Quote: micktheleyther "I firmly believe that we need a youth development system that
[*Ends the big club monopoly on youth development[/*
[*Gives other clubs the opportunity to invest in academies without the full costs associated with running their own systems[/*
[*Encourages all teams to invest healthy and appropriate amounts of money in youth development[/*
[*Rewards clubs suitably with players or compensation for their investment[/*
[*Allows youth players the freedom to sign with the team of their choice when leaving the academy system[/*
[*Involves a neutral authority to look after the interests of both youth players and the overall strategy game in the UK[/*
[*Tailors individual programmes to suit the area in which they are operating[/*[/list
If we're worried that too many academies dilutes the quality of the pathways to the pro game too much, my suggestion is that academies should be decoupled from clubs. The current setup simply grants the top clubs a conveyor belt of talent which makes it easier for those clubs to stay at the top. That isn't in the interests of the wider game.
I would suggest that academies should be run on an area by area basis by a dedicated division of the governing body, which should be led by someone who is proven in delivering talent to the game. Areas would be devised and revised around their expected ability to output professional players.
Clubs in or around the academy area can choose to provide funding to the academy. Super League clubs and / or clubs spending over a certain amount on the salary cap would be obligated to provide funding to a minimum level.
The level of funding provided by all clubs funding the area academy in relation to each other would then determine their position in a draft system to sign players when players come to senior age or wish to sign pro contracts. Of course, you can't force a player to sign for a particular club, so there would be a minimum fee based on draft pick position for another club to compensate the drafting club and sign that player.
I'm not 100% of the legal position of such a draft system, but I don't think that this or something like it is impossible to achieve within employment laws.'"
So I don't think theres anything in the current system which would currently block any of the aims you outlay, with some minor changes in governance.
I think over the years I have seen there are two major challenges to the current system; funding and the "big" academies bogarting talent.
For the latter, you have to put yourself in the position of a young player, being signed at 16 by a professional club to join their academy. There are probably several factors which go into the decision making process, and then look to influence them.
[list
[*Likelihood of opportunities to go professional[/*
[*Access to coaching and facilities and the quality of them[/*
[*Opportunities and further education away from the game[/*
[*Salary or any other perks the club is offering[/*[/list
There are probably more but probably a good starting point. If you can influence each of these factors, you can assure that clubs can't entirely ringfence the local elite players - or at least give other clubs a better opportunity to be in the conversation.
The going professional factor is the one thats most entrenched and hardest to fight. If you look at Saints, they can point at Roby, Lomax, Percival, Knowles, Davies, Welsby, Bennison (deliberately in age order) to kids they want to sign to show not only the consistency of giving youth opportunities, but how showing the right attitudes and attributes builds into a pathway that doesn't stop at getting to first grade, but all the way through to dream team, England and the leadership teams within the squad. Its taken a huge amount of patience and false dawns for Saints to get into that position. I think it was the SMTM podcast where an agent was criticising clubs for short termism in their approach to recruitment, effectively looking to bay the fans complaining rather than actually building towards a strategy, and it seems youth development is the same way - some years its in to parade in front of the fans, a bad season and needing some big names and they get thrown out the window for old familiar Aussie imports and journeymen (look at how Warrington have treated Dean and Thewliss as an example of this). The problem we have though, is that the franchise system was supposed to resolve this - how many clubs actually took it as an opportunity to do so? Arguably Catalans, and we are starting to see more French youngsters coming through (certainly more than 10 years ago), but struggling to think of anyone else. No amount of draft or regionalisation will solve this problem, and will effectively just hurt our ability as a league to create elite players. Do you think if you handed Warrington Jack Welsby he would be the player he is today? Maybe I am biased but I just don't honestly think you can be sure of it. So all in all, I don't know how you resolve this (though I see how you can break those academies that are actually working in the triopoly).
Access to coaching and facilities, and further education can all be solved with money, so I don't think theres a huge issue with this (though again, it comes to how much time and energy the teams want to put in - I believe Wigan have recently set up their own college to fully integrate the training schedule for their academy and their studies, which is a model football academies use), its just a matter of encouraging teams to spend more (I wouldn't be opposed to the RFL "selling" Marquee tokens, which the RFL can then distribute to poorly performing academies with conditions on improvement - if Warrington want to sign the current Australia National Team, be my guest, but theyll need to fund everyones academy for the next five years to do so).
But on the point of teams putting more effort in, again using Saints as an example, prior to Covid, they would organise a tour of Australia every two years for the academy (and I hope it returns soon). Its a huge amount of work for everyone involved, but is also a massive sales pitch to the kids we want to sign, allows players to get better testing themselves against Aussie clubs, and creates a bond with the club which may or may not help with retention should the player make it (though I can't evidence this ...). There isn't any reason why any other academy cant do the same, but Saints have set this up and put the effort in, outside of the strict boundaries of the funding for elite academies.
People act like the withdrawal of the elite status was the RFL stopping clubs having an academy, but that was more a convenient excuse for the teams doing very little whilst cashing the cheque to then do absolutely nothing. I understand the RFL need to meet strict guidelines for the elite status and the funding and I dont agree that clubs shouldnt expect to pay the full cost of an effective academy (else we go down the RU model of the RFL having more influence over internationals due to having invested in the kids). Giving more money to the failing academies seems contrary (why invest in bad money...) but taking the funding away completely seems contrary too, especially as I think most would agree that it should be mandatory for the 37 clubs to have an academy. As above I like the idea of the RFL building an additional fund to invest into academies but I am sure there are other ways too.