NZ flogs its best young players

Two divorced parents are fighting for custody of their son. Neither parent will yield, so it goes to court. The judge rules: ‘‘As neither of you will compromise, we will cut the child down the middle and award each of you 50 per cent.’’

‘No!’’ cries out the mother. ‘‘His father can have him. I’d rather let him go than any harm come to him.’’

Do our football clubs and schools care about our young players in the same way?

Or are they more interested in their own glory than the kids?

For years, decades even, clubs and schools have been working at odds with each other as they develop our youngsters through their important teenage years.

Several years ago a representative of Auckland Football came to our club and told us that according to their research, the correct workload for youth players is four training sessions a week and one match.

But many of our best youngsters are getting lumbered with a workload twice that. One concerned parent told me that between club, school, and rep football, his son was training 10 times a week. He knew he had to cut his son’s program, but feared causing offence and harming his son’s future.

You don’t need a PhD in anatomy and physiology to see that flogging a growing player is detrimental to his health.

Thankfully, the federations have reduced their demands on rep players, so now the tug of war is down to two.

But that still means that many boys are playing two games a weekend, and sometimes another midweek for school. Far from ideal, with boys unable to give their best due to bumps, bruises or just plain fatigue.

To be fair, some coaches tailor their players’ schedule to allow for the training they’re doing elsewhere. But many believe their team takes priority, so don’t.

An example of self-interest which shows no regard for the player: New Zealand’s under17s leave in mid-September to play in the World Cup Finals. The highlight of their lives.

Imagine the heartbreak if they had to miss it through injury, not to mention the damage it would do to their team.

The national schools’ tournament takes place early in September, and some schools want their star players to play, potentially seven games in five days, a week before departing for the World Cup.

‘‘Why can’t our boys play?’’ ask the schools. ‘‘They’ll be right.’’ Unbelievable.

The suggestion that schools play their league matches midweek so that the boys weren’t playing two matches a weekend is sensible but schools have always resisted.

‘‘It’s tradition to play on Saturdays.’’ (Answer: change your tradition)

‘‘The boys have homework during the week.’’ (You’re serious footballers. Football IS your homework.)

‘‘There’s not enough time to complete the match before dark.’’ (There are many floodlit pitches around. Use those.)

But it’s not the two matches a week that’s so much the problem. It’s the training. The clubs want to train three or four times a week. So do the schools. It’s too much.

The kids are suffering. Terms like OsgoodSchlatter disease, Sever’s, stress fractures and growth plates are as much a part of the household conversation as high presses, CAMs, wing backs and possession football.

Can you imagine this happening in Germany or Spain? New Zealand Football needs to sort it out.

The answer is simple. Make a rule that players may play for their club, or school, but not both.

Schools and clubs would play in the same league, against each other. In most countries, the clubs rule. Schools are for school.

But things are different here, and in some instances schools have better coaches and facilities than clubs so it makes sense to allow players the choice.

School or club. But not both.