4th December 2007
NCF gives young Goalkeepers off-season tuition


Photo: Alannah Rosewood (yellow shirt) shows her diving technique during a drill with Jason Hillier

North Coast Football may have packed the 2007 season up already, but for a handful of dedicated young football players, the game goes on.

Six boys and girls from NCF clubs are taking part in a four week specialist goalkeeping program being held at the York Street playing fields on a Monday afternoon, having already gone through an initial four week program in October/November.

Each of the players is involved in the Junior Representative Development Program, having already been recognised for their outstanding work with the gloves in their club games however, the clinic is not limited to elite players.


Photo: Georgia Allen (blue shirt) makes a diving save for the camera in a drill with Jason Hillier

"Generally goalkeepers in junior club games are selected on a rotation basis. Everyone gets a go and they almost never get specialist goalkeeping tuition unless their coaches happened to be goalkeepers themselves at some point," Dave Curley (clinic instructor) said.

"This program aims to take talented young goalkeepers and improve their technical ability. Hopefully, we will start encouraging more juniors to love the position of goalkeeper. The off season is a great time to work on your technique while you do not have the pressure of playing competitive games." Dave Curley said.

This week, Prime TV News came to one of the sessions to tape the drills in action and will feature the clinic in its nightly news at 6pm on Tuesday December 4th.


Photo: Dave Curley being interviewed for Prime News

For further details about the Goalkeeping program, including how you can get Dave Curley to run a clinic at your club in 2008, go to: NCF Goalkeeping Program

Terry Allen
Publicity Officer
North Coast Football

25th July 2007
Remembering the 1966 World Cup

"And here comes Hurst he's got... some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over.
It is now!"

July 30th marks 41 years to the day since the BBC's Kenneth Wolstenholme uttered those memorable words and England won its lone World Cup. It is an event which has left an indelible footprint on the English speaking football world, Australia included, so it is worth pausing to reflect on the enormity of this event for it changed a lot of things about the game we love.

Just think about some of the events of that month; Pele being hacked out of the tournament and vowing never to play in another World Cup, Jeff Hurst's hat trick and that goal, (was it over the line or not?, the toothless Nobby Stiles jig, West Germany's last minute equalizer (was that a hand ball?), Brazil being knocked out in the group stage, Italy losing to North Korea, Eusebio (his name says it all), Bobby Charlton's ridiculous comb over, Portugal coming from 3-nil down to beat North Korea, Pele and Garrincha's last game together, Alf Ramsey dropping Jimmy Greaves for the final and let's not forget Pickles - the dog who found the missing Jules Rimet trophy.

I have only ever spoken to one local who was there on the day - Jim George. (Can you imagine Jim with a Beatle haircut? Oh please Jim, send some photos in.) Jim tells me that the noise at Empire Stadium (Wembley's official name at the time) was incredible and, of course, every Anglo spectator was certain Hurst's second goal was over the line?), but Jim is quick to point out the referee, a Swiss named Gottfried Dienst, followed the proper procedure and ran over to the linesman for a decision. The linesman, being a Soviet, could not speak a word of Swiss, which is a Germanic language, and nodded as a way of indicating the ball had indeed crossed the line.

The West Germans, naturally, did not see any such thing and howled in protest; I assume in a dialect the referee was familiar with. I am told the West German President Heinrich Lùbke even gave his view that the goal was correctly awarded and henceforth became more unpopular than Hitler. This was no time for an honest politician. Honest, he may have been, but was it an honest mistake?

In 1995, researchers from Oxford University decided to settle the argument once and for all and subject the TV footage, which is in colour and remarkably good for the era, to intensive scrutiny. Only the Kennedy assassination has been more analysed. Their conclusion? No goal.

Say what? The German President says goal and Oxford says no goal. Surely I can settle the argument from here in Australia. I have the goal on DVD and have watched it, watched it again, slowed it, stopped it and done everything you can to come up with an answer.

Here's what I reckon; if the goal line was painted with a substance which would leave its mark on the ball for all to see should they come into contact and we grabbed the ball after the big moment and looked at it, I reckon we would see a bit of paint on it. I think you would have to say the ball touched the line, ever so slightly - perhaps about 5% of it, but touched it nevertheless. That's no goal.

I was interested to see this confirmed just before last year's World Cup when the matter came up once more. The original 35mm colour film footage of the game was transferred to High Definition digital video and analysed in a way impossible until now. This allowed a crystal clear close up view of the ball and the goal line. For the first time video tape operators were able to zoom into the goal line without any loss of clarity.

Here's what ITN Archive Commercial Director Chris O'Hearn said; "It didn't cross the line. The footage shows the line in almost full view as the ball bounces down from the bar. It hardly crossed the line at all, and certainly didn't cross completely as it should have done to be legitimate."

NB: You can view the controversial goal via YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=su3u7DnLfI0

I can sense the blood of my Pommy friends starting to warm a little. But wait, there's more! The linesman at the centre of the controversial incident, Tofik Bakhramov, later put pen to paper to write his memoirs and described his recollections of the incident for the first time. He said he thought the ball had bounced back to the goal line from the net, not the crossbar. Oh dear.

It kind of made a difference. Germany pushed everyone forward and allowed Hurst to run free down the left hand side to pick up a Bobby Moore long ball and complete his hat trick. The final score was 4-2.

And I'm afraid even here the German's got a raw deal. Wolstenholme's immortal words "some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over" describe English fans running onto the playing surface to celebrate while the game was still going. As soon as they stepped onto the pitch, the game should have been suspended. No goal.

However, there is some injustice for the Poms in all of this. The game only went into extra time because of Wolfgang Weber's last minute equalizer. When the English goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, wrote his memoirs, "Banksy", he described that goal as a blatant hand ball. England should have won in normal time anyway. But who would want that knowing what we now know about the rest of the game? It has rightly gone into folklore.

But I would like to suggest the 1966 World Cup has had far greater influence on us than just those memorable moments. Let me give you two.

The first is the effect Pele's experience in that series had on the worldwide game. We forget that originally the rules of the game meant when a player got injured and had to leave the field, his team would be forced to play a man down. No substitutes - not even if it he was mercilessly attacked by a thug.

The idea of teams running substitutes on when a couple of players get tired still does not sit well with my Father's generation. "How would you ever know who was the best team?" they will ask. I assume they mean the first eleven.

But I wonder what they say to a player as important as Pele being taken out deliberately. Ten versus ten is a pretty good deal as long as you can make sure Pele is the one carried off. I'm guessing they would say it is up to the referee to send a thug off and make sure there was no disadvantage. After all, they would surely get it right eh?

Thankfully for the world game, Pele changed his mind and played in the next World Cup thereby giving us one of the most talented teams ever assembled, some say the best ever, but I don't think it is any coincidence his reappearance came with the advent of the yellow/red card system and the substitute rule, both of which appeared for the first time at Mexico '70.

Referees had always cautioned players, but you never knew whether a caution was the equivalent of the yellow card we now use or just a "settle down" type of caution. Had the cards been in use in 1966, I think Bulgaria and Portugal, Brazil's Group 3 opponents, would have been in serious trouble.

There was even the bizarre sight of London Bobbies walking onto the pitch to escort Antonio Rattin, the Argentine Captain from the field in what pretty much looked like an arrest after he was sent off, but refused to leave. The card system was seen as an answer to the language barrier which undoubtedly contributed to this incident.

But the second impact I think the '66 World Cup has had on us is the impetus it gave to the English game through its former colonies, like Australia. Whilst there has always been a hard core group of ethnic football lovers in Australia, it was ex-pat Brits who began coaching kids like me in countries like Australia.

I have therefore developed a love for the English game and have even found myself barracking for England at every world cup I have watched (except the ones they didn't qualify for! Anyone remember 1994?). This is very odd for an Aussie who loves nothing more than smashing the Poms at every other sport.

A major part of it would also be the ABC's screening of The Big Match, a weekly highlights program out of ITV featuring Brian Moore. Ask most of the fellas playing over 35's and they will tell you they grew up watching it. The English game became part of our psyche. I think the events of 1966 were the catalyst for the creation of that program and for the ABC deciding to run it.

Even when Australia finally beat England in 2003, I felt more pride than anything else. Pride that our game had arrived. It was different to beating the Poms at another sport which is more like "ha ha, get that up ya". This was a feeling that perhaps now they will respect us as a legitimate football country, after all they taught most of us how to play and we were only returning the favour.

And I'm still not sure why Erickson subbed all 11 of them at half time (and I noticed none of the 1966 team had a clue either!)

I think when July 30th rolls around, there will be a lot of Australians thinking fondly of the great day in 1966 when the old dart lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy for the first and only time. They should, it had a profound influence on Australian soccer.

Naturally, you would conclude after all I have said that the 1966 World Cup is one of my life's great recollections. You would be wrong. I was a baby at the time and have absolutely no memory of it.



Terry Allen
July 2007

15th May 2007
Care for kids

As if we needed any more warning of what can happen when our most precious resource (children) are mishandled, news reports this week have prompted sober reflection.

The NSW Supreme Court this week found in favour of a teenager at the centre of a landmark school bullying civil suit in which he has been awarded an estimated $1 million in damages. See: www.news.com.au

As the Daily Telegraph reported it, "Justice Carolyn Simpson of the Supreme Court found authorities had been 'dismally inadequate' in their response to complaints about the behaviour from Benjamin's mother Angela Cox". Incredibly, Mrs Cox was told "bullying builds character" and "it was a good thing Ben got bullied" by those in authority who were supposed to be his guardians. In short, the ruling came down to a single factor; those in charge of looking after Ben failed in their duty of care.

Now, many of us reading this story will be tempted to say "Why doesn't he just get over it?" as though he hurt his ankle tripping down the stairs or something. Unfortunately, statistics show teenage suicide is at epidemic proportions and at least some of it can be traced to the way they were treated as children. There is a big difference between tripping down stairs and being thrown down. One wounds physically, the other wounds physically and psychologically and it is the second type of wound that lingers on into adulthood.

That should prompt sober reflection as you gather your junior soccer team this week. These children are a precious resource and must be treated as such. And whilst the case of Ben Cox is admittedly extreme, it does highlight what is in store when a problem is left unchecked.

It was therefore refreshing to see how the matter of a missing British toddler was handled over the past week. Authorities believe four year old Madeleine McCann may have been abducted while on holiday with her family in Portugal. Interestingly, as the media campaign began to build, a number of footballing identities put their hand up to help.

They included the Portuguese Chelsea Manager Mourinho and mega-star David Beckham who has just finished playing with Spanish side Real Madrid. English football's bad boy Wayne Rooney is now officially a good boy after offering his own reward for her return.

And there were a string of non-footballing celebrities to join the campaign; Harry Potter author JK Rowling and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson have offered multi-million pound rewards, out-going British PM Tony Blair is part of it and so are 40 000 British residents who have so far downloaded the girl's poster from a website.

But one of the most touching acts of support came from the Everton Football Club whose Chairman, Bill Kenwright, noticed Madeleine in an Everton shirt prior to her disappearance. He reciprocated on Sunday by putting each of the players in his squad in a T-shirt bearing her image and the words "Please help find Madeleine".

And that's how they walked out to face Chelsea - one after the other in the final match of the season. Makes you proud to be a footballer doesn't it? Not everything does and there are plenty of stories we could call on that have shamed the great game, but here at least is the football community refusing to let one family carrying such an awful burden on its own.

Perhaps there is something we can all do. Something we can be a part of not just in times of crisis, but when things are "normal".

I think of a kid like Ben Cox and wonder how things could have been different if he had grown up in a soccer team with friends who supported him and a coach who encouraged him. Sure, it may not have fixed all the problems, but he just may have had more people to call on when things got desperate.

When some kids are bullied, it seems they grow up more violent than their persecutors, but others, like Ben, simply wither away. I hate to think of children who have become convinced they are worthless. Imagine going back in time and putting them in an environment where they were encouraged, nurtured, developed and told how valuable they are. I think our local soccer clubs are places where that happens.

Notice I didn't say Ben had to be on a winning team to feel good about himself. We have gone down the wrong path on that one for too long. The self-esteem of juniors should not in any way be tied to their win-loss record, but it takes a change in thinking to achieve that.

The Just for Kicks program being run by clubs such as Woolgoolga and Boambee for six & seven year olds hits the nail on the head in this area. My five year old son has just strapped on the boots for his first season of soccer. Each week they get split up into teams, put bibs on and play a small sided game. He plays with different kids each week and has no idea what the score is at full time. As far as he is concerned, that is soccer. His sense of achievement is not in any way tied to his team winning or losing. What we need is a way of passing that on to all junior teams and I think it starts with the clubs and their coaches.

If every junior coach considered themselves to be a NSW North Coast rep scout, I think you would see a different attitude flow through our game. Imagine if every coach had the job of picking players for a regional rep team based on who his/her team plays each week, pretty quickly he/she would learn to nurture talent in any team rather than focus on winning that particular game.

Of course, some coaches would simply nominate all of their own kids for the rep team, but I don't think they would survive in the job too long because everyone would recognise what was going on. What we have at the moment though is a system that could allow a selfish coach to put too much of an emphasis on their own team's results and that is understandable because their own reputation as coach is at stake, but it is also a pity.

Let's imagine the coaches were forced to swap teams each week. E.g. This week you are coaching Sawtell, next week Coffs United, the week after Bellingen and at the end of each month you are required to nominate which players you think would benefit from elite training. Immediately you would not care so much about the result of each game, but would be a "big picture" coach.

I suggest we need to find a way of creating that as an operating principle in each junior coach without asking them to swap teams each week (which is impractical for a number of reasons).

It also requires the right attitude from parents. Plenty think little Johnny deserves to play in a "good team" and feel as though he is being held back if he is not selected as such, but if our clubs and coaches do not think or act that way, there will be no need for parents to feel that way.

And finally, it will take the right attitude from the junior player. We can't expect them to automatically understand all the issues a club faces or see the "big picture". Big pictures for six year olds tend not to be real big at all to us, but we definitely need to slow the process down a bit.

By that I mean we need to wait longer to introduce the drive to win in players. We all know we are trying to feed junior players into our Premier League teams when they are ready and we want these teams to win the Premiership. Hopefully, some might even make a professional career out of it and many presumably will return as coaches. If this life cycle doesn't continue, the game will be snuffed out.

However, there is no need to create mini-me Premier League players out of seven year olds. They will benefit tenfold by being skills coached instead of results coached.

And if your dream is that your boy might grow up to play for Liverpool (go Reds!), look at the big picture now. Harry Kewell did not get there because he won the under 10 grand final. He got there because of the skill he developed along the way, win or lose.


Article by Terry Allen

8th May 2007
Football should fix problems, not create them

One of the things I enjoy most about coaching junior football is that boys and girls are still young enough to play with and against each other without any sense that there is a physical mismatch.

I have been coaching my daughter's team at Woolgoolga for five years now and for the first few I don't think she ever considered the fact that she was the only girl in the team. For a start, she was bigger than most of the boys and crunched several in those 50-50 tackles her Dad is famous for not faring too well in. At age 10, she already has size 81/2 men's feet. Nowadays at training, I pull out of tackles with her unless I am wearing cricket pads instead of shin pads. But mostly, being a girl simply was not something that would stop her playing soccer with any team of her choosing. It's not until they reach about 10 that the physical differences start to create a mismatch.

So it was with a sense of bewilderment that I read a story from Norway this week about an event that seemed to undo much of the good work being done in these early years on football pitches around the globe.

It seems a match had been arranged in Oslo between Christian and Muslim leaders as a way of fostering understanding between the two religions. "Excellent," I thought. "The standard might be pathetic, but who cares? They are using football to unite the people." Now, I don't have to tell you what can happen when religious rivals meet, but for once when someone yells "Attack" it will refer to a move down the right hand side, a great cross and a spectacular header or something, not a bomb going off.

However, just as the teams were getting measured up for their strip, the game was cancelled. Why? Because the Christians had the audacity to include a couple of women priests in their lineup. "Why would that be a problem?" I mused. "If anything, it could give the men-only Muslim team an advantage (but not necessarily!)," I thought as I wrestled with the pros & cons. Then I found the answer.

The Muslim hierarchy did not want their men coming into contact with women, physically that is. It seems the inevitable bump of male on female during the game could create a temptation too great to bear.

One Imam put it like this; "It leads to special feelings that can lead to something forbidden". What? On the pitch? It's not like they were asked to share the showers or anything. You run after the ball and kick it. That's it. The referee surely would be capable of stopping any further contact between the players during the game. What a shame that a game which specialises in bringing boys and girls together as juniors can end up like this.

What are we to do? Ban women and men from sitting near each other on the sideline in case they bump into each other heading for the canteen? Ban religious people from playing football? Ban football altogether?

Despite what most people who read the story might think, I don't believe the Imams had a bad motive. They were really only trying to stop an abuse of the relationships between women and men. We all know what can happen when men get way too much power and women become a persecuted minority. The Imams were trying to find a way of keeping their men living within the faith they profess. As far as they were concerned, their ruling was for the protection of the women as well as the men. I just think they overreacted. You can read the full article here: www.reuters.com

And it is not only women and men whose interaction can go off the rails around a football. This week, Football NSW was forced to send an email to over 1000 clubs warning them about the behaviour of their coaches after reports of coaches yelling abuse at soccer kids over the way they were playing.

How can we expect grown ups to play football in the true spirit of the game when this is how they are brought up as juniors? I personally know kids who have stopped playing football because of the way they were treated by their coaches. What a disgrace.

Every new coach should be monitored on the sideline during games to see how they handle the inevitable frustrations coaching a junior team brings. I look back at my own time as a coach wishing I could have some days over again. None of the results matter to me anymore, but the development of the kids does. I have learnt to clap an opposition goal instead of barking at whoever was responsible for letting it in. That's football.

The reason football is the world game is that it is an even contest for any nation, no matter what their physical characteristics. It doesn't matter if you are from Africa, Europe, South America or Australia. The result will depend on your preparation, skill & fitness, not your genes.

Notice you don't say that about a lot of sports. For example, who are the best sprinters, boxers or swimmers? For the most part, they are heavily represented by a few people groups. Not football. It is played all over the globe equally well. And if some continents have never won the world cup, it is usually something to do with the development of the game in their countries, not the physical development of the people as such.

So when you see your sons and daughters chasing the round ball of a Saturday morning, all on the same team, be thankful. These are the great years. Years of preparation and growth. Years of developing character and a love for the game. And if you have the same look on your face whether they win or lose, love it they will - for life.


Article by Terry Allen

8th May 2007
Bawling at kids is out, coaches told

PARENT rage is well documented on the sidelines of children's sporting events, but now coaches are getting in on the action.

Football NSW has sent an email to more than 1000 clubs after a torrent of complaints about abusive coaches.

"The latest call today was about a 45-year-old coach of an under 8s team who got down into the face of a child and yelled abuse at him and belittled him in front of his team mates until he broke down in tears. Why? Because he didn't kick the ball straight!!!!," the email said.

Michelle Hanley, member protection information officer at Football NSW, said she sent the email to steer the game's focus back towards fun.

"What was to be gained by reducing this child to tears? AND, how does this help the child enjoy the game?" she wrote. "I am ABSOLUTELY appalled at some of the things I am hearing about how the clubs chose to deal with these issues. Many think that asking the child to leave the club is the answer!!!"

Football NSW has 220,000 players, about 180,000 of them children.

Coach behaviour is being targeted as part of the Sports Rage Prevention Program run by NSW Sport and Recreation. Sports Rage Prevention kits were sent to clubs last November. About 1000 of the 4000 kits went to soccer clubs.

A spokesman for the Minister for Sport, Graham West, said the program had been well received. It began as a poster campaign and grew into an instructional DVD last year.

Further changes are expected, but the spokesman said responsibility lay with individuals. "The ultimate answer to sports rage is people taking responsibility for their behaviour," he said. "It's important that people understand the impact of their rage not only on their own families but to the sporting community at large," he said.

The president of Football NSW, Ian Holmes, said coach rage was a societal problem. "We're trying to work through it as best we can," he said. "We're trying to ensure that the win-win philosophy in everyday life does not filter down into junior sport."

Most coaches were volunteers, and many were educated through DVDs outlining drills and conduct requirements. Mr Holmes said ensuring that the coaches provided children with a fun environment was a "moral responsibility".

Marty Beesley, who coaches an under-7s team in Collaroy, said children looked up to him as a role model and took on his advice like "sponges". "We got a pack about coaching but it's all common sense, really," he said. "You'll always get someone who'll take it too far."

Jonathan Elvy, 6, has been playing soccer for three years. He said he liked his coach. "He's nice, and kind," he said at training last night. His mother, Naomi, said: "In these age groups, taking to the field is not competitive. There are no reasons to yell at kids this age."

- Above report courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald








The Dept Sport & Recreation website contains a variety of behaviour management (sport rage) guidelines that would be of interest to club administrators & others.

From the website one can print off easy-to-use documents for implementing sport rage prevention strategies.

Included are five sport rage prevention kits, each tailored towards a different club member: the parent, the player, the coach, the referee/umpire and the ground official.
These kits contain fact sheets, comic strips and quizzes and are designed for club administrators to download and distribute among club members in order to raise awareness about sport rage.

Link: www.dsr.nsw.gov.au

21st March 2007
Turning kids into world beaters

Article by Craig Foster, courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald

IT'S that time again for football parents, with the junior season on us with grading trials, the first pre-season games, and the season start imminent.

And for all the parents concerned with giving their child the best grounding in the game, now is the time to take a look at the environment your youngster will be placed in, the philosophy of play they will be taught, and the expectations you place on your budding superstar.

Much of the discourse in the game over the last few years has centred on improving the training and coaching of our next generation.

As yet, however, little information has filtered down to the junior clubs, most of which are carrying on in the same fashion as 20 years ago. So here are a few things to keep in mind.

Firstly, up to the age of at least 15 the entire focus of a club, and certainly a coach, should be on the development of the player above results, because ages five to 15 are the years when players learn their awareness of the game, and settle on a technical base which must sustain them throughout a career.

Technique, or the technical ability of a player, is slowly becoming the primary barometer of whether a youngster can play the game, which is a huge step forward for this country.

For example, so fundamental is the technique of young players that at Clairefontaine in France, one of the world's most renowned development centres, new recruits at age 13 are made to start all over again on their most basic techniques. The program runs for three years - the first-year focus is entirely on the player and his ball, and thereafter on small groups, and only in the third year, at age 15, on team tactics. The French have long recognised that technique is the most important thing in football, and believe that in the early and teen years every moment spent on refining technique pays dividends.

Competition for points under the age of 12 has been proven to inhibit the technical development of children, principally because it drives coaches to make expedient decisions to win games rather than those which may cost points, but ultimately benefit the education of the players. So for this season let your child's coach know that results aren't the focus, and that in youth football his role is to teach the kids how to play with the ball, not just to kick it long in an effort to win games.

Secondly, every youth team should be encouraged to keep the ball and play out from defence.

In modern football it is imperative that all players are able to keep the ball, and to restrict young players from doing so on the basis that they may make a mistake is counter productive. So, if a coach instructs young players to kick the ball out of defence so as not to risk losing the ball, find another coach.

Mind you, many parents don't help the situation by pressuring young players and coaches to play direct football and not to take risks. The entire focus for young players should be on having fun playing the game, which is also the optimal developmental environment. And we all have to take responsibility here, so if you see a parent screaming obscenities at a child, coach or referee this season, please, report them to club and association.

Thirdly, your club should be playing only small-sided games with four, six and eight players per side on small pitches until 13 years of age, as this provides the best environment for youngsters to develop their technique and understanding. In this country we are yet to produce world-class technical players because we are still too focused on running, rather than on learning to play football. One way we perpetuate this is to play with too many kids on fields that are too large, producing a style of player and game that relies on strong and fast kids who can run and chase, not players who can play with the ball.

And lastly, under at least the age of 15 every training drill must involve the ball - every child should touch the ball between 500 and 1000 times per training session, so there is no time for needless running.