Wellington Phoenix supporter group Yellow Fever confirmed the program was shelved earlier this year due to a lack of enthusiasm from the club’s new owners.

Launched in 2008, the Retro Ricki Youth Scholarship was an A-League first, providing an opportunity for talented New Zealand footballers to train with the club.

Online voting by fans whittled down the contenders to a shortlist, with the winner’s accommodation and flights funded by t-shirt sales.

The final decision on the recipient rested with Phoenix and All Whites coach Ricki Herbert and Yellow Fever rep and scholarship creator, Guy Smith.

Rojas, who has electrified the league in his second season with Melbourne Victory, won the scholarship in 2009.

Smith, a youth coach, told au.fourfourtwo.com he was disappointed about the demise of the scholarship but said it no longer fitted within the club’s plans.

“There wasn’t the same enthusiasm for it from their side that there had been in the past,” he said.

“They certainly weren’t going to stop us doing it but they certainly weren’t endorsing it in the same way they had done.

“While it was disappointing it certainly hasn’t stopped young players getting a chance with the Phoenix, it’s just that we’re not involved anymore.”

Previous Phoenix owner Terry Serepisos relinquished the club licence in 2011 due to financial difficulties and one of the first priorities for the new owners was a football academy which has already unearthed the attacking talents of Louis Fenton and Tyler Boyd.

Smith said: “They wanted to do things themselves and what we were doing wouldn’t necessarily have sat comfortably alongside what they were doing. I can understand it from both sides.”

As for Rojas, who left Phoenix for Melbourne Victory in 2011 – disappointing thousands of fans - the Yellow Fever has no illusions about their contribution to his story.

“For me personally it’s just really gratifying to see him being successful and I think he showed loud and clear the talent in New Zealand youth football,” Smith said.

“We just gave him an opportunity but the hard work was all his. Really it was just us using the contacts we had to raise his profile with the club and underwrite the costs of training with the club.

“We just opened the door and he was the guy who walked through it. He certainly didn’t come from nowhere and he was already a young superstar in the ASB Premiership (New Zealand national league).”

Smith said while the scholarship enabled a cash-strapped Phoenix to harness the expertise of its fan base he doubts the concept has any legs in today’s A-League.

“The previous administration was really involved in the fan group and they were interested to hear our thoughts on players,” he said.

“They recognised that within the fan group there was a lot of football experience. As well as a lot of fan enthusiasm there’s a lot of people who play and coach.

“The current administrators have their own staff whose opinions they take first and that’s entirely fine and I would say that’s pretty much the case at most A-League clubs.

“(The scholarship) came about because the Phoenix was so light on resources. They just didn’t have enough to get around and watch the games and identify young players coming up through the local league and they knew us well enough to put faith in us to go and do that for them.

“As to whether that’s been replicated anywhere in the world I don’t think it has. Now the Phoenix has their own academy I don’t really see it being replicated here again either.

“It was a really cool thing to do, we’re really stoked that we did it, but some ideas have had their time.”

Other recipients of the scholarship include Thomas Spragg currently at Portland Timbers (U23) in the MLS and Tristan Pratley, captain of Otago United in the ASB Premiership.