Dermot
July 1st, 2005, 01:27 PM
No doubt most of you will agree that there are far too many journalists from an egg-ball background writing about the beautiful game, but today The Australian got fed-up with that indirect approach and cut out the middle man.
Program the problem, not coach: Jones
Wayne Smith
July 01, 2005
IT's not the national coach that's the problem in Australian soccer but the program foisted upon him, Wallabies coach Eddie Jones said yesterday.
There was a time in 2003 when it seemed Jones was about to suffer the same fate at the hands of then Australian Rugby Union boss John O'Neill as Socceroos' coach Frank Farina did now that O'Neill is holding the reins at Football Federation Australia. But it wasn't with a sense of "there but for the grace of God go I" that Jones heard the news of Farina's departure but more a feeling of sadness.
"I just felt for him," Jones said. "I know him. He's a good fellow and I just don't think he's been allowed to coach the side."
The problem was not so much interference from above but of massive shortcomings in the Socceroos' program, Jones said. "They need a consistent international program and they need to play games on a regular basis."
Jones cited the example of current PSV Eindhoven coach Guus Hiddink's work with South Korea in the build-up to the 2002 World Cup as the model Australia should follow. "The Dutch coach had Korea over 18 months play increasingly harder opponents, so by the time they got to the World Cup, they were ready," Jones said.
"And that's what Australia needs to do. I would think it wouldn't matter who you have in the job. Unless you get that, your results are going to fluctuate. You can't play Uruguay after playing the Solomon Islands."
Jones admittedly does enjoy a significant advantage over the Socceroos coach - whoever he is - in that Australia's top rugby players all play in this country. As soon as they accept the lucrative offers from French, British or Japanese clubs, they no longer are eligible for selection in the Wallabies side.
The policy of only selecting players from Australia's Super 12 teams is not without its critics, but at least it gives the Wallabies coach ready access to the country's best footballers. And unlike in soccer, rugby's top players are contracted not to individual clubs but to the Australian Rugby Union, which avoids any problems of them being made available when needed.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15782519%255E2722,00.html
Program the problem, not coach: Jones
Wayne Smith
July 01, 2005
IT's not the national coach that's the problem in Australian soccer but the program foisted upon him, Wallabies coach Eddie Jones said yesterday.
There was a time in 2003 when it seemed Jones was about to suffer the same fate at the hands of then Australian Rugby Union boss John O'Neill as Socceroos' coach Frank Farina did now that O'Neill is holding the reins at Football Federation Australia. But it wasn't with a sense of "there but for the grace of God go I" that Jones heard the news of Farina's departure but more a feeling of sadness.
"I just felt for him," Jones said. "I know him. He's a good fellow and I just don't think he's been allowed to coach the side."
The problem was not so much interference from above but of massive shortcomings in the Socceroos' program, Jones said. "They need a consistent international program and they need to play games on a regular basis."
Jones cited the example of current PSV Eindhoven coach Guus Hiddink's work with South Korea in the build-up to the 2002 World Cup as the model Australia should follow. "The Dutch coach had Korea over 18 months play increasingly harder opponents, so by the time they got to the World Cup, they were ready," Jones said.
"And that's what Australia needs to do. I would think it wouldn't matter who you have in the job. Unless you get that, your results are going to fluctuate. You can't play Uruguay after playing the Solomon Islands."
Jones admittedly does enjoy a significant advantage over the Socceroos coach - whoever he is - in that Australia's top rugby players all play in this country. As soon as they accept the lucrative offers from French, British or Japanese clubs, they no longer are eligible for selection in the Wallabies side.
The policy of only selecting players from Australia's Super 12 teams is not without its critics, but at least it gives the Wallabies coach ready access to the country's best footballers. And unlike in soccer, rugby's top players are contracted not to individual clubs but to the Australian Rugby Union, which avoids any problems of them being made available when needed.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15782519%255E2722,00.html