2022 FIFA World Cup

[Gointocarlton]

Gouging kids to pay weekend hackers match fees... Looks like the FIFA mindset goes all the way to the roots.

The game is corrupt at every level.

[LP]

'Community Club' near us $575 to register for soccer (U12-U21).  Also have to try out to get in. 6 month season.

FMD, $575, and half the time kids are playing on reduced size soccer pitches or patches of mud with posts at either end!

[Thryleon]

'Community Club' near us $575 to register for soccer (U12-U21).  Also have to try out to get in. 6 month season.

Tennis: $95 for a junior to play comp - Annual membership
Cricket: $135 - 6 month season
Aussie Rules: ~$210 - 6 month season

Rort of the highest order.

Believe it or not thats cheap.  Some of the academies I've heard of charge closer to $1800 for one season and then another $1000 for their summer camps.

You have to try out to get in, and guess what happens if you don't attend summer camp.  Spot gone for the following season! 

[dodge]

Thry, I know that is cheap - that's the scary bit.  Do you know why fees are so high?

Summer basketball for a local team is $360 (expensive, I would have thought)

[Thryleon]

I honestly can only talk about the clubs I played for as a child.  We were paying $300 for registration in the 90's for each kid at a club.

If you had multiple kids at one club you got a discount on registration.

I had heard of the kids fees helping to pay wages of the senior and reserve coaches as well as players who were being paid.

They do sometimes cover the cost of shirts, shorts, socks and various other things. 

[Lods]

Fitting a kid out for Little Athletics costs around $300 (registration, shoes, uniform)
Have two or three competing and most sports are ridiculously expensive.

The solution to better performance at the World Cup is right there in front of us.
Ban Australian Football, Rugby League and Union.

We'll have a bigger talent pool to draw from. ;D

[ElwoodBlues1]

Thry, I know that is cheap - that's the scary bit.  Do you know why fees are so high?

Summer basketball for a local team is $360 (expensive, I would have thought)

That is expensive, used to be $80 for domestic comp and around $200 for Rep when my kids played.
Biggest expense was the shoes, the Air Jordans and the Kobies didnt come cheap.
I see now some kids wearing the $750 basketball boots and wonder why you would bother ...where do the parents get the money from?

[Mav]

Fitting a kid out for Little Athletics costs around $300 (registration, shoes, uniform)
Have two or three competing and most sports are ridiculously expensive.

The solution to better performance at the World Cup is right there in front of us.
Ban Australian Football, Rugby League and Union.

We'll have a bigger talent pool to draw from. ;D

You’re joking, but soccer fanatics aren’t. I remember reading an article by Craig Foster who proposed that the other football codes should identify elite juniors who would excel at soccer and convince them to play soccer. He reasoned that as soccer is played internationally, the Socceroos needed elite talent to compete on the world stage while the AFL and NRL were domestic leagues whose teams would share the leftovers equally and spectators wouldn’t notice the difference as the clubs would still be competitive! He didn’t mention how juniors would be persuaded; are cattle prods legal at the junior level?

[Lods]

As  a Track and Field tragic one of my biggest regrets is that I never got to see how good a Decathlete Anthony Koutoufides could have been.

As a Carlton supporter I'm pretty happy to have seen what a great footballer he turned out to be.

It's a culture thing.
We have a great diversity of sports.
Our Olympic medal tally, healthy, as it is, would be much higher if some of our AFL, NRL and Rugby Union players were involved in Olympic sports.

By the same token the USA probably 'loses' a lot of talent to Basketball and American Football.

[Thryleon]

You’re joking, but soccer fanatics aren’t. I remember reading an article by Craig Foster who proposed that the other football codes should identify elite juniors who would excel at soccer and convince them to play soccer. He reasoned that as soccer is played internationally, the Socceroos needed elite talent to compete on the world stage while the AFL and NRL were domestic leagues whose teams would share the leftovers equally and spectators wouldn’t notice the difference as the clubs would still be competitive! He didn’t mention how juniors would be persuaded; are cattle prods legal at the junior level?

Foster is delusional.  He was a good player, but as a media commentator he drives me absolutely nuts.

Regarding trying to attract talent, they are all fair game and open to all sports.  From memory, players like Marc Murphy were lured out of cricket and Pendlebury was lured out of other Basketball at AIS level, so I don't think its fair to single any one sport out for doing this over any other. 

Thing is, these sports can be played concurrently, whilst at junior level the AFL and Soccer seasons run at the same time, so they have to make a choice as a child which is where that conversation probably comes from.

Thing is, the point is valid.  The better athletes here don't play soccer.  Thats probably where he was coming from, and thats about the end of that conversation.