Culture key to development of Socceroos ‘golden generation’

A pioneering study into the ‘golden generation’ of Australian footballers, including John Aloisi, Paul Okon and Josip Skoko, has identified cultural factors that helped breed their success, while comparing their developmental environment to today’s emerging elite players.

The project, entitled Culture Amplifies Talent: Building a Framework for Golden Generations, was the product of an 18-month strudy Professional Footballers Australia (the PFA) in collaboration with leading sport management university, Victoria University.

The researchers were given unprecedented access to 17 elite Australian footballers born between the years 1972 and 1988 including Okon, Skoko and Aloisi, exploring all aspects of their football developmental history.

Cultural, social and family ties to mostly ethnic-founded clubs in the former National Soccer League, more sporting experimentation, playing against and with adults at a younger age, switching clubs less as a junior and having to go overseas to play in a professional environment, were some of the factors crucial to the golden generation's success, compared to the current crop, research found.

Delivering an evidence-based framework for the emergence of internationally competitive football talent, key findings from the research included: 

• Six key themes that recurred during the development journeys of the generation that delivered Australia international success: passion, family, mentality, environment, practice and pathway;
• The underlying importance of a deep emotional connection between the player and the sport from the earliest possible age that compounded intrinsically as the player matured;
• The fundamental role played by individual clubs in shaping the entire lives of the players and their families, in addition to their football journey;
• The importance of unstructured and informal play; with players spending more than twice as much time from the ages of 5 and 18 engaging in informal play than in formal team training;
• An early exposure to senior football, with players averaging their first appearances within senior competition before reaching the age of 16.

The findings were synthesised and presented by PFA Chief Executive John Didulica and one of the 17 interviewees, renowned Socceroo John Aloisi, at the PFA’s headquarters this morning.

Commenting on the report’s design, execution and research outcomes, Didulica believes a talent management and developmental framework can be designed from the six key themes that emerged from the research, that can guide the sport through its next phase.

He advised "as we assessed the 'golden generation, it evolved as a case study for the decisive role that an immersive culture plays in sporting success.

“For far too long we have viewed talent development through the narrow lens of a curriculum or a coaching methodology. It is clear from the research that what we need to expand our thinking and promote the important role and interdependence of the game’s different constituent parts: family, community clubs, professional leagues, state federations and media partners. They are all critical to helping world class talent emerge.

“Importantly, we cannot lose sight of the focus of our mission – the young player. It is not enough to re-imagine our football culture, we must remake it in such a way that generation after generation wishes to immerse themselves in it.”

By tracking the careers of Australia’s professional male players in unprecedented detail, the Player Pathway Study was able to isolate key metrics that demonstrated the decline in relation to our international performance. 

Key findings within the Player Pathway Study included: 

• An 80% reduction in the match time of Australian players across the Europe's 'big five' leagues from 2005 to 2015;
• Professional match minutes played by under 20 players have more than halved since 2011/12; and
• Over 30% of players regarded as good enough to play a professional match before the age of 21 do not play another professional match minute after the age of 23.

In turn, Culture Amplifies Talent, was able to focus on some of those players active during the peak of match minutes and isolate the defining traits of their development journey.

The findings will be shared with clubs, federations and other stakeholders to start conversations about improving youth development.

Click here to view the full Report.

Image: John Aloisi secures Australia's qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.