FFA should establish Western Sydney Juniors

The A League should create Western Sydney Juniors to mine the real gold of the Greater Western Sydney Sporting Boom.

The statement "Western Sydney is a sporting battleground" approaches "Moving Forward" in the vacuous mission statement stakes, but the FFA have a wonderful opportunity to seal a strong footprint in their much-lauded "heartland" (there's another cliche).

The AFL have already abandoned Blacktown for Homebush (hardly Western in most minds), while the NRL has surely reached its peak popularity and is set for a shock when the gambling bubble bursts.

According to footballing folklore, the world game is king in Western Sydney when it comes to amateur participation. But how to entice an apathetic public in a saturated market? A market which already largely refuses to support Sydney FC?

The answer is to wed the new club to Western Sydney's great strength. Western Sydney Juniors should be the next team in the A League. And not in name only - Western Sydney Juniors should become a radically different, revolutionary A League club.

The Western Sydney Juniors squad of 23 should boast no less than 12 players who were born in, or have played some junior football in the Greater Western Sydney catchment. The club should fill its five international spots with first team players, and recruit another six top class Australians.

But the other 12 should be locals. This quota system enables the manager to recruit a strong starting 11 of foreigners and Australians, but obliges the club to play and promote local talent (obviously some Western Sydney "origin" players will win starting spots - and the more the better).

The quotas should be written into the club's mission statement or constitution. Tony Popovic might understandably blanch at such restrictions when he has a couple of months to build a squad, but the club should stand for something, and stand for something from the start.

A gradual implementation of the quota might be more realistic given the FFA's timetable, but in 2011-2012 Sydney FC's Australian contingent was almost entirely made up of players who had a footballing history in Sydney. It would not be impossible for Popovic to do the same.

Juniors could still strive to attract players like Yorke, Juninho or Fowler to fill their overseas spots and boost the starting 11, but would also choose to spend big money on Socceroos with Western Sydney roots such as Neill, Kewell or even Cahill (FFA budgetary considerations aside).

The FFA raves about the heartland. Establishing Western Sydney Juniors would instantly present a future to those hundreds of thousands of juniors footballers. Each and every kid could dream of playing for WS Juniors on their way to European and Socceroos glory.

The Sydney Juniors model has several intrinsic strengths. It speaks to football's global culture. It unashamedly promotes the A League's role in training players to become world class stars.

And, perhaps most importantly, Western Sydney Juniors would stand opposite and against incumbent franchise Sydney FC.

Clubs need to be more than geographically different. They need to speak to different tribes and attract different fans.

Sydney FC is historically wedded to the Bling FC culture. It is a Sydney Kings, Sydney Roosters-style club, an outfit seduced by the eternal dream of marquee players and domination, while crowds wax and wane with the club's success.

Western Sydney Juniors would stand against the Bling. To grossly exploit the cliche, it would be a "real" team of "local battlers" against a side made up of snobby elites. The rivalry would tap into Sydney's cultural history before a ball is kicked.

But it goes deeper than that. The "Juniors" mission, placing footballing education above all, would enable the FFA to found the club with a pledge to promote home-grown youth and to place positive play before success so as to teach kids to play "the right way." The short-termism that has plagued Sydney FC would be combated by a club with a clear mission: to give kids the chance to play, grow and excel.

The Western Sydney Juniors focus on youth would instantly attract those "old soccer" fans looking for a reason to emotionally invest in the A League. Juniors would not replace those deep ties with historical clubs, but rather establish bonds with mature clubs and a pathway for the players that "old soccer" fans take pride in following.

Most football fans who don't attend A League games ask, "Why would I, when I can watch the best football on tv?" The A League is for fans of clubs with identity, and Juniors offers those fans the chance to watch local players grow into Europe-bound stars without pretending to be Arsenal or Barcelona.

We all know the financial woes of the FFA, and WS Juniors would no doubt need a number of financial fairy godmothers to establish themselves. But private investors would be enticed by a football club that is a genuine conveyor belt of talent keen to jump to higher honours.

The new Western Sydney club is genuinely too big to the FFA to fail. But while the AFL retreats and the GWS Giants become "Western" in name only, the FFA should make a bold, honest statement before the sporting bubble bursts: this is the club, it is truly here for you, and it is here for as long as you want to play the beautiful game.