pjennings
Well-Known Member
I, along with many, have become disillusioned with the fourfourtwo forums. However, occasionally a gem is produced. The article comes with the refreshing premise - It’s very easy to say ‘that won’t work’. It’s much harder, but infinitely more rewarding, to ask ‘how can that work?’.
The Pecking Order Vision – The Future of Australian Football
Post by Jake Shorter / in 2017-03-22
I've spent a lot of time recently thinking, reading and talking about the issues (perceived or real) that we currently have in Australian football. And it's all come together in a blog post I've written that offers some solutions and will hopefully encourage more discussion and possibly even some action.
Feedback is very much welcome.
It's a huge post, so I won't post it all, but if anyone is interested you can see the whole thing here - http://thepeckingorder.com.au/tpovision/
The reason it's so long is because I've covered pretty much anything I thought to be relevant:
Here's a quick snapshot:
I’ll dive straight in by showing you my vision for what the Australian football pyramid can and should look like. Imagine an all-inclusive system with 10 tiers of football, two of which are fully professional, which has over 500 clubs competing and is open to any other club around the country who wants to participate.
Better than that, it’s designed to encourage investment in facilities and player development and reward those that have a desire and take action towards becoming a professional club. At the same time, it finds balance with the current A-League and provides some protection for those professional clubs. It also allows the A-League to remain the key commercial driver for our sport, while taking the shackles off all other clubs and allowing them to drive the game forward at the elite level. In other words, it engages clubs at all levels to play their part in growing football, and clubs of all sizes have a part to play.
Believe it or not (and I prove it in the full blog post), it’s a structure that is very similar to what we have now, but with a few changes that all fall under the same category – they encourage growth, inclusiveness and a drive to professionalism. Note that I’ve left out the regional leagues and focussed on the State Leagues in this diagram. There are just as many clubs outside of this setup in regional associations who underpin everything and have the potential to be linked to this as well.
The Pecking Order Vision – The Future of Australian Football
Post by Jake Shorter / in 2017-03-22
I've spent a lot of time recently thinking, reading and talking about the issues (perceived or real) that we currently have in Australian football. And it's all come together in a blog post I've written that offers some solutions and will hopefully encourage more discussion and possibly even some action.
Feedback is very much welcome.
It's a huge post, so I won't post it all, but if anyone is interested you can see the whole thing here - http://thepeckingorder.com.au/tpovision/
The reason it's so long is because I've covered pretty much anything I thought to be relevant:

Here's a quick snapshot:
I’ll dive straight in by showing you my vision for what the Australian football pyramid can and should look like. Imagine an all-inclusive system with 10 tiers of football, two of which are fully professional, which has over 500 clubs competing and is open to any other club around the country who wants to participate.
Better than that, it’s designed to encourage investment in facilities and player development and reward those that have a desire and take action towards becoming a professional club. At the same time, it finds balance with the current A-League and provides some protection for those professional clubs. It also allows the A-League to remain the key commercial driver for our sport, while taking the shackles off all other clubs and allowing them to drive the game forward at the elite level. In other words, it engages clubs at all levels to play their part in growing football, and clubs of all sizes have a part to play.
Believe it or not (and I prove it in the full blog post), it’s a structure that is very similar to what we have now, but with a few changes that all fall under the same category – they encourage growth, inclusiveness and a drive to professionalism. Note that I’ve left out the regional leagues and focussed on the State Leagues in this diagram. There are just as many clubs outside of this setup in regional associations who underpin everything and have the potential to be linked to this as well.