Željko Jurin wrote:matty2323 wrote:
1/ we have all those people at our club. But we dont have the community a club like Raiders have.
2/ I go back to when i was a junior, Playford, Para Hills and Modbury were the top 3 in almost every age group. The senior teams were doing well, clubs were well financed and E&D was producing copious amounts of talent. Then, inexplicably, all 3 clubs have been on a downward slope.
2 interesting points .....
1/ Our 'community', I'm assuming you mean Croatian community ? ..... I can tell you right now, we have <10% kids with Croat heritage.
2/ This is the real question you need to ask .... why ?? The 'fork in the road' I said before ....
By "community" Im talking about the footballing culture that you associate with Raiders. Croatian club, passionate footballing community, regardless of their heritage. As for the 2nd point, thats easy, finances. When Playford were on top they were privately funded by the Valicarri's (please excuse the spelling). Heavy investment in all facets of the clubs. Once they moved in the club had no money, and the new generation simply moved on. I was a Playford junior, played every year there. Made my debut for the seniors at 16 years old. The club got relegated, Metro came knocking and i moved there for 2 seasons where i won 5 trophies. Im Playford through and through, but i also knew that if i wanted to get a crack at the A-League (which every kid with ambition wants) i had to be playing in the top division against the best teams as it was the closest thing you go to A-League standard. That hasn't changed, look at Playford first team from last year - Cartwright, Pritchard, Macolino, M.DeBono, Crowley, Elekwachi, Johnson, (myself at the start) all moved on with the league restructure to play higher level football.
with the points system, kids will now move earlier so they wont be a points burden on our club. I want change, i want us to improve our junior set up, but i think this is too one-sided and only benefits PL clubs.