Just picking up on this: is that a typo saying that the AFL pays players at U14 level? Having been involved with Aussie Rules here in WA through my boy playing (and a mate's kid who plays for an SANFL club), I can say that this doesn't sound right.
The pathways in Aussie Rules typically are: local club or school ---> picked for district WAFL/SANFL/VFL club at U/14 or 16 level ---> WAFL/SANFL/VFL colts ---> WAFL/SANFL/VFL Seniors ---> Drafted at AFL level
The draft will have guys who have only played at school (like the private school [PSA] comp here in Perth), but the majority will have gone through the club system in some form. The pay at WAFL/SANFL/VFL level (seniors only I believe) is pretty low and definitely not something a young player could live on. They all have jobs or study outside of footy.
Or have I misinterpreted what you're saying?
I am talking mostly about boys and it falls into a number of different areas.
In league in NSW the NRL teams all have teams in SG Bull i.e. under 19 & Jersey Flegg i.e under 21.
Many obviously not all players in SG Bull are from 16 , the NRL pays these players well, and if they have left school they must attend academic training at TAFE or Uni. I am told by those who have sports minded children that the AFL has similar, but I am unaware of specific competitions.
Kids under 18 and identified and still at school have a lot of things done for them.
Part of the reason I know this, and not wishing to brag here, but I was a decent half, and worked with a guy whose son was a half, playing for Parramatta SG Bull while still attending Seven Hills sports school, and he played both Union and League at school. I became a kinda player / family mentor, and this is about 10 years ago.
There was a tour of Japan going in union and he was invited to go, parents paid some money and he went, and on his return, AFL offered him more than league to move over, league offered less than AFL, and union offered nothing.
He finished school, qualified to uni to become a physico, league as long as he played paid his uni fees and some money, again AFL offered more.
Union offered nothing, the kid was not the next wiz kid, and at 20 stopped playing for an NRL club and went to the next level down and was paid 70K at a semi professional level.
At roughly 23, he stopped playing at all to develop his career.
I suppose the story line for this is talent scouts spot players from about 14 to 15 and track them for entry into those teams at NRL & AFL level just below their professional level.
As an aside, Football was losing so many 15 to 17 year olds to AFL and to NRL, they developed about the same time I was helping the boy above, their own talent identification program from u 12 thu to u 17, and those so identified were selected for special assistance in coaching, it actually worked and the slippage fell by over 60% but was and is still huge.
