Can academies replace self organised play?

This is a fascinating article about Viewpark — a small area in Glasgow where trees were used as goalposts and an extraordinary number of elite footballers emerged in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

No academies.

No branded coaching programmes.

No adult supervision.

Just kids playing for hours, organising themselves, negotiating rules, resolving conflict, adapting to uneven surfaces and learning through trial, error and repetition.

From that environment came players like Jimmy Johnstone, Robertson and Munro — footballers whose creativity, resilience and game intelligence defined an era.

What’s striking is not just who was produced, but how.

Scotland has struggled to replicate those eras in terms of player production — despite:

• the growth of elite academies

• increased coach education

• specialist coaching companies

• structured talent pathways

Which begs an uncomfortable but important question:

Are elite academies really the answer — or did self-organised play environments give us something we still haven’t replaced?

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