FOOTBALL can be a cruel game for fans. It can be even more cruel for the players. So you can imagine what it’s like for those who never really made it.
Injuries, bad behaviour off the pitch, inability to break into first teams and plain bad luck have all been blamed for the curtailing of many promising careers. But it does make me wonder what exactly the difference is between a professional top flight football player, and the boy who was scouted by his local representative club.
All over Europe (and now in the A-League to a lesser extent), clubs have youth teams in which they prepare a talented bunch of players to play top flight football. However, it can't be denied that very few of these players actually end up making it.
The West Ham youth team of 1999 was thought by many to be the greatest youth team ever. They thrashed their way through the FA Youth Cup to win the final 9-0 on aggregate against Coventry City. But only two of the players in this squad have turned out to be the superstars it was thought they all would be - Joe Cole and Michael Carrick. Most of the other players now play fourth division or non-league football.
How is it that a group of boys who, at 17 or 18, were considered the greatest youth team ever, ended up playing at completely opposite ends of the footballing spectrum?
In short, football is a harsh world in which very few actually make it to the top. Can you imagine being in a position where your entire career rested on your fitness or ability to oust another player from his first team spot?
If you think it's bad in Europe, let me tell you, it's just as bad in Australia. With the A-League being our only professional league, there's only so many A-League contracts going around and there's often very little difference between making it and not making it.
A player like Mile Jedinak - discovered in the state leagues, his career having failed to have taken off but three years later, plays for the Socceroos - is a great example of football luck. How different would his life be if, the day before he was scouted by the Mariners, he fell victim to injury and failed to regain his spot once fit again?
Every single football player must be extremely hard working and dedicated to make it. To those who are unlucky, it's goodbye football career. Just ask any of the contestants on this year's ‘Football Superstar'. Call me a girl (which would be, well, a fact), but I found the final episode eviction quite heart breaking.
There's no denying they're all committed, many of them have taken time off work to film the show. I don't know how a winner was chosen, I thought the top three were all very good players. It was probably decided on what type of player Melbourne Victory needed and, at the end of the day, Luke Pilkington was the lucky one - for the others, it's back to the state leagues.
Still, you would've thought that, in the year since last year's edition of the show, something would've happened to last season's ex-contestants, the top three at any rate. Surely the exposure from the show would've attracted the interest of an A-League club? Well, not exactly...
Last year's winner, Adam Hett, is supposedly returning to Sydney this season (although I have seen no confirmation of this) and Evan and Reno, the other two in the top three, are currently playing for the Sunshine Georgies in the VPL. On a more recent note, Jack and Kozi, the two who made it to the final this year, are both playing for Brisbane Olympic. A bit of a come down when you consider how close they all came to signing for an A-League club.
It just proves that being a footballer is not only about how physically and mentally tough you are, there's also a heck of a lot of luck involved. I for one, admire anyone who can make it to the top but I'm always reminded that for every Mile Jedinak there are 100 guys who never made it. Here's to them.
