cannot currently move up to U14 football as that would cover a 3 year age gap.
A club interested in developing players would not use him in U12 matches thus freeing up a position for another player in that league.
Hopefully the results of the above would be better balanced games across the board, standards will generally improve and we can compete with other Counties including Jersey on a regular basis , not just the occasional year group.
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MAL
Some valid points there but I would challenge you re point 1.
If all the good players in an age group gravitate towards a small number of clubs, how are the other clubs supposed to get their act together to be able to compete with them? Guernsey is a small island and the numbers just aren’t there for multiple teams to be strong in the same group. That’s why the talent simply has to be spread around the clubs if there is to be a competitive league involving more than 3 or 4 teams in any one age group.
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I have an idea to stop these absurd score lines so that both teams can benefit.
When the score reaches a gap of 6 goals….so 6 – 0 , 8 – 2 etc, for every additional goal beyond a deficit of 6, the team leading must take 1 player off regardless of the time gone in the game. So in the case of Rovers vs Rangers u14s 2 weeks back if the score get’s to 6 – 0 that rules kicks in so when the 6th goal went in, Rovers have to take 1 player off to make it 8 vs 9. That then gives Rangers a slight chance but realistically Rovers would still have scored more so let’s suppose it gets to 8 – 0 Rovers have to take another player off and the process would continue up to a maximum of 4 players removed for 3 additional goals (i.e. a gap of 9 goals) leaving 5 players on the pitch.
If there’s a Rangers fightback and the gap is reduced to 3 goals then the team that is leading (Rovers) can then bring 1 player back on, but only once the deficit is closed to 3 goals. For each further goal that the lead is cut, another player can come back on until all 9 players are back on the pitch. So if the deficit got to 8 goals, Rovers would be down to 6 players. Suppose Rangers score several goals and get the deficit to 3 goals. At that point 1 more Rovers player can come back on to make it 7 v 9. If Rangers reduce the deficit to 2, then 1 more Rovers player can come back to make it 8 v 9 again. If you just leave it as 9 v 9 throughout, Rovers are not challenged at all. This is a development league……IT’S NOT ABOUT WINNING OR LOSING !!!!
As far as I can see that’s a win win situation for both teams. Rangers’s better players would get a chance of playing a bit and Rovers get the opportunity of actually practising having to defend a bit in what would eventually develop (if they were down to say 5 players) into a very challenging 5 vs 9 game.
Now you could argue that why are Rovers’s players being penalised for being better and how does taking them off make them better? Well I would say that they should try and rotate the subs on and off so everyone got the opportunity of playing as part of the 5 on field players. Surely that opportunity to practice in an outnumbered situation (albeit possibly for only a few minutes every other game) is preferable to staying on the pitch and thrashing a team that in no way challenges either set of players.
The great thing about this is that most teams would not want to get to a deficit of 6 goals as players would be worried it would be them having to come off so more than likely once they got to say a 5 goal deficit they would then likely practice playing possession football which is something that virtually every amateur team should learn to do instead of the kick and rush nonsense they typically play at senior level. If they did go down to say 7 players they would be reluctant to score again for fear of losing another player and this would create the very favourable technical development situation of a 7 v 9 keep ball game where the 7 are severely challenged to just try and keep the ball which would probably develop them technically more than any 9 v 9 game every would.
I think that’s a sensible idea.
Alternatively you could just scrap competitive football for all u14s as it does no one any good. Instead just let them play occasional friendlies that don’t count for anything. That way all the kids can be given equal chance to play and the bigger and often less technically able ones are not prioritised.
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Bob
No one wants to listen, but I hear you. Seems you may have hit a nerve with the almighty in the local game.
Selection in the early age groups is IMO way too rigid and needs to be opened up to all clubs.
The issue of player numbers at clubs also needs reviewing in favour of balancing up numbers and increasing competition and all from a young age…… But oh no the big clubs will never agree and thus it is they who are holding back the local game…..
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Richie… that is the stupidist idea i’ve heard… its not football if it is uneven sides, why punish a winning team!? with the kids they have got to learn to lose as well as win. Nippers want to play with their mates, if it happens that one group of friends are talented and they all play for the same club then so be it.
Bob- what local team do you follow?? take it your not a northerner!!!?
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Over the past 40 years I have, seen a lot of changes come into the local game at youth level,and not all for the betterment of the sport I sincerely believe that currently we are feeding the egos of club Presidents and coaches who almost demmand trophies on the annual dinner table, and in some cases will bend over backwards to achieve thier aims,lets play football from the age of 16 downwards with no trophies and no medals perhaps this would help the situation that football is finding itself in, just a suggestion, yet again I put my name to letters as opposed some others
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TC1
You’re missing the point because your focus is on winning, mine is on developing them as players. You mention the word winning in your first sentence which is typical of the English mentality that has created a generation of technically and tactically deficient players. I say again:
AT U14S AND BELOW IT’S NOT ABOUT WINNING OR LOSING IT’S ABOUT DEVELOPING THEIR TECHNICAL ABILITY AND TACTICAL UNDERSTANDING.
I wouldn’t even make them competitive games. Mr Skuse is spot on. Just have them as friendlies and then if one team starts thrashing another team you have to change it in some way to make it more challenging for the better team……even if that means taking players off. This is not punishing them, merely changing the structure to increase the difficulty level and with rolling subs each of the players in the better team can get a chance of playing in a 7 vs 9 game or something similar which would immediately make it more challenging for them.
If you were to run an 8 a side training game with a squad of 16 and one team started to annihilate the other would you just leave it like that? No, of course you wouldn’t. You’d swap players around to try and even it out. Why? Because you recognise that no one benefits if it’s totally one sided. Not the side winning, nor the side on the receiving end. It’s a total waste of time. In a situation where you are playing another team, you obviously can’t swap the players around so you have to do something to even it out otherwise neither team gets any benefit……or perhaps you don’t care about long term player development and are only interested in one team winning?
Tell me how thrashing a team 21 – 0 would improve any of those players? Not one bit. Now imagine they go down to 7 players and have to play as 7 vs 9. Immediately the difficulty level goes up and they become challenged. The more they are challenged the better they get and the objective of games at this age group is to get them better by challenging them each and every time they play. If that means changing the structure of the game midway through then so be it.
Whether they win or lose is irrelevant. What matters is that they play in a game environment that challenges and therefore improves them. The current set up does neither. If you don’t believe me just look at England. The win at all costs mentality at youth football as dominated coaching mindsets for generations and precisely how many tournaments have we won in the last 45 years?
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Answer to your question Ritchie is One more than my beloved Wales
Graham Skuse
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As always some very good points from Mr Skuse, if only people would listen to the man!
TC1 – you say ‘why punish a winning team’, but you’re missing the point completely. No one wants to punish any team, but as Richie says, you’re only focusing on the winning, which isn’t the important factor here.
On a recent FA course, we were informed of a survey carried out by the English FA into why children play football and the overwhelming majority of answers were nothing to do with winning, but were quite simply playing with their mates, having fun and getting better at football!
So why, with this in mind, do we as parents and coaches seem to be so obsessed with winning? Is it a lack of understanding of what is important to our own kids? Or as Mr Skuse says, maybe some people are more concerned with satisfying their own ego?
Either way, development on this island will continue to suffer as a result and I challenge anyone to explain to me how the current system and the results we’re seeing are helping our kids get better at football?
It’s a joke!
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Hi Jamie, thank you for your kind words they are greatly appreciated, as I only know one Jamie in local football who calls me Mr Skuse I reckon I have you sussed out so the next glass of the amber nectar is on me.
Regards
Graham Skuse
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