WITH the FFA yet to decide whether Wellington Phoenix should be admitted into the National Youth League next season, the topic is still open for debate.

There don't seem to be many immediate problems with admitting Phoenix to the NYL. Other than the obvious ‘letting them have a youth team would mean they are in the A-League for good and will have to become part of Asia and then Oceania would collapse' (which is probably a good thing...), I can't see any obvious flaws in Tony Pignata's master plan.

One could say Phoenix have been disadvantaged by not having a youth team this season. Other teams had 12-14 more players they could call on when they were hit with injuries. Several of these players (e.g. Kofi Danning, Marko Jesic) turned out to be better than some of the regular players (not mentioning any names).

Also, players on the fringe of the squad would've had the opportunity to keep up their match fitness by playing regular games for the youth team. Wellington's Round 21 match against Melbourne saw youngster Costa Barbarouses make only his second A-League start.

Maybe if he had been playing regular football for the youth team, not only would he have been less fatigued towards the end of the game, but he may have been ‘unleashed' on the A-League earlier in the season.

Whatever difference he would've actually made to the outcome of Phoenix's season is unknown.

In addition, players returning from injury could've had the opportunity to build up match fitness before playing in the A-League, rather than coming on as a late substitute to see if their newly reattached hamstring would hold up.

As one journalist described it, towards the end of the season "Phoenix's lack of depth [was] also exposed".

At a time when yellow-card counts were high, Phoenix could've done with a bright young spark to bring some new energy into their team.

For the duration of the season, Vince Lia was out through injury. A proper replacement was never really brought in for him. If Phoenix had a youth team, maybe a youth player would've been introduced.

Investing in a youth team is not something done lightly. It will take money, time and tireless effort from everyone at the Nix.

CEO Tony Pignata seems set on having a youth team. If he and his staff are prepared to make it work, then why not give them the chance to have a youth team?

Including Phoenix in the National Youth League would secure the long-term future of the club and provide a pathway for young talent. It would probably bring New Zealand one step closer to joining the AFC.

Some may argue that this is not a good thing. However, would the inevitable collapse of Oceania and the formation of two separate Asian confederations really be that big a deal? Provided that the two confederations were of fairly equal quality, I would be a supporter of it.

Also, as I said last week perhaps this should cause a review of the foreign player rule in the A-League.

If Phoenix are not granted a youth team license, there will be a basic inequality in the league.

As the blog title suggests, my interpretation of the issue may be bang off target but I think that, at the end of the day, the FFA have a big decision to make. The way they act on this could have repercussions on not just Australia, but all of Asian football.