In a positive step to improve youth infrastructure, Everton have announced via the club’s website that they have agreed a partnership with Western Pride – the latest Australian club to sign up to the Everton International Academy Affiliate Programme (EIAAP).
The EIAAP entails the provision of Western Pride’s coaching staff and players of all ages with year-round assistance and guidance from coaches from Everton’s academy, which has produced a host of talents, famously including England’s all-time record goalscorer Wayne Rooney.
Everton coaches will also travel to Queensland-based Western Pride (when international travel guidelines allow) to assist in implementing the ‘Everton Academy curriculum’ and thus share the club’s insights with their partners.
The club also notes that Western Pride players and coaches will make annual visits to train at Everton’s state-of-the-art USM Finch Farm complex, offering them access to Everton’s facilities.
According to the club, the new affiliation also gives Western Pride access to sporting and business best practice to improve sustainability and aid growth – a level of support that Everton claims sets the EIAAP apart from ‘more traditional models’.
Patrick Boyle, Western Pride Chairman, said of the deal: “Western Pride are always striving to increase the standard of club, player and product offered to the wider football community.
“The partnership with Everton will enhance our strategic and commercial direction to ensure Western Pride continues to build and have a positive impact on our members. Western Pride will leverage off the experience of some of the football leaders at Everton.
“Our partnership will motivate and inspire our team, right across the organisation, to enable Western Pride to deliver on our mission.”
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Reading between the lines, the partnership also offers the club a beneficial pathway to scout and possibly recruit Australian talent that may or may not emerge at their partners, with Western Pride receiving support from personnel and in-depth industrial practices previously unavailable to them.
Investing in youth is rarely a bad move by any club, and this partnership could reap rewards for Everton in years to come.
The Toffees would do well to ramp up their youth recruitment efforts as a means to future-proof the long-term success of their squad – and branching into Australia could prove to be a resource pool of future talents.
