WATCHING a Year 7 indoor soccer tournament at a school in Melbourne’s southeast last week, some of the skills on show were utterly incredible.

There were nutmegs, deft touches, sublime passing skills and scorching goals.

If this, even from just the smallest of sample sizes, is indicative of the talent coming through then the future is bright for the sport’s playing stocks.

But chatting to some of the little stars afterwards, it was alarming the disconnect that still exists between the grassroots and the top echelon of the game in Australia.

Each played for local clubs — Berwick City, Dandenong City and Casey Comets among them — but none of the six or so young teens spoken to said they support an A-League club.

Barcelona? Chelsea? Juventus? Sure. But Melbourne Victory or Melbourne City? No way.

One said they might now go for City because he heard Tim Cahill was playing for them, but that was it.

More kids play soccer than any other sport in Australia, but Football Federation Australia’s biggest challenge right now is turning those kids in to fans of our professional clubs.

Can you imagine any kid at your local Auskick clinic in winter not actually supporting an AFL side?

It just wouldn’t happen.

no expense can be spared in order to welcome them in to the fold.

There or some 2.18 million soccer participants in Australia, but recent research suggests just over half identify as supporting an A-League club, a number that reduces to about 42 per cent for those aged 15 and under.

FFA knows it’s a huge problem and, pleasingly, the noises about its marketing campaign for the upcoming season are positive in this regard.

But there is much work to be done.

The long-term aim — and this is an entirely different debate — is to give those kids a truly local club to support.

Despite living some 40 minutes southeast of the city, this columnist has never truly been of the belief that an A-League side is necessary in that neck of the woods.

But the City of Casey is the eighth fastest-growing municipality in Australia, with a current population of approximately 283,000 and a projected population of 459,000 at 2036.

There’s plenty of vacant land out that way for a stadium and, in terms of “fishing where the fish” are, those are some serious numbers to tap in to.

For the foreseeable future though it’s a choice between Victory and City.

Targeting these kids with a marketing campaign is a great start, but they also need that touch-and-feel buzz that school visits, clinics and ticket and merchandise deals provide.

The game’s resources are already stretched, yes, but these kids are the future, so no expense can be spared in order to welcome them in to the fold.