IF NEW Zealand is going to have a team in the A-League should they then be entitled to a team in the National Youth League as well?

It’s a question that has puzzled me for months.

I’ve pored over countless articles, statistics and forums (because, like all teenagers, I am incapable of forming an opinion without outside influence) and I have finally come to a conclusion.

There are many bumps that would need to be smoothed over, however, I am sure Phoenix have the support to make a youth team work.

Before I delve into the details, I would like to say that I am not an advocate of having a New Zealand team in the A-League but if we’ve got one, we’ve got one. With Phoenix’s license set to expire in a couple of years time it seems more likely than not that it will be renewed and chances are, they’ll be here for years to come.

Also, everything I am going to say is based on what would happen if the Phoenix youth team was, as announced this week by Nix CEO Tony Pignata, open to New Zealanders AND Australians. Opening the team to Australians seems to be a sensible option because after all, Aussies are not considered overseas players for Phoenix.

To build on this issue of overseas players, perhaps if Phoenix were admitted into the NYL the overseas player rule in the A-League should be reviewed. A youth team would, essentially, be securing Wellington’s long-term future in the A-League.

If the league is going to stay an Australia and New Zealand competition, then New Zealanders should not be considered foreigners for Australian-based A-League clubs.

Firstly, I would like to address the possible problems and barriers that may arise from having a Wellington team in the National Youth League.

PROBLEM 1 = It reportedly costs around $3/400,000 a year to run a youth team. It is likely that it will cost Wellington closer to the $400K mark because of the greater travel costs they are likely to incur.

SOLUTION = This shouldn’t be a problem if there is sufficient financial backing, which I have no doubt there is. For some reason the global-economic-crisis-recession-end-of-the-world thing doesn’t seem to affect football…

PROBLEM 2 = Is there any financial viability in having 12 – 14 players on amateur contracts and carting them off to Australia every second week?

SOLUTION = Well, I actually don’t know. Obviously, this is not an issue for most Australian A-League clubs because travel costs are not high and travel time is not as great. But if it is financially viable for Perth, it will probably be for Wellington.

PROBLEM 3 = Are young players going to want to sign amateur contracts, spend half their time playing football and the other half trying to juggle other commitments?

SOLUTION = So far, the amateur contracts seem to have worked for the other clubs so I doubt this will be an issue.

PROBLEM 4 = It has to be remembered that a lot of the players in the NYL may still be at school or university. Are they going to want to fly to Australia every second week?

SOLUTION = This seems to be the main issue to me, however, again, if it works for Perth (who according to my very non-scientific calculations, actually have further to travel than Wellington most of the time) this may not actually be a problem.

Overall, there don’t seem to be any major issues.[Especially if the youth team is based in Australia, as the club has suggested in the past - KA]

But are there enough positive effects of having a Nix youth team to make it worthwhile?

Find out in Part 2… up next week!