Heading off overseas in search of fame is a worthwhile ambition, with more than 100 Aussies scattered around the globe making a good living from soccer.

But it's sad so many of us feel the need to quit Australia to reach our goals.

What we need is a fully professional national competition back home which will encourage players to stay and make a go of it in Australia.

It's crucial to the future of the game in this country – and our standing in the game's pecking order – that we lift the level of our national competition.

That means encouraging quality players to stay and play in their own backyard.

Teams such as Perth Glory and Northern Spirit with their fulltime set-ups and modern approach are setting the standards for the rest to follow Down Under.

They attract big followings and have proved that soccer is capable audience in Australia.

The challenge is now for others to follow and for sponsors and the media to get involved to lift soccer to the sort of heights it enjoys in the rest of the world.

We've become a bit obsessed by what's happening overseas down the years, and that's understandable. But now it's time for us to catch up with them.

We're still a bit of a backwater, though the cream of our players are respected wherever they play.

We have a long way to go to compete with the lure of Europe or even Asia. But we've got to at least try.

Let's face it, of the multitude of Australians playing overseas only a fraction are earning top dollars with high-profile clubs.

Many are fringe players in the less glamorous leagues of Europe and would probably have been happy to stay in the land of their birth had we had a professional league for them to compete in, with the financial rewards to match. We're not talking mega money here, just enough to prevent players from uprooting and looking elsewhere.

Contrary to popular belief, we're not all earning fortunes overseas, it's just that for many players it's a better alternative then staying at home and performing in a competition that still lives in the shadow of rugby league in the northern states and Aussie Rules in the south.

For the sake of the Socceroos, it's also important we strengthen the standard of the Ericsson Cup.

With players facing gruelling journeys home for international matches it would be a lot easier if at least half the team were home-based.

It would lighten the load on everybody and raise the credibility of our national competition.

With Socceroo regulars such as myself, Paul Okon, Ned Zelic, Mark Bosnich, Tony Vidmar Mark Viduka and John Aloisi all based overseas, that scenario might seem far off.

But things will have to change if the game is to grow here and reach it's potential.

The bottom line is, we're a country that churns out quality players on a never-ending production line. Each state has elite programs for talented kids, starting from the age of 11 and continuing to the age of 18 at the Institute of Sport in Canberra.

Some kids aspire to be pilots, doctors or cricketers.

I had only one vision, there was no Plan B – it had to be soccer.

It's a ream shared by countless other Aussie kids who have been seduced by the game and who have the ambition, ability and drive to try to make a name for themselves in the world's most popular sport.

I attended the NSW Soccer Federation's program at Parklea for sever years before heading off to Leeds on a Big Brother scholarship at 16.

It would be nice to see some of our best and brightest pursue their careers at home one day. That's when we'll have come of age as a soccer nation.