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AIS program saved

18 October 2007 | 14:39 - EXCLUSIVE - Andrew Orsatti

A $200,000 rescue package will keep Australia's premier development tool for elite male footballers afloat for another year.

 

Football Federation Australia (FFA) has agreed to provide the extra funds for the scholarship-based program at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra.

The deal gives the AIS much-needed oxygen to cope with the suffocating costs associated with playing in the Victorian Premier League (VPL).

AIS and Young Socceroos Coach, Steve Connor, was a relieved man when contacted by The World Game.

Without a competition of the requisite standard, there were fears the $900,000 a-year government-backed program would be dismantled.

“We needed a good quality league for the development of our players. Everything was hinging on this. Without this money, the program as we know it would’ve ceased to exist,” O'Conner explained.

O’Connor admits continuing in the VPL was not his preferred option but the AIS had nowhere else to turn following yet another failed bid to gain entry in to the New South Wales Premier League (NSWPL).

Football NSW offered the AIS a spot in its Super League competition, one division below the NSWPL, but the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), which oversees the AIS program, confirmed the NSW Super League is not up to scratch.

“It’s disappointing Football NSW hasn’t made provisions, but we’ll probably try again in 2009,” O'Conner revealed.

“The FFA has a mandate to overrule NSW, but I think they’d rather tread softly for now and look at their options again further down the track.”

As part of the arrangement, the VPL is prepared to stage some AIS fixtures in Canberra, and regional areas of Victoria, to help off-set the costs, but no details have been announced for the competition which kicks off in February next year.

AIS football, in operation since 1981, has nurtured some of Australia’s biggest stars, including 12 of the Socceroos who pulled on the green and gold at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

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