There are problems but soccer's future is no longer uncertain

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33035, 30 September 1972, Page 4

There are problems but soccer's future is no longer uncertain

(By

D. P. MANSBRIDGE)

No more than three years ago, any serious discussion about New Zealand soccer invariably began at its latest crossroad. So much needed to be done and so few seemed able to point the way. Today, after three seasons of national league football, several successful inward tours later, and on the eve of the country’s second World Cup venture, soccer’s mood has undergone a dramatic change. No longer are the code’s administrators so uncertain of themselves and the game’s destiny; no longer do they need to apologise and slip away into the sporting shadows; no longer must they be continually delving into their pasts for the illusionary comfort that the present and the future did not appear to hold. Today, with the Rothmans National League firmly established, the Gillette’ Chatham Cup breaking all records, the national team set on a surer basis, and junior soccer throughout the country rapidly gaining in standard and numbers, the sport has blossomed in a manner few would have expected in such a short ijjriod.

Entrenchment and expansion are now the bywords for discussion; crossroads are out of date. Yet, overexaggeration of soccer’s present position would be as dangerous today to the sport’s continuing progress, as apathy, desperation, dissension ’and the lack of defined, practical objectives once were. This is a time as vital to New Zealand soccer as any in the game’s long history. All planning for the future must start while the need is not all consuming. Further advancement of the national team, the consolidation of the national league, progressive thoughts on the status and set-up of the regional leagues, continuing improvements in all aspects of coaching, and greater incentives for junior players, are among the parallel avenues along which the sport should be moving. Each has an essential significance, and each deserves a panel of farsighted men and women to set its course for the next half-a-dozen years. There is too little evidence at this stage of clearcut decisions for future developments in any of these issues. If anything is being done, little of the discussion is reaching the public. And this is mistake number one. In recent weeks only two points of significant interest have arij^t —the

introduction of island leagues as an intermediary between the national and regional competitions, and the proposal to play the Gillette Chatham Cup final on a home-and-away basis. The opposition of the Wellington-based executive to taking away the exclusive right to hold the Chatham Cup final in Wellington was a shift back to the darker days of the sport. It is to be hoped that the success of the replays held in Christchurch and Auckland have persuaded these men to give the matter second thoughts. It is difficult to see how island leagues will advance the cause of New Zealand soccer. There is suspicion that they are being put forward as' a kind of “buffer state” to the national league —perhaps as a means to counter the growing aspirations of the national league clubs. Mr C. J. Dempsey’s plan, moreover, is in direct opposition to the wishes of Canterbury’s senior clubs which consider the need not for a South Island league — something they’ virtually have already—but for two regional leagues in the island to reduce the present high costs they have to meet in the southern competition. Also at variance with Mr Dempsey are those North Island officials who would

add a third regional league in the north to the present two, thus giving the central areas their own regional competition away from those based on Auckland and Wellington. The withdrawal of Auckland City from next year’s national league competition, primarily on the grounds of finance, should be seen as a warning. Perhaps the structural weaknesses of Auckland City were such that few will regret its passing, but the signs surrounding the club’s demise should not be overlooked. In spite of its size in relation to other centres, Auckland might not be capable of fielding more than three national league teams —a factor that too many Aucklanders have refused to _ consider and that a majority on the National League Committee has time and again brushed under the carpet in a refusal to set maximum representation from any area. Auckland City’s death will probably not have any great effect on the national league. But if something similar happened to other clubs, there might well be unhealthy repercussions. Whether enough is being done for junior soccer on a national level is also debatable. A sore need is for greater personal incentives i. for junior players,

from overseas tours and inter-island fixtures. A matter upon which soccer officials have continually turned a deaf ear are the aspirations of senior players and their complaints that they are not being given the respect they consider their right. It would be mistake number two for this to continue. So far, New Zealand soccer has not suffered a player walk-out but it has teetered on the brink of one several times. Players are insisting on passes for their wives and girl friends when they are involved in representative matches and are invited to social functions. They do not want to be treated as mere servants of the game. Moves to form a players’ union have gone well past the stage of being just a threat, and national, regional and provincial officials would be deceiving themselves in believing that it is beyond the abilities of plavers to organise themselves into a strong pressure group. The way to meet this problem is’ to recognise it and discuss it; the new image of a progressive sport would be disastrously set back by strikes and lockouts. dr even by public threats of such actions. Clubs, too, no less than the players, are muttering about united action, in support of their belief that they are being brushed aside when decisions which

affect their future are made by national, regional and provincial associations and councils. The dissension is most vociferous among the national league clubs for obvious reasons; they have the greatest stake in the future because they have invested the greatest amounts. They know that the National League Committee is a toothless organisation and that their welfare is largely in the hands of regional league officials and others who are regional league-minded. They want a National League Committee with real powers to represent them, put forward their objectives, and argue them. The present committee has none of these powers. Although three of its members are elected by the N.Z.F.A. and others have access to the national council through their duties on regional and provincial bodies, they do not and cannot speak with one mind as representatives solely of the national league clubs. These, then, are some of the problems that beset New Zealand soccer, at a time when public interest in the game has never been higher and match attendances are breaking records season after season. Although they do not represent the decreasing monotonous “crossroads” of the past, each has a prime place in soccer’s continuing advance.