It's time to exploit local talent

[Vicenç]

http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/170033

It's time to exploit local talent


Canada's development program a failure, player's dad insists
January 11, 2007
Cathal Kelly

It was only a short line tucked into a front page story about young Canadian star David Edgar, but it's had local fans talking for a couple of weeks.

"Canada is probably the worst country in the world to be a soccer player. The development is horrendous.''

That was David's father, Eddie, offering his tough appraisal to the Star's Tim Lai. Eddie Edgar has the bona fides to make strong statements.

He's a former Hartlepool and Newcastle goalkeeper who has coached youth teams in Canada.

The comment ignited web chatter and prompted a letter in these pages from Stan Adamson, executive director of the Canadian Soccer League. Citing the country's 850,000 registered players and 100 international pros as evidence of a healthy environment for the sport, Adamson took issue with Edgar's opinion.

"The right people are being appointed and the culture is changing to make sure this country develops even more good players and is more competitive on the world stage,'' Adamson wrote.

Speaking this week from England, Edgar was asked to reconsider his critique. "I'll stand by it,'' he said firmly.

Edgar also took issue with Adamson's argument, saying it "confused the quality of development with the quality of players."

Edgar wants to make it clear that he is not taking a swipe at the men and women who coach our children.

"They are providing an environment that's second to none. David had a ball playing in those leagues," Edgar said. "But it's not professional development for soccer."

Edgar offered his own experience as evidence.

In the mid-'90s, he took a youth team from Kitchener to England to compete in a tournament sponsored by Manchester United.

His son, David, was 9 years old. Most of his teammates were 11. Facing top teams from England, the Kitchener kids won.

"At that age, Canadian talent is as good as anywhere in the world," Edgar said. Four years later, Edgar took many of the same players, including David, back to the U.K.

They toured the academies of some of the biggest clubs in Britain – Arsenal, Celtic, Newcastle. The same kids the Canadians had been running rings around a few years earlier were now "miles ahead," in Edgar's words.

At Newcastle, a scout took Edgar aside. He liked what he saw in David.

But he warned that if the Edgars returned to Canada, David would soon be too far behind to catch up.

"I did not want him to leave home, but at the time my son needed development. And it didn't exist in Canada," Edgar said.

He says if he were doing it again today, he would first take a promising player to Toronto FC. But having no option at the time, he moved the 14-year-old to England.

Edgar's been proven right, but he still remembers the other youngsters who went with David on that trip six years ago.

"Four or five of those kids should be playing professionally," Edgar said ruefully. "But they didn't have the development."

A litmus test for Edgar's argument will arrive tomorrow with Toronto FC's first kick at the Major League Soccer's SuperDraft.

Toronto holds the No. 1 overall pick, as well as top slot in the third and fourth round (the team previously traded its second-round pick to FC Dallas in the Ronnie O'Brien deal).

Will a Canadian-trained product feature somewhere in those four rounds?

In what's widely regarded as a weak draft, there isn't a local who cries out for choosing.

How do we change that? We listen to both messages – the warnings of Eddie Edgar and the hopefulness of Stan Adamson – and we begin the serious work of creating a way to harness the soccer talent both men agree already exists in this country.

[penz]

Maybe it's just time to stop talking and DO something.

[Vicenç]

Now it's more Export talent than exploit them...