Football Australia to ‘review’ PPS following removal calls from leading NPL coaches
Football Australia has unveiled the details of its review into a policy criticized as “a load of crap” by leading NPL coaches who are pushing for its removal.
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Multiple National Premier League coaches including a former Socceroo have called for the player points system to be thrown out, saying it is not developing young players like it was set out to do.
The PPS system was introduced alongside the NPL in 2013 with the aim of giving youth, home grown and loyal players better opportunities by deducting their individual point rating.
In the meantime, visa and switching players are made harder for clubs to keep as their point ratings would be increased depending on where the player had previously played and their age.
Each player begins on 10 points and clubs have a limit of 200 points for their squads of up to 23 players.
Reigning 2021 and 2022 Oakleigh Cannons championship winning coach Chris Taylor asks: “If it’s such a good idea, why don’t the A-League do it, NPL 2, NPL 3 and the state leagues do it.”
“It is a little bit farcical for us at the moment, we adhere to a points system that no one else in Australia does.
“If we are the highest league outside of the A-league, we should be aiming at recruiting the best players.”
The 63-year-old, who is a five-time NPL Victoria championship winning coach, said the PPS was hypocritical of what it was initially set out to achieve.
“If it was the way to go, then they would be doing it in the UK in the EPL, in Germany, in Spain, in Italy and all around the world but no one else does it,” he said.
“So this point system for me is just a big headache.
“This time of the year (two weeks before the season), it is a big headache so we are actually speaking to players (trying to recruit them) but we can’t fit you in the points system so we’re going to have to let you go, ‘go and find another club’ (we say to them).
“And that’s where I think it is hypocritical the way they are doing it.
“It is not developing players, it is actually restricting players.
“Our squad might need to be 18 or 19 players (in size), but our squads generally 14 to 15 and then made up with a few younger boys who have been at the club for 10 years for example.
“Whoever has thought of this system, maybe it’s time to have a look at it and revamp the system.
“And if it is that good, then do it across the board, have the A-League doing it, have the NPL 2, NPL 3, have the state leagues doing it.
“But we are not doing it, it just seems ineffective and unproductive.”
In 2021 following a review, the PPS was scrapped for the NPL 2 and NPL 3 competitions but remained in place for NPL 1.
Football Australia has responded to these calls, indicating that a review would be conducted this season with a decision to be made after the 2023 Women‘s World Cup which ends in late August.
Taylor played more than 120 games in the NSL for Sunshine George Cross before beginning his coaching career in the 1990s where he has since claimed five titles and a minor premiership in the NPL.
The English-born footballer believes the game at the elite level is about having the highest standard possible with “the best players playing on the best stages.”
He prefers this to a points system which is “restricting players” and “big clubs that attract the big players.”
Taylor also queried the success of the mechanism considering the number of NPL players who had progressed to the A-League.
“I get there is some thought going into it but we have been doing it for 10 years and I don’t know what benefit we are getting,” he said.
“It is not like we have got seven or eight players every year going from the NPL into the A-League.
“The A-League just recycle players so if that’s the case, what’s the point system for, how do we benefit from a point system.”
Taylor said the PPS was a challenge experienced across the competition.
“I don’t think it is just Oakleigh, I think every club at this time of year, we have to pick a squad, not based on the best players or best ability, but we have to base it on how we tally a point system,” he said.
“I do more work with a calculator than I do with my bibs, my cones and balls out on the training track and that is not what football is really all about.
“We are supposed to be there to provide and get players to the next level and I think that is being restricted at the moment.”
Taylor said the PPS also impacted the fairness of the Australia Cup with other competing clubs not needing to adhere to the points system until the Round of 32.
“We will go and play in an Australia Cup game and most of the other teams have got more visa players who don’t have point systems,” he said.
“I know it’s all about promoting players and the NPL clubs right across the board do very well doing that but (it should be that) you’re still encouraging the best players to play at the best clubs.
“If Melbourne Victory come in to recruit one of our players, I’m only too pleased to let them go, that’s what football is all about.
“Players going to the best clubs, not keeping them and not allowing other people to touch them and that is somewhat what the points system does which I think is wrong.
“We need to get access to some of the younger players going around.
“And even if that’s playing them for a third of the season, it’s better than them playing in the U21’s.”
Former Socceroo and current Altona Magic coach John Markovski labelled the PPS as “a load of crap” and also called for change.
“The points system is useless,” Markovski said.
“All they got to do is tell us, you need six Under 23 players in your squad, there’s your points.
“That’s what the change should be.
“Out of 20 in your squad, five have to be under 23 or four or whatever it is.”
Markovski shared one example of how the system was failing for younger players.
“For me, just say I want to get a young kid from Avondale,” he said.
“He is 18, I want to sign him because Avondale aren’t playing him in the firsts team.
“He is going to cost me 15 points and then at the end of the day, you’re going to say to yourself, am I going to take a risk with this kid, is my job on the line, or should I get experience for 15 points.”
Markovski made it clear that he would take the later option for more security.
While the PPS gives the opportunity for clubs to promote players from their youth teams, those players are only allowed to play a maximum of 40 per cent of first-team matches, which equates to 11 games for NPL Victoria.
It frustrates coaches and up-and-coming youngsters as the rule in some instances robs them of crucial senior game-time unless they are added to the squad which usually requires a player to be replaced.
Melbourne Knights new coach Ben Kahn, who has also coached with the PPS in Queensland and NSW NPL, said he would like to see it removed.
“I think it has very little benefit to Australian football and it was probably time it was scrapped,” Cahn said.
“We have to get closer to a domestic transfer system.
“I think that possibly in the national second division system or the NPL, wherever you want to implement it, there should be a condition in place where there must be an x amount of U23 players in the matchday squad or in the starting 11 for example.
“If the purpose is youth development and encouraging clubs to give an opportunity to young players, then that makes a lot more sense than a relatively lenient PPS that clubs can manoeuvre around quite easily.
“I think the point of the PPS was to initially encourage clubs to promote players from their youth program and I don’t think it necessarily has that effect anymore.
“So I question, what’s the point of having it.”
Green Gully coach Stephen Downs also called for the PPS to be scrapped while detailing how football worked in his hometown England where he played professionally for York City.
“It does restrict you as a club to put your best team forward,” Downs said.
“It evens out the spread of talent in the league and you can’t have those clubs saying they are just going to go out and get the best.
“But by the same token, growing up in England, it is basically the best of the best, you just got to challenge to be the best you can each day to be in the best position.
“And if you can’t get in the best team, you try and get in the second best team and if you can’t get in there, you try and get in the third best team.”
Bentleigh Greens coach Petr Tichy, who was the other NPL coach to be asked about the PPS, said it was difficult trying to rebuild his new team with the system.
He likened the challenge to those of fantasy coaches trying to pick their teams before the season.
In response, a Football Australia spokesperson said the PPS would be reviewed this season and a decision would be made after the 2023 Women‘s World Cup.
“Football Australia regularly monitors the effectiveness of our competition regulations for the developmental outcomes Australian football requires to remain globally competitive,” the spokesperson said.
“The PPS represents one mechanism in the holistic workings of the Australian football ecosystem.
“Football Australia determined at the completion of the 2022 NPL Men competition season that it would endorse the PPS for the 2023 season with a view further reviewing the PPS after the introduction of the Domestic Transfer System and with a view to a possible launch of a National Second Tier of Football.
“This review will occur throughout season 2023 and a decision on the long term relevance of the PPS within a newly structured Australian football developmental system will be communicated post the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™.”
Originally published as Top NPL coaches call for ending of ‘farcical’ points system
Originally published as Football Australia to ‘review’ PPS following removal calls from leading NPL coaches
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