It has been mooted in recent months that a quota system should be introduced to European football as a whole and the English Premier League in particular in order to guarantee the emergence of young English talent. The basic premise of this solution is valid, yet the actual reality of the outcome could be vastly different from what people expect.
England vs. Brazil at Wembley in 2007
The ultimate goal in England is to improve the quality available to the England national team. If and when the quota is put in place, there will indeed be more English players playing in the Premier League but the current squad is selected almost exclusively from that league anyway. There would be improvements in English players due to exposure to a higher level of football, though even that would be diluted by the reduction in quality of the league.
Football is and should be a merit based sport, the best players rise to the top no matter what their nationality. What is the benefit of having more English players available to choose from that were not good enough to make it into first teams based purely on talent? This is purely a short term fix, rather than an in depth long term strategy for improvement. It is obvious that having more English players in Premier League teams is beneficial, yet would it not be more beneficial if they were in those teams because they were better players than their imported counterparts?
Former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen found himself on the wrong end of a quota system in South Africa a few years ago and was dropped for non-cricketing reasons. He then relocated to England and the rest is history. What if Cristiano Ronaldo for instance had been dropped in his early days at Manchester United, and immediately requested a transfer in order to get consistent first team football and not be overlooked due to his nationality? The Premier League would have missed out on arguably it’s greatest talent to date.
If England want to actually challenge for and win trophies, then they need to improve the calibre of players at their disposal. The problem is not physical, Frank Lampard Jr. for instance reportedly covers over 10,000 metres per game on a regular basis. The problem is purely technical, while teams like Spain and Argentina roll the ball around with aplomb, each of their players looking comfortable on the ball, England regularly panic under pressure, and are often forced into mistakes.
At the highest level physical fitness is a given, so the finesse and technical side of the game is where matches and trophies are won and lost. Obviously tactics play a major role as well though it seems hard to believe that we are so far behind other teams tactically? This is where the FA should look for a long term fix, at grass roots level – improving the quality of player on a technical level begins at a young age, 6 or 7 some would say.
There are of course talented young players in English youth football. They are often overlooked though by scouts and club coaches in favour of the strongest, fastest players of their age group. Of course this is no sane measure at the age of 14, when physical development has barely begun. Sometimes the strongest players will be talented as well, see Wayne Rooney as an example, are we though potentially missing out on players like Fabregas or Ronaldo because of our fixation with power and pace?
In England especially there is too much emphasis on winning rather than development and improvement for youth teams. Results should not be important, who knows apart from the parents which players won tournaments or leagues when they were 14? While England’s fans clamour for instant success and the FA continue to react to public opinion rather than forging change over a prolonged period it seems unlikely that the quality of players will improve.
Brazil vs. U.S. Futsal International
The FA should be looking at countries like Brazil and Argentina where futsal plays a major role in young players development. Less space, more time on the ball to make mistakes and learn, to try something new and creative, to improvise. There are countries like Holland, where each player is played in every position until they reach around 18, and where they also play on smaller pitches until they are 16 years old.
Futsal is an ever-developing sport in the UK; though take up is small there are leagues and tournaments starting up every year. In my personal opinion no player should have played regular 11-a-side football until he is 15 or 16 years old. For more information on futsal follow the links from this BBC information page,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/get_involved/4197976.stm
Futsal seems to be the perfect answer to England’s problem, give young players more of the ball and let them express themselves. Imagine an English born player dancing through a defence like Ronaldinho or playing incisive through balls like Fabregas for the national team. The FA needs to look at these changes and consider their ramifications before they damage what is currently one of the best leagues in Europe.
Written by Steve Atkinson
