Mike Smith, webmaster if the unofficial Bangor City website www.citizens-choice.co.uk, has come up with a novel idea to give youth players a chance in Welsh Premier League matches.
A few years ago the English Rugby Union, alarmed by the growing number of foreign players and stymied by EC Employment Law, introduced a ground breaking system. Designed to encourage Premier clubs to pick English qualified players it offered cash rewards for those who did just that, to the tune of £1 million in 2009, twice that amount a year later, with power to add over a further six years. The dozen or so clubs gain a share of this pot of gold if they average 14 English players out of 23 each match day across the season. Simple enough.
So how does this relate to Welsh domestic football?
There has to be a real concern of the paucity of young talent on show in Welsh football. There are academies at WP clubs and youth structures up and down the pyramid, but what happens then? Especially to those Welsh Premier youngsters who have been identified from a young age, coached and developed?
Yes clubs might name two youth subs (amongst the seven permitted from August 2011) but few if any actually run on the field during the game. By and large the young lads get splinters - if they are there at all. They get fed up and drift away to lower league sides and can be lost to the game. They are unlikely to receive the same training and coaching but the cash - plus the lure of actually playing - can be very tempting.
So how can the RFU approach help?
The issues may be different, but the approach can be used to boost the number of youngsters playing in the Welsh Premier. In effect offer a reward to clubs who play youth team players, as starters or as substitutes.
As with other well intended schemes the devil can be in the detail, but it cannot be beyond the means of man to find a simple system to distribute say £6k in the first season amongst clubs who meet a certain level of minutes of match time. Over the 32 games how about a total of twenty four hours? That would average roughly seventy mins per game. So if a team plays one youth player for a whole game they get ninety minutes, two and its 180 and so on.
The end of season awards could recognise this change, a new category for youth team player of the year. There could also be an cash bonus worth an extra thousand pounds to the club who topped the chart of minutes played by the youngsters. It has to be worth a try. The RFU have been delighted with the success of their scheme in England.
Hopefully all this would encourage managers to pick youngsters, without that chance they can never progress.
Welsh Premier League Times:
www.welshpremier.co.uk
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