Australian - FourFourTwo
Aidan Ormond - Aug 8 2007

“If I wasn’t doing what I do now, there would be an opportunity to make lots and lots of money from such academies,” the angry coach, who asked not to be named, told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“I’m not saying they’re not having a positive effect in some way shape or form but we’re here for the first priority, which is the player.

They’re there, and the first priority is to make money. It’s black and white. (The University of Leicester's Jason Leonardis calls this "The McDonaldization of American Soccer.")

“I’ve had run-ins with them over the years and sometimes I think a number give false expectations.”

With football being the number one junior participation sport for boys in the country - and very popular with girls too - academies offer many parents a way to keep their children occupied during school holidays.

However the FFA or the states do not have a systemised accreditation process in place.

The coach added: “I recently spoke with someone involved in sponsorship and we spoke about the number of kids who get the opportunity to actually go over to Europe or England, spending tens of thousands of dollars and what, it really is...a holiday.

“They go on a trip and they go and visit a big club and there’s somebody who’s a friend of a friend who coaches there who’ll come and do some work with them and suddenly it’s made out to sound like kids are going on trial there.

“It couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Former national youth coach Ange Postecoglou admitted parents needed to be wary about some football schemes.

"There are costs involved," he said. "You ask as a parent, ’Am I doing the right thing?’ What’s the measure on how good it is? Is it FFA approved?’

"There should be ticks against them like they do in the health industry. There are operators out there taking advantage of this."