Andy Harper promotes SSG on NSW North Coact
Andy Harper, a Small-Sided Games Ambassador for Football Federation Australia visited Woolgoolga to promote the benefits of young children playing SSG
Mr Harper was in Woolgoolga last night for a one off meeting with local administrators, coaches, players and parents to promote the FFA-s recently introduced overhaul of the way junior football is played in this country.
It is known as ‘Small Sided Games- (SSG) and is long established in the football powerhouses of Europe and South America where kids have grown up kicking the ball around in small streets and back alleys.
As Bobby Charlton famously said; "The World Cup [1966] wasn't won on the playing fields of England. It was won on the streets."
This upbringing has produced generations of world class players but Australia has lagged behind because of our love of wide open spaces.
Unfortunately these wide open spaces have developed too many sub-standard footballers because while Aussie kids learnt to run flat out just to kick the ball a few times per game, their counterparts around the world were dribbling the ball almost non-stop within confined spaces.
Mr Harper spoke passionately to the crowd of about 70 at Woolgoolga Bowling Club of the need for all football zones across the country to embrace the SSG concept, reminding them that SSG-s are the result of an overhaul of football across the country which began with the Crawford Report, then Australia-s placement into Asia, the commencement of the A-League and the national men-s team-s qualification into the 2006 World Cup finals.
Mr Harper likened football in Australia to a coal-fuelled power station which has the capacity to pump out enormous amounts of energy, while our juniors are like individual pieces of coal. All the pieces and infrastructure need to work together for the total system to work. That is, to produce a winning team at the 2018 World Cup, our juniors must be coached correctly now.
The crowd nodded in agreement as Mr Harper asked what parent in their right mind would pay for a 40 minute tennis lesson in which their son or daughter never hit the ball once, yet this is what big field football has been delivering for our juniors in Australia.
There was also the stark reminder of the many sports stars Australia has produced in other codes who began as juniors in football. Players like Adam Goodes (AFL) and Andrew Johns (Rugby League).
When Mr Harper had finished speaking, he and Northern NSW Community Football Manager, Peter Haynes, took several questions from the floor. It was a frank and honest discussion of both the joys and frustrations of implementing SSG-s. The joy is always in the faces of the children who will be happy wherever they play, but many expressed frustration at trying to learn a new format with so few volunteers, a problem every club in the land can identify with.
Peter Haynes spoke briefly about the support and infrastructure being offered by NNSW which includes pop-up goals, training bibs, markers and administrative help saying the SSG format was a core value held by NNSW and it was committed to seeing it successfully rolled out.
The evening ended with the obligatory tea, coffee & sandwiches, but the work is far from over. There was a general feeling that the next ground to be taken was in our schools who, as a whole, have not altered the age old practice of running little kids on big fields.
But we-ll save that one for another day.
Story by: Terry Allen North Coast Football Publicity Officer 0401 961 889 02 6656 2027 media@northcoastfootball.com.au
To have an FFA SSG Ambassador visit your local football association, e-mail FFA at communityfootball@footballaustralia.com.au.