The spectacle of players being treated for heat exhaustion has surfaced in recent weeks, amid complaints from Professional Footballers Australia and coaches such as John Aloisi over the detrimental effects of afternoon kick offs on the welfare of their charges.
 
There is the dual issue of 35 degree plus temperatures degrading the sport as a spectacle,
 
Now Duncan, who spent four years as the Socceroos' sports science chief, has added his voice to the debate by urging Australian Professional Leagues bosses to explain their rationale for continuing to expose players to “potentially harmful” playing conditions.
 
Describing the policy as “crazy”, Duncan told FTBL: “We play in a summer competition so heat is always going to be an issue.
 
“But these 1pm kick offs for the women and 3pm for the men just increase fatigue and devalue the product.
 
“They’re potentially harming players health - the 1pm kick offs in particular are absolutely dangerous.
 
“You ask yourself why this keeps happening (in terms of scheduling) and who is making these decisions. To me, it's bewildering..
 
“When the sun is out you’ve also got the solar radiation load which exacerbates the heat wave and places an added burden of heat stress onto the player.
 
“As a result, there’s a significant decline in high intensity action and distance covered. And when performance is compromised the game is compromised.
 
“I just wonder why would you do that? It’s also effecting crowds, who wants to turn up on those sort of conditions to watch a game of football played at half pace in the middle of summer?”
 
Duncan insisted the health risks players are being exposed to are not insignificant.
 
“Staying in my lane, this is certainly an issue,” he added. “There was a game recently where I saw two drinks breaks in each half. That’s good because dehydration is a risk but it’s not something I’d seen before.
 
“My question is does the A-League have sports science and sports medicine advice? Is there any governance or oversight now it’s broken away from Football Australia?
 
“When it was with the FA there were certain criteria and protocols which needed to be met.
 
“There was the chief medical officer overseeing things but I don’t know if that’s still the case. I don’t think it is.
 
“We used to go out to games and make sure everything was alright and club officials had do a course I used to teach. I don’t know what’s happening now.
 
“I wrote a message to Danny Townsend (APL CEO) and Greg O’Rourke (commissioner) and they don’t reply.
 
“You could play these games 8pm at night and everybody would be much more comfortable,” added Duncan, who still consults with Adelaide United and has also worked with the Iranian and UAE national teams since leaving his FA post.
 
“I’m a big believer in using heat in training because it can build resilience and aerobic capacity but when you have a choice of kicking off at 3pm or 8pm, then you should choose 8pm.
I’d like to know how APL can justify this.”