FFA Failure: The Sunset Of David Gallop

[mack]

7 hours ago, Burgerman said:

I like everyone else would love to know how much $$$$ is spent on the FFA board and executives as I'd say it would be better off spending on the game itself rather than fat cat mates who contribute nothing to the sport.

FFA spend $20 million plus on wages (I think it was $23 million last year) and another ~$3 million on 'administrative costs' whatever those are.

[SomeGuy1977]

5 hours ago, mack said:

FFA spend $20 million plus on wages (I think it was $23 million last year) and another ~$3 million on 'administrative costs' whatever those are.

They need the standard corporate restructure to sack a bunch of them and spend the money on something else. Maybe even the game they administer?

[Zelinsky]

In Zurich they will be super excited to learn about Lowy's conduct:

"Stakeholders believed Lowy’s official role in the formal negotiations was as a facilitator but became angry at what was perceived as overt coaching of the state and territory representatives. Such was the interference on one occasion it appears to have forced Fifa’s delegation to sideline the FFA chairman in a bid to foster productive dialogue."

Totally agree with Howcroft's conclusion:

"The Fifa normalisation committee was originally feared for the uncertainty it represented. Perhaps it should now be viewed as the source of merciful relief?"

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/13/ffa-put-eggs-in-fifa-basket-as-australian-football-descends-into-chaos-once-again

 

 

 

 

[Hughesy]

Grown man placed in naughty corner for being petulant. 

Sums up the whole saga really

[ColdRock]

Can you blame him, when do you suppose he has ever been this powerless? So much control has been in the hands of so few for so long that the feeling of being a bit part must have been horrifying. This illusion of supremecy shouldn't have been allowed to fester in the minds of these flawed personalities. The lack of vetting and oversight has allowed these otherwise fully functioning adults to become entitled children

[btron3000]

More interesting stuff here

http://footballtoday.news/features/time-for-the-faceless-men-to-be-held-to-account

 

2 hours ago, FCB said:

Totally agree with Howcroft's conclusion:

"The Fifa normalisation committee was originally feared for the uncertainty it represented. Perhaps it should now be viewed as the source of merciful relief?"

Unfortunately so do I. But I also don't want them to just side with CFG. We need a proper arrangement that ensures decisions are made for the betterment of the game.

The only solution I can see working is Mersiades earlier suggestion of the FFA licensing the A-league to act independently, but with one board member on the a-league board and vice versa. Then the clubs can get on with what they want - to try and make the best competition possible.

It would mean that each time the licence was up there would be "robust discussions" but that is expected when you are negotiating that sort of thing, not every time you want to make a decision. This arrangement would have a huge impact on football as a whole, because it raises issues like transfer fees between the state league clubs and A-league, junior development etc, but by having a licence that needs negotiating then those sorts of things can be worked out.

The problem, of course, is how to first set it up without the inherent bias we have now.

[Zelinsky]

HAL is bankrolling FFA. An independent HAL would threaten FFA's payroll. This must not happen, the status quo needs to maintained. At any cost, as we have learned this week. 

Frank Lowy was untouchable. Still is. Lederer and Frank are friends. That he would side against Frank's son says it all. 

 

[ColdRock]

In Slowy's missive he explained that socceroos matches and other FFA extravaganzas fund the A League, and A League club bosses aren't acknowledging this generosity.

I was under the impression Socceroos LTD PTY was struggling to cover their own ass let alone prop up the local league. Am I too being unappreciative or was that fantastical fabricated filler?

[Flytox]

2 hours ago, btron3000 said:

More interesting stuff here

http://footballtoday.news/features/time-for-the-faceless-men-to-be-held-to-account

 

Unfortunately so do I. But I also don't want them to just side with CFG. We need a proper arrangement that ensures decisions are made for the betterment of the game.

The only solution I can see working is Mersiades earlier suggestion of the FFA licensing the A-league to act independently, but with one board member on the a-league board and vice versa. Then the clubs can get on with what they want - to try and make the best competition possible.

It would mean that each time the licence was up there would be "robust discussions" but that is expected when you are negotiating that sort of thing, not every time you want to make a decision. This arrangement would have a huge impact on football as a whole, because it raises issues like transfer fees between the state league clubs and A-league, junior development etc, but by having a licence that needs negotiating then those sorts of things can be worked out.

The problem, of course, is how to first set it up without the inherent bias we have now.

The problem that I have with a normalisation committee is that the underlying issue won't be dealt with i.e. self interest on all sides bordering on selfishness.  It will be swept aside but raise its head later when stakeholders realise the full ramifications of the decisions made for them because they were too pig headed to make the right ones together.  I'd much rather all the protagonists get in a cage and name up their bias and argue it out together looking for a common solution that is a compromise that all will accept rather than just giving the elite clubs veto voting rights for the congress that they tried to get through this week.  It would be much uglier than going to separate rooms but eventually it has to happen in my view.  If you read Phil Mosely's history of football in NSW up to 1977 what has happened now has occurred many times since the late 1880's and I don't think a normalisation committee will stop the pattern.

I'll lay out my bias on this issue.  I have zero confidence in an elite club led or over influenced administration.  The administrations that I have personally observed since the 1957 split have in my view always focused on looking after the elite arm of the sport.  Football has grown from 50k club players in FNSW in the late 50's to nearly 250k now, despite being neglected by FNSW and the elite clubs for the majority of the time.  Growth has happened thanks to the tireless work of myriad volunteers of all persuasions, nationalities etc and the local associations.  To me this part of football needs as much attention as the 5% of players that are in the NPL system or the 0.3% of players that grace the A-League clubs.

A recent study commissioned by FNSW and FNNSW found the contribution of grassroots football to the NSW economy was just over $400pa but would increase by 50% if the inftracture needs of our code were met.  I assume the same would hold for the rest of the country.  The result of addressing the financial needs of this part of the football ecosystem in my view would not only increase the economic contribution of our sport but make a marked difference in the number and quality of players entering the elite arm of football from the grassroots.  It would grow the game from its base and be a perfect and necessary addition to growing it top down and middle out which seem to be the popular preferences at the moment.

Governance of the code should properly represent the interests of this part of the football ecosystem.

[btron3000]

Good post Flytox but I don't see the current people hammering out a solution that remove the politics and self-interest anyway. There's way too much water under the bridge. 

The only things that can save it, imo, are either totally new leadership - but who, and how not to make that appointment political? - or separating A-league from FFA. That way, the FFA and A-league can come together every few years to hammer out the deal - like an employee's union and an employer - and then they go their separate ways to run their own piece. Otherwise there'll be stuff like this every time a big issue comes up. 

I also fail to see how veto rights for A-league clubs is that horrendous. Veto rights doesn't allow you to change anything, just stop stuff. The whole purpose of having a representative congress is that stakeholders have to negotiate and compromise - you don't set the committe up so that one group can get what they want done without question.

And if the FFA can't find a congress makeup that gives them what they want, what does that say about how they've managed stakeholders? 9-3-1 has been rejected by FIFA, and FFA aren't happy with 9-5-1 or 9-4-2, so what are they going to do? FNSW are on the side of the clubs, and so that means the FFA have 8 consistent votes. Given the minimum voting numbers for clubs/players look like being 5, add FNSW they have 6, the FFA need something like 10 more stakeholder votes to get the numbers on their side. Maybe they can start with futsal? Oh wait...

[btron3000]

Another report with little tidbits of new info.

http://www.afr.com/business/sport/the-people-who-want-steven-lowy-out-of-soccer-20170810-gxtyx2

[matty]

59 minutes ago, btron3000 said:

Another report with little tidbits of new info.

http://www.afr.com/business/sport/the-people-who-want-steven-lowy-out-of-soccer-20170810-gxtyx2

Paywall

[Prydzopolis]

Nice to revisit this article from 6 months ago, dismissed without much fanfare then, very relevant now.

[mack]

1 hour ago, btron3000 said:

Another report with little tidbits of new info.

http://www.afr.com/business/sport/the-people-who-want-steven-lowy-out-of-soccer-20170810-gxtyx2

They're the group led by a former public relations and communications executive backed by one of the richest cities in the world, an Adelaide lawyer and the boss of a fruit and vegetable company turning over $500 million annually.

And their cause could ultimately see the removal Steven Lowy, scion of shopping centre billionaire father Frank and co-chief executive of Westfield Corporation, from his role a chairman of Football Federation Australia.

At the heart of the matter is the ugly governance dispute enveloping Australian soccer, with a delegation from world governing body FIFA visiting Sydney this week to witness an extraordinary two days of meetings, fallings out and counter-attacks that leaves Australian soccer split.

The future of Lowy and his FFA board, which includes corporate identities such as BT head of equities Crispin Murray and Caltex chief financial officer Simon Hepworth, is also a stake with the chance a FIFA "normalisation committee" could be installed in its place by November.

Lowy and the FFA have fallen out with the 10 A-League clubs, who have united to win more influence over the numerical make-up of the congress that elects the FFA board. The result is a bitter feud and the clubs wanting Lowy out of the way and the A-League set up as a separate entity from FFA.

The powerbrokers of the A-League clubs, all privately owned, include Melbourne City vice-president Simon Pearce, a one-time boss of the Sydney office of global PR firm Burson-Marsteller, Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin and his Melbourne Victory counterpart Anthony Di Pietro, chief executive of fast-growing Premier Fruits Group.

Pearce left Australia in 2006 for Abu Dhabi, where he became director of strategic affairs. He later entered the football world when the Abu Dhabi Group for Development and Investment bought English Premier League club Manchester City in 2008. Pearce remains a Manchester City director. City's Abu Dhabi owner also formed City Football Group, which bought the then Melbourne Heart for almost $12 million in early 2014 after an early meeting between Pearce and Frank Lowy at a private jet terminal near New York.

Griffin, meanwhile, is the clubs' spokesman via their Australian Professional Football Clubs Association, and Di Pietro is the respected head of the league's biggest team in Melbourne Victory.

The clubs have been pushing for a bigger say in the FFA congress, currently with 10 votes: nine of the various states and regions and one from the clubs, but had not come to agreement with the FFA. The structure had recently been ruled untenable by FIFA's member Member Associations Committee, which sent a delegation to Sydney this week to oversee discussions between the FFA, states, clubs and Professional Footballers Australia.

But two days of talks ended in acrimony with accusations flying of Lowy personally intervening to stop the states agreeing to a deal that would increase the clubs' congress votes to five and the PFA one with a later version giving one vote to a women's representative and four to clubs.

Griffin is in no doubt as to where the fault lies, telling AFR Weekend: "The FIFA delegation departed with full knowledge of the problems with soccer in Australia, which is the FFA board, as well as Mr Lowy."

FFA would not comment publicly, nor would other A-League bosses. Lowy said in a statement on Thursday night: "A wide range of options has been robustly discussed over the past 48 hours."

Though the clubs have made significant losses in recent years and some are struggling to find sponsors, Griffin says a Lowy removal would not mean the corporate sector abandons soccer. "I think the money the FFA bring to the game can easily be replaced, and more, if we have an independent A-League."

But he admitted the spectre of a FIFA committee taking over Australian soccer would damage the sport's reputation.

In the meantime, FFA and the clubs will lobby the nine states relentlessly in the next few weeks to find a congress model and stave off a FIFA takeover by its November 30 deadline.

 

[btron3000]

1 hour ago, matty said:

Paywall

Really? I don't subscribe...  

??

[mack]

It's a soft paywal, doesn't always come up or it depends on if you've been there in a certain amount of time. It came up for me after scrolling down the page a little bit..

[matty]

They know I'm rich, must be... 

[thefairy]

http://www.formodernfootball.com.au/we-deserve-a-voice-melbourne-city-esports-signing-marcus-gomes-demands-a-place-for-fifa-players-on-ffa-congress/

“We deserve a voice.” Melbourne City eSports signing Marcus Gomes demands a place for FIFA players on FFA 

Latest Melbourne City signing and FIFA phenom Marcus Gomes used his announcement press conference to stake a claim on behalf of all Australian FIFA players for a voice on Football Federation Australia’s controversial panel.

Claiming that FIFA players have long been ignored by the administration, Gomes told journalists that Australia risks lagging behind FIFA players from other nations. “Have you seen some of these kids from the AFC? They’re incredible, and that’s the kind of opposition we have to overcome if Australia is to push for silverware,” Gomes said.

“Despite our years of contribution to Australian football scouting and tactical development, we have never been taken seriously by FFA, and unless something changes, FIFA in this country will never achieve its full potential. Therefore I’m going to use my position to lobby FFA for a full vote in its Congress, so that FIFA in Australia isn’t left behind.”

 

Totally agree. Lets be inclusive and let the FIFA players have a say on how we should run football in this country.

[Taurus]

2 minutes ago, thefairy said:

http://www.formodernfootball.com.au/we-deserve-a-voice-melbourne-city-esports-signing-marcus-gomes-demands-a-place-for-fifa-players-on-ffa-congress/

“We deserve a voice.” Melbourne City eSports signing Marcus Gomes demands a place for FIFA players on FFA 

Latest Melbourne City signing and FIFA phenom Marcus Gomes used his announcement press conference to stake a claim on behalf of all Australian FIFA players for a voice on Football Federation Australia’s controversial panel.

Claiming that FIFA players have long been ignored by the administration, Gomes told journalists that Australia risks lagging behind FIFA players from other nations. “Have you seen some of these kids from the AFC? They’re incredible, and that’s the kind of opposition we have to overcome if Australia is to push for silverware,” Gomes said.

“Despite our years of contribution to Australian football scouting and tactical development, we have never been taken seriously by FFA, and unless something changes, FIFA in this country will never achieve its full potential. Therefore I’m going to use my position to lobby FFA for a full vote in its Congress, so that FIFA in Australia isn’t left behind.”

 

Totally agree. Lets be inclusive and let the FIFA players have a say on how we should run football in this country.

You realize it's a piss-take account right?

Disclaimer

For Modern Football is an entertainment website which produces content for entertainment purposes only.

While real people and organisations may be mentioned in the articles posted on the site, the content within these articles will contain quotes, events and situations which are fictitious, and should not be treated as anything which anyone has actually said or done.

No matter how accurate our articles may seem.

[mack]

Lol I only saw it copy-pasted on facebook and it looked legit there.

[thefairy]

16 minutes ago, Taurus said:

You realize it's a piss-take account right?

Disclaimer

For Modern Football is an entertainment website which produces content for entertainment purposes only.

While real people and organisations may be mentioned in the articles posted on the site, the content within these articles will contain quotes, events and situations which are fictitious, and should not be treated as anything which anyone has actually said or done.

No matter how accurate our articles may seem.

oh! I thought it was a great idea. You know esports is a growing market and is pretty much playing real football but with controls. I think FFA should consider it! 

Thanks for the heads up gramps!!

[Taurus]

Any twitter account administrated by Joseph Crews is a parody

[btron3000]

58 minutes ago, thefairy said:

http://www.formodernfootball.com.au/we-deserve-a-voice-melbourne-city-esports-signing-marcus-gomes-demands-a-place-for-fifa-players-on-ffa-congress/

“We deserve a voice.” Melbourne City eSports signing Marcus Gomes demands a place for FIFA players on FFA 

Latest Melbourne City signing and FIFA phenom Marcus Gomes used his announcement press conference to stake a claim on behalf of all Australian FIFA players for a voice on Football Federation Australia’s controversial panel.

Claiming that FIFA players have long been ignored by the administration, Gomes told journalists that Australia risks lagging behind FIFA players from other nations. “Have you seen some of these kids from the AFC? They’re incredible, and that’s the kind of opposition we have to overcome if Australia is to push for silverware,” Gomes said.

“Despite our years of contribution to Australian football scouting and tactical development, we have never been taken seriously by FFA, and unless something changes, FIFA in this country will never achieve its full potential. Therefore I’m going to use my position to lobby FFA for a full vote in its Congress, so that FIFA in Australia isn’t left behind.”

 

Totally agree. Lets be inclusive and let the FIFA players have a say on how we should run football in this country.

I give this article a 68 rating.

[theguyyouwishyouwere]

just like unlimited.

 

always 1 short of a 69.

[Edinburgh]

Jack Reilly speaks up again.

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2017/08/15/australian-football-gutter-says-former-ffa-heavyweight-reilly

I doubt he would be available as a replacement for Gallop.  I wonder if he would be a good replacement for Lowy?

 

[Prydzopolis]

Stood on too many toes, plus he wants to remove the voting power and structure of the state federations.

No chance this guy will get a look in 

[Paul01]

Update on FFA / FIFA

FIFA has placed the future of Australian football firmly back in Football Federation Australia's court and issued a subtle reminder it is not a stakeholder in the political reform process.

It comes as the players' union on Wednesday wrote to state member federations stating it had received member backing for a compromised expanded congress model in which it would get only one vote.

A fortnight after a visiting FIFA/AFC delegation witnessed the chaotic, nasty nature of the game's domestic governance, the world governing body has dispatched its first piece of formal feedback to FFA chairman Steven Lowy.

In a letter obtained by AAP and dated August 22, FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura describes this month's heated meetings in Sydney as "productive and fruitful", implying there are no plans at this stage to disband the FFA board before the November 30 deadline it has imposed.

However, Samoura reiterates the "critical time of the process" in which FFA has been ordered to allow more stakeholders a say in how the game is run.

 

"While FIFA and AFC remain committed to providing you with our continued and full support, the responsibility - as communicated by the joint FIFA/AFC visit in line with the aforementioned decision of the FIFA Member Associations Committee - to reach agreement on a consensual membership model lies with FFA and the stakeholders (Member federations, A-League clubs and PFA)," the letter reads.

"In this context, we look forward to continuing to receive regular updates on the process from FFA."

[Prydzopolis]

FFA will see this as a win to delay the process as long as possible  till November 30.

Glad FIFA aren't going to disbanded the board and replace them by there own corrupt bunch but can the FFA be trusted to enact reform themselves?

[matty]

The FFA couldn't be trusted to run a raffle

[Prydzopolis]

14 hours ago, matty said:

The FFA couldn't be trusted to run a raffle

Could FIFA?

The way I see it:

FFA couldn't even find anyone to sell the raffle tickets to

FIFA sell all the raffle tickets but all the money goes missing. By the time the sellers get commission and FIFA takes the admin fee plus bonus payments (for selling all the raffle tickets) plus allowances for daily travel there is hardly any money left over.