Fringe Socceroo James Troisi made waves in Australian sport this week, when he sensationally decided not to move to Melbourne City, instead staying with Melbourne Victory.
If he had moved, this would’ve made Troisi’s colourful career even more interesting, because he has a history of having itchy feet.
Since making his professional start at Newcastle United, Troisi has turned out for nine clubs. That’s nine clubs in 10 years.
Longevity has not been his specialty, making no more than 64 appearances for one individual club, which he achieved for Turkish Club Kayserispor.
Interestingly enough, Troisi’s movements across the globe fit well within the profile of the modern Australian Footballer.
[infogram id=”troisi_graph-5402″ prefix=”VfW” format=”interactive” title=”Troisi Graph”]As the above graphic illustrates, those selected in Australia’s World Cup Squad in 2014 had played for an average of seven to eight clubs.
Conversely, those who had been selected for the ‘Golden Generation’ of Socceroos in the famous World Cup campaign of 2006 had not seen as much of the world as those who followed in their footsteps, having played for an average of two to three clubs at the time of their selection.
This begs the question, what is causing our next generation of players to constantly move between clubs? There are a few factors that could potentially be the cause of this trend.
For instance, various footballing markets have opened up since 2006. Countries such as Japan, Korea, Saudia Arabia and China were hardly leagues which top players would look to in order to improve their game. However, now that said leagues have some of the biggest financial arsenals in the world game, the allure for players to make constant moves has been enhanced financially.
These new leagues have also given younger players a bail-out should they not have the mettle to tackle Europe’s biggest leagues, whereas for Socceroo legends such as Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Mark Viduka, the only way to prove themselves worthy of a spot in the international setup was consistent performance in top European leagues, which were the clear pace-setters of footballing development.
As well as settling for Asian football as opposed to the more physical, technical European leagues, Australian footballers also have the option of returning home to ply their trade in the A-League, for which they are usually well and truly over-qualified in terms of skill level.
In 2006, the only league waiting for players at home was the now-defunct NSL< which only boasted semi-professional status.
With Australia also having dropped from their highest world ranking of 21st in 2009 to 45th at the current day, this could be a key catalyst for the gradual decline in quality of players over the last decade.
