Commentary
If I were the President, Part II
- by Ahmet Guvener @guvenersoccer, Nov 30, 2017
My last article “If I were the President” of U.S. Soccer was about my thoughts on youth development. Now I will talk about what I would do about the professional leagues, coaching and refereeing “if I were the President and end this “If I were” series.
1.
If I were the President I would restructure the professional leagues. Coming from a Pro/Rel culture, I am
definitely in favor of promotion and relegation in our professional leagues. On the other hand, one also has to understand the professional sports landscape of this country, how MLS was formed in a
“hurry” in the 1990s and the MLS reality before imposing promotion/relegation on the North American first-tier professional league. Otherwise, you will be like Don Quixote attacking the
windmills. MLS should be given enough time to complete its expansion and be ready for a promotion/relegation. This duration should be negotiated MLS. One would think that it will be somewhere in the
next 10 years or so. But MLS should understand that this is the final objective and take the necessary restructuring measures for the time when promotion/relegation will start. I will immediately
start the restructuring of the Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4. All of these leagues will have promotion and relegation based on sporting merit. Division 2 should be national and there should be
only one Division 2. The winner of Division 2 should compete -- if possible -- in Concacaf’s Champions League. Division 3 should be regional and can be up to 4 groups - one for each time zone.
The winners of the groups will move up to Division 2. Division 4 should be regional and teams can be semi-pro. Division 4 could get teams promoted from the state amateur leagues. The teams to be
relegated from Division 4 should lose their semi-pro status and can play in their local leagues as amateurs.
2.
If I were the
President I will follow the gold standard of European soccer and establish club licensing system for all professional clubs. This will replace the current 14 page-long document with USSF Professional League Standards. With the current document U.S. Soccer is more of a semi-regulator rather than an enforcer
or true regulator of the professional leagues. Some of the decisions and standards are left to the Leagues. The club licensing system will license clubs based on their division. There will be
different set of standards for different divisions. For a team to be promoted, it must finish at the top of its division. Even if it finishes at the top, if the team does not fulfill the
standards of the division it will be promoted to then the team will not be allowed to move up. Instead a team which fulfills the standards which is ranked lower will be promoted. U.S. Soccer Club
Licensing system will take the UEFA model as a framework to start with but it will be adopted and modified according to the needs of the local realities. The Club Licensing system must have
detailed youth development requirements for each division. The Club Licensing system should have all the required stadium standards for that division. We are not just talking about capacity; we
are talking about the dressing room standards, VIP Box standards, internet standards etc. The Club Licensing system should have financial, legal and organizational standards also. With the Club
Licensing system U.S. Soccer will become a true regulator of all the professional leagues. This move will also test Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1989 whether U.S. Soccer can
regulate professional leagues. I am sure some teams/leagues will challenge that move in court. This is how professional leagues are regulated in the world; the USA cannot and should not be an
exception. The governance model of the leagues must have U.S. Soccer as a major constituent. The FIFA statues clearly state: “Each member association is responsible for deciding national
issues, which may not be delegated to the leagues.”
3.
If I were the President I will support the current changes
made to the Coaching Education system. The adaptation of the Jira Convention (UEFA) system was a correct step in the correct direction. There is a shortage of licensed soccer coaches in the
USA. We must produce more U.S. Soccer Pro, A and B licensed coaches for elite soccer as well as C, D, E, F and Grassroots licensed coaches for competitive and recreational youth soccer. The first step
to that end is developing coach educators (tutors). This development process should be expedited and strengthened. In a span of 10 years we must make it mandatory for all levels of soccer from the
professionals to the recreational levels to have licensed coaches. Unless you make it mandatory in a time frame, unless you make the courses easily accessible and unless you make sure by carrying out
the necessary PR activities that every potential coach knows how to get a coaching license; you will not be able to reach your goal. We must make sure that we develop player educators and not player
trainers. Currently we have a lot of player trainers and not enough player educators.
4.
If I were the President I will
concentrate on the 2-6 years old year range. These kids should be trained at home or at the back yard mastering ball control skills. Since the parents will be involved in developing these
skills, I will utilize all the resources of the Information Age to tell the parents what to do or what not to do for this age group.
5.
If I were the President I will make sure that referees are the guardian angels and enforcers of the Laws of the Game (LOTG) as well as the Player Development Initiative (PDI). The
leagues (Professional, Adult or Youth) as well as parents might like to think otherwise and they can request diversions to the LOTG and PDI. The first step will be the appointment of the State Referee
Administrators (SRA) by the National Referee Committee (NRC) instead of being appointed by the State Associations. SRAs can form their own Referee Committees. I will ask for communications channels
between NRC, PRO and SRAs to be improved. Right now, they seem not to be working in harmony. Although PRO is formed taking the PGMOL as a model, the refereeing landscape in the USA is different than
England. The owners of MLS might most probably be inclined to act like the other professional sports owners and might like to influence PRO in its applications/interpretations of the LOTG which in
some cases can be detrimental for the development of the game. I would make sure that PRO works closely with NRC/U.S. Soccer and as a first step – which is symbolic -- I will ask PRO to move to
another location from its current one, which is the same building as MLS. Another step I will take is to set up a Disciplinary Committee for all professional leagues under the Federation. These
are actually mandates by the FIFA statues: “that the member association has the primary responsibility to regulate matters relating to refereeing, the fight against doping, the registration
of players, club licensing, the imposition of disciplinary measures, including for ethical misconduct, and measures required to protect the integrity of competitions;
6
If I were the President realizing the vast differences between the states in terms of quantity and quality of refereeing, I will set up a panel
similar to UEFA Referee Convention so that referee development can be standardized across 55 state associations and the standards can be monitored.
7.
If I were the President I would not base my decisions based on possible litigations or possible counter interpretations of the Law of the Land. I will do
whatever is the correct, legal and smart move for the development of the game. Whether you base your decisions on litigations or not, you will still anyway face a lot of court battles in this most
litigious society of the world.
The bottom line is the fact that this and my previous article is just a personal wish list. Since some of the items in the wish list might be poking the bee hive, the true presidential candidates might not include them in their wish/project lists. With the current governance structure, these projects might cause them to lose votes.
One should have awareness of the current soccer landscape. There are some serious problems in our soccer landscape like the pay-to-play system or the structure of the professional leagues. One can neither ignore these facts nor attack them outright. But one can always create alternative routes/projects around them to develop our beautiful game in our country. This is what these two articles are all about.
On the other hand, the only goal and mission of the Federation is to develop soccer in this country and make both the USMNT and USWNT to be one of best in the world. For that reason, the Federation cannot and should not transfer some of its responsibilities to professional leagues. The professional leagues are business entities and their major concern is to be profitable. The Federation should take all the responsibility for the development of soccer and implement its developmental projects vigorously
Ahmet Guvener (ahmet@ahmetguvener.com) is the former Secretary General and the Technical Director of Turkish FA. He was also the Head of Refereeing for the Turkish FA. He served as Panel member for the FIFA Panel of Referee Instructors and UEFA Referee Convention. He now lives and works as a soccer consultant in Austin, TX.
Ahmet, good article. I disagree that promotion/relegation is essential to professional soccer. The issue is a distraction which I don't think is worth arguing about.
The key to growth of participant soccer in the US is youth soccer and historically scholastic soccer has been very important. Not because maybe 1 in 10,000 youth players may become elite professional players, but because today's scholastic players become tomorrow's coaches, officials, league administrators, and soccer parents. Family soccer culture is stronger when both parents are soccer players.
Historically technical and tactical improvement in the level of play comes from a few exceptional professional clubs and coaches. Some people like to think great strides in soccer evolution comes from great investment of money by billionaire club owners. More money means more money to spend on acquiring players. It leads to clubs looking to take short cuts to success rather than being innovative and risk taking. I think big bank accounts leads to stagnation, although the stagnation is at the top end of the table. Think Ajax of the 60s and 70s and Barcelona in the Cruyff coaching era. People are more important than money.
Like your thoughts Ahmet, like Part One. Unlike perhaps a majority, I do believe the pro-rel model needs to be the goal and your time frame is realistic. That model will not only benefit the competitive level it will also accelerate the growth of the sport and become the envy of the other stale-traditional sports model. Any thoughts on a more compatible international schedule? For me, you have provided a well though out template and your adherence to an organized structure which is international, gives me some optimism. Thank you for your efforts, now if we can get by the domestics we might make some real progress.
More good points, Guv. I especially like #5, since we're approaching the MLS Cup Final. "I will ask PRO to move to another location from its current one, which is the same building as MLS." I am really tired of Garber leaning on PRO to ignore the LOTG for this match, but it doesn't have to be that way. Compare Alan Kelly's dissappearance in the MLS Cup Final last year to Deniz Aytekin's assertive presence at the Revierderby last weekend at Dortmund. Two equally-charged matches but the difference was a handcuffed and inneffective ref here vs a calming presence for a contentious derby in Germany. We can do better if MLS stops intervening and an office move is a good step in the right direction.
The architecture of the youth game has been outlined in pieces of a jigsaw puzzle but not stitched together.
5 silos in the youth game. 2-6 is a science, social soccer is a Health and Wellness driver (never have we been so unhealthy as a nation) community bonding, 6-10 is tutelage a private piano lesson, 6-14 school engagement 94,000 Elem. schools in the US, city-based travel in line with the Aspen Inst. findings and developm. soccer at the top of the plyr pyramid.
2-6 is a science not a bag of balls. Iceland, no volunteer coaches at this age group only Elem. Ed background. A partnership with the privatized world works to get this foundation right. Further at 2-6 the market is 23.6m and the Feds are less than 1% of this market, Tom Byer is that solution both in terms of parent education and yes I will say "sales".
Social Soccer is our signature program we do this better than any other sport. Rather than destroy this in our race to offset finances for travel Clubs let's celebrate it, build it. Social "family" interaction is our Grassroots. Failure to nurture this will erode the game. Futsal in schools as "a skateboard park" from 2:30-4:30, as Tony Toral does in LI Middle Schools will reap wellness benefits, allow children to create and seek JOY.
Saints FC do this well and create "schools" of development. Like a private piano lesson. Ltd comp, focus on technique, JOY of the game. Players left to their own devices. Hearts of the Scottish Premier League seeking to understand how they lost their golden gen. found that players trained (drills) 5 times more than free play during the era of Dalglish. You will find streets closed off in Edinburgh for children to create and problem solve. Johan Cruyff when told he invented a move he simple said "it wasn't a move it was a solution".
School engagement is what the Aspen Ins. tells us will be our downfall. Too much focus on travel and sport concentration. 94,000 Elem. schools all should have a soccer prog. inter-school games, localized play. See the Birmingham, Al project put on by Premeir Education Group and Alabama YS, 25% increase in fitness in 6 weeks and 536 new players to the game that otherwise would never have played.
Developmental play. DA at 14, a finishing school and feed the MLS Academy at 16, support players through College age who don't initially make the MLS pathway. The city/club system can provide the develop. through 14 and those who do not initially make it can continue to evolve in the program at their pace. We never use the word "patience".
The Pres. has to connect the private soccer world, streamline and connect the 5 youth agencies to synergize the group based on their skill sets. Millions play, 15m across multiple playing platforms but 25% with the Feds.
English FA's success this summer: eliminate duplicity and collaborate with stakeholders and make soccer available to any child who wants to play, led to the most succesful youth development run in Int. Soccer.