The Opt In Box

A couple of weeks ago Football Tasmania announced a representative fixture against Western Australia.

At the time I found myself asking a fairly simple question.

Why?

What exactly is this trying to achieve?

This week an email arrived in the inboxes of NPL club presidents and coaches providing further details.

And while the email answered some questions, it raised a few others.

Most notably, it introduced me to something I didn't know existed.

The opt in box.

The Process

The email outlined how the side would be selected.

NPL coaches will vote for a Team of the Year, nominating players across goalkeeper, defence, midfield and attack.

Coaches are not permitted to vote for players from their own club.

Football Tasmania will then confirm a starting eleven, select additional players to complete a squad of seventeen and appoint coaching staff.

The squad will travel to Perth in September to play Western Australia.

Players can choose to opt in or opt out of the trip.

If somebody declines, replacement players will be selected.

So far, so good.

The email also confirmed that flights, accommodation and meals will be covered for players and coaching staff.

Which is where things started to get interesting.

The Opt In Box

This was my favourite part of the email.

Selected players will be given the opportunity to opt in or opt out of the trip.

I nearly spat out my coffee.

Opt in?

What a magnificent concept.

For years football families have been opting into invoices.

Now somebody gets to opt into Perth.

Not pay for Perth.

Opt into Perth.

Football really is a game of pathways.

Flights Included

The email goes on.

Flights covered.

Accommodation covered.

Meals covered.

Seventeen players.

Coaches.

Flights to Perth.

Accommodation.

Meals.

This is not the sort of trip you fund with loose change found behind the couch.

At this point I became fascinated.

Not by Perth.

Not by the fixture.

Not even by the Team of the Year.

By the discovery that this level of Tasmanian football apparently exists.

A level where Tasmanian football pays.

I genuinely had no idea.

So There Is Money After All

For years football has been explaining why things can't happen.

There isn't enough money.

There isn't enough funding.

There aren't enough resources.

Then suddenly an email arrives offering flights, accommodation and meals.

I have to admit, I found that oddly reassuring.

Because it means the money exists after all.

I just hadn't realised this was where we were planning to spend it.

What Happens If We Win?

Having established that football has money, I found myself returning to another question.

What exactly are we hoping to achieve?

Let's say Tasmania wins.

Then what?

Do we receive extra FIFA points?

A World Cup berth?

A second airport?

A commemorative tea towel?

Let's say Western Australia wins.

Then what?

One thing the email didn't explain was what success actually looks like.

Perhaps there is a strategic objective.

If so, I look forward to hearing it.

I Had No Idea This Level Existed

My understanding of football pathways has always been fairly simple.

A parent receives an email.

The email contains a cost.

The parent pays the cost.

Football continues.

Representative football.

Development football.

Interstate football.

Football generally involves opening your wallet.

Apparently I have misunderstood the pathway entirely.

There is another level.

A magical level.

A level where the email arrives and football pays.

Who knew?

The Ultimate Football Pathway

Perhaps Football Tasmania should publish a new pathway graphic.

Age 12 girl: Parents pay.

Age 14 girl: Parents pay.

Age 16 girl: Parents pay.

Age 18 girl: Parents pay.

Age 12 boy: Parents pay.

Age 14 boy: Parents pay.

Age 16 boy: Parents pay.

Age 18 boy: Parents pay.

Adult male NPL player: Opt into Perth.

Everyone else: Please see attached invoice.

At last the pathway makes sense.

All these years I thought the destination was professional football.

Turns out it was an opt in box.

Equality At Last

For a brief moment I wondered whether there might be a similar opportunity for women.

Then I remembered this is football.

Silly me.

Of course, it is entirely possible that Football Tasmania is about to announce a fully funded women's representative trip as well.

If that happens, I will happily write a mea culpa article.

In fact, I'll probably write it with great enthusiasm.

I may even volunteer to carry the bags.

Until then, however, the fully funded interstate representative pathway appears to begin at the adult men's end of the pyramid.

Which remains an interesting design choice.

I Thought My Time Had Finally Come

As somebody who has recently qualified for the age pension, I was briefly excited.

Flights covered.

Accommodation covered.

Meals covered.

For a moment I assumed Football Tasmania had finally identified one of the most overlooked groups in the game.

Pensioners.

Finally.

A pathway for those of us who have survived decades of football administration.

The Veteran Volunteer Interstate Development Program.

At last, some recognition.

I was already mentally packing.

I had visions of a football exchange program where volunteers from around Australia gather to discuss exciting topics such as canteen rosters, referee abuse, registration systems and why nobody ever volunteers for the committee.

Sadly, it appears I do not qualify.

I have once again been overlooked by the talent identification process.

Perhaps next year I'll make the extended squad.

The Opt Out Box

The more I thought about it, the more I realised the opt out option might actually be the funniest part.

Most football parents spend years trying to find opportunities.

Trying to create opportunities.

Trying to afford opportunities.

Trying to make opportunities possible.

Somewhere in Tasmania a parent is currently paying for a development squad.

Somewhere else a parent is paying for an interstate tournament.

Somewhere else a parent is booking flights, accommodation and uniforms for a football trip.

Then an email arrives explaining that the highest level of the pathway includes the option to politely decline a free one.

That really is elite football.

The Real Question

Perhaps I am the only person who found the opt in box amusing.

I doubt it.

Because for years football families have been opting into costs.

The opportunity at the end of the pathway was apparently not a professional contract.

Not a national team call-up.

Not football glory.

It was the ability to choose whether football pays for your trip to Perth.

Most football parents spend years trying to find opportunities.

This pathway appears to end with the opportunity to decline one.

Football really is a game of pathways.