Soccer: Phoenix left in reserve

Kosta Barbarouses headed to Brisbane after failing to secure enough game time. Photo / Getty Images

The Wellington Phoenix take their role in New Zealand football seriously.

They see themselves as somewhere for young footballers to aspire to play and become professional footballers.

It's true, but only to a certain extent. There is still little chance for young New Zealand footballers to become fully-fledged professionals. The nature of the club means this is highly unlikely and the best avenue for success is still through England and the US college system.

One thing would help change that - a genuine reserve team.

Without that, youngsters have little chance to develop then press their claim for a first-team spot. Marco Rojas is an exception but he went 18 months before getting his chance.

Kosta Barbarouses wasn't so lucky and started only six games in three seasons with Wellington before trying his luck in Brisbane. Greg Draper played just two games in two seasons, Jacob Spoonley didn't play at all and James Musa has seen action twice this season.

A genuine reserve team playing in the A-League's reserve competition would not only give young players a chance to do what they are signed to do - play - but also help them bridge the gap between where they start and where they need to be to play for the first team.

Wellington are the only A-League club without a genuine reserve side. They were excluded from the inaugural reserve team competition in 2008/09 because of the cost of having a team from New Zealand in the league. It was estimated at around $400,000 and the FFA didn't want this to increase with travel.

It was unfair. On one hand, Australian football bosses say the Phoenix are important to their league but on the other they don't treat them as equals. The same thing has happened with their exclusion from the Asian Champions League.

The Phoenix pressed their case about a reserve team but with no luck.

They then looked at entering the old NZFC but resistance from NZFC clubs and rules around the registration of professional players in an amateur competition prevented this. That was when the idea of the ASB Challenge, with a Phoenix reserve team playing the eight ASB Premiership sides in a one-off 'challenge' with $2000 up for grabs, was dreamed up.

It is a start but still only eight games. Footballers need to be playing at least 30 times a year.

Aspiring young footballers are still better off at US colleges where they can get an education before moving to Europe or the MLS or picking up trainee contracts in England.

They might not make it overseas but they will learn what it takes to be a professional in the same way Shane Smeltz, Leo Bertos, Mark Paston, David Mulligan and Tony Lochhead did.

Wellington last night celebrated their 100th A-League game. It would be nice to think they would have a proper reserve team by the time the 200th rolled around.