Its never good news to hear that a Club has decided not to go on in Football. Much less to report or write about it.
In this case, ANU FC has advised players (and Capital Football) that it will not participate in the Capital Football Premier League at the conclusion of the 2010 season. ANU FC will of course continue in Football, just not in the Premier League competition.
Its very likely that ANU FC would have withdrawn two years ago, had it not been for an inspirational proposal from the John Mitchell (a former Technical Director of Capital Football), titled the "ANU Under 20 Elite Program", which set a new standard for Football participation by Clubs, introducing as he did, a twelve month periodised program for the players. It was a very positive contribution to the conduct of Premier League football in the ACT. John attempted to address the ever present gap for our talented players post ACTAS and without an A League Youth Team. A small number of players did well out of it and others got their chance and that's a lot more than would have happened if he had not made the effort at ANU FC.
The first season (2009) was a good one. Alas, it seems to have been a hard year in 2010 for the ANU FC Premier League PPL and PL teams.
The PL16 and PL18 teams are provided by Radford College, who are now left without a Premier League Club. Whether they continue with a PL club is in the first instance, a matter for the school to decide. But one thing is certain, they have put together good teams every year, a pleasure to watch and a credit to their school.
If you go back on the Nearpost Local Blog to the interviews we conducted with John Mitchell, which covered the "talented player" and the "ANU U20 Elite concept", you quickly realise just how much thought was behind this endeavour. He was right! But being right isn't enough. John and his colleagues worked hard for the players and it must be hard for them to call it a day. No one can doubt John Mitchell's committment to football. He'll be back!
The email that was sent to me (authored by an ANU FC official) summed it this way:
"...The Committee has made this decision following John Mitchell’s decision to stand down from the position of PL Coach and Technical Director. The PL Program in its current form was very much reliant upon John’s skill, experience and enthusiasm. John’s leadership of the program also allowed the club to access sponsorship which had previously been unavailable. In John’s absence the Committee does not believe it can provide the level of resources required to field a competitive PL team..."
There may be some who think that ANU FC can be quickly replaced by a couple of other teams in Canberra. I doubt it. These would be likely to be teams that did not pass muster when the PL review took place in order to award PL licences for 2010 and beyond. Why would you take them on? What's changed in their backyard since the commencement of this season? Not much is the most likely answer. No rush here is my view and perhaps we can get the PL competition up to three rounds!