Football West chief executive Jamie Harnwell backs Football Australia Academy despite club uproar

Football West chief executive Jamie Harnwell has defended Football Australia-backed plans for youth development and is adamant the pipeline is “not about stealing kids” amid an outcry from local clubs. The state governing body announced the roll-out of the Football Australia Academy for 2025, despite objections from the the newly-formed Alliance of WA Football Clubs, a conglomerate of top-level clubs which includes Perth Glory and numerous NPL clubs. The academy will see boys from age 12-15 competing against local clubs under the Football West banner in the top junior competitions, operating side by side with Football West’s girls’ NTC program. But after clubs only found out about the plans last week, the AWAFC have said the decision was rushed through and raised questions of Football West’s corporate governance. “AWAFC has serious concerns about the process Football West has used to rush through its support of this academy,” the Alliance said in a statement on Facebook. “Football West has trashed best practice corporate governance to railroad this proposal and take the cash being offered by Football Australia to have the academy running by next season.” Harnwell confirmed the NPL standing committee voted against the proposal, which will see the best juniors in their age group competing against the top club sides one year older than them. Football Australia view the pathway as an important part of identifying future national teams players at youth level and beyond. “We would be the only state without a full-time program next year, without the introduction of this academy model,” Harnwell told The West. “It’s not about winning leagues or anything like that; we want the players to be tested, getting beaten and learning how to deal with that as well, there’s no intent to put these teams in to try and win leagues or cups.” The new FA Academy is similar to the Perth Glory’s academy set-up, which was the course of friction between the A-League club and NPL teams, the latter complaining the Glory hoovered up their best players at a young age and proceeded to dominate local under-age competitions. Harnwell was adamant the new academy was not aimed at depriving NPL clubs of their best young talent. “The NPL standing committee is consisted of the senior NPL clubs, those in the senior division, and the committee voted against the proposal, and that is their rights to do so as part of our governance structure,” he said. “But this is about football development; it’s not about stealing from clubs or trying to win games. It’s about what’s best for the young boys and girls in WA who have dreamed of playing for their national team.” Harnwell did concede the change had been decided upon quickly but was confident it was the right decision. “This is a football decision that’s been led by Football Australia’s chief football officer Ernie Merrick,” he said. “I understand there’s concern by the clubs. This (academy) is based on what’s best for these kids and we want to work with the clubs to do this, we want to help identify players and give them opportunities. “We’ve had to work to a very tight timeframe. There’s no doubt about that. That has been pushed by FA somewhat in terms of what they wanted us to do, especially with the change in direction of Perth Glory’s Aacademy.” The Glory are moving towards a district-zoned academy, set up a senior female academy and withdraw their 13-16 age-group teams from the NPL WA next season. It means there will be two separate elite talent development pathways in WA, but Harnwell believed the two could coexist and they had been open with the Glory. “There’s a room for everybody and Perth Glory want to cast their net wide across Perth to find the next talented players, and Football Australia’s intensive proposal is to try and identify those who will benefit best from an environment where they’re training and playing with each other three or four times a week.” In their statement on Facebook, the AWAFC vowed to continue their fight against the plans. “We will now have duplication, confusion and unnecessary competition between Football West, local clubs and Perth Glory,” the statement read. “We support an academy structure which is complementary and works collaboratively with local clubs, allowing talented players to access development opportunities while still being able to play with their local clubs on a Sunday morning.”