Everywhere else in the world, youth clubs benefit from a young player coming through their system and catching on with a professional side. The money that they receive goes back into their system and it further strengthens their infrastructure and helps to further professionalize the game.
That cash influx is what motivates them to spend the time and resources they do into developing young talent.
In Canada, that motivation is largely volunteer based. Things are changing, the game is being professionalized, but will the attitudes on monetizing change with it?
CSN spoke to Jason deVos, former national team player, TSN analyst and a member of the group organizing the OPDL on what clubs like Toronto FC should be doing to give back to the youth clubs.
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“It’s something that I have even suggested to Toronto FC, they need to get to a place where they give something back to the clubs. For me, it doesn’t have to necessarily be a monetary exchange; it could be something in the form of coach development or club development or curriculum,” deVos said.
“There are all kinds of areas of need that go on at youth soccer clubs – especially non-profit clubs – margins are so narrow, they’re literally are just trying to keep the lights on, some of them. There is almost a morale responsibility like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal to give something back to that community.”
It’s long been the case that youth soccer in Canada hasn’t been run by professionals. That’s changing and the clearest example of that is the OPDL, a league that deVos has been involved in helping to come to fruition.
“The goal for OPDL is to have a league that goes from U13 to U17 and then jumps to U23 – so we have sort of a model that, based on hockey, that the standards for professional development are there from the age of 12 through to the age of 23,” deVos said. “We have to take the game more seriously in this country if we’re ever going to dig ourselves out of the lot we’re in. That’s going to take a lot but this is a step towards that.”
Strangely though, Toronto FC, hasn’t been intimately involved in the discussions involving the OPDL. It’s irked some that the biggest club in Ontario and this region of the country has taken a hands off approach to youth development outside of their own academy. A wealth of players continues to fall through the cracks in their own backyards.
“I think that’s going to change. I’ve talked to Kevin Payne about this and he says this is definitely something they need to get more involved with and he has plans to discuss it with the OSA,” deVos said.
More than anyone, Toronto FC stands to benefit from having a development factory in the region.
“I want Toronto FC at the table for all the discussions for the OPDL because they have a big role to play in that. If we’re brutally honest, on the male side, they are the primary beneficiaries,” deVos said. “If this goes well and it goes the way its intended to go, they are going to get a constant stream of talent players coming out of that league that they can handpick from. And that, more than anything, should be motivation for them to get involved.”
“I don’t know about financials, as that seems to be a different way here, but there should be absolutely something. Whether that’s coaching or other means, we have to complete the loop for those clubs to get something more out of it.”
The series will continue next week.