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Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley during the launch of the A-League season in Sydney, Monday, Aug. 2, 2010. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Ben Buckley’s media offensive to calm talk of a crisis in the A-League only highlighted another deficiency for the local game; the lack of conviction, passion and presence from football’s leadership.
Buckley’s appearances on The World Game and Fox Sports FC, and to a lesser extent his interviews with daily newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald, were highly-publicised and eagerly anticipated (in football circles), with fans eager to hear some reassurances from football’s governance on the state of the domestic competition.
Following ex-FFA chief Archie Fraser’s stinging attacks, falling crowd figures and the Newcastle Jets’ financial plight, the stage was set for Buckley (and Frank Lowy, A-League chief Lyall Gorman and co) to reemerge from their hidden state and convince lovers of the game that the FFA is capable of steering the A-League back on course.
Fans wanted/needed an impassioned response. Instead they got more rhetoric and tired old clichés.
While the Fox Sports FC interview delved into more detail with Buckley in the studio being grilled with some pertinent questions (we could have done without the Celine Dion question, however), he still rarely deviated from the FFA’s tired old script – that club bosses and critics had exaggerated the extent of the crisis.
His claim that club owners will always have issues with the governing body ignored the growing tensions and offended the viewers, in my mind, with its attempts to sweep these issues under the rug.
The FFA must stop turning against those who criticise the game for as Craig Foster and Mark Bosnich said, those who do so are doing it out of love for the game and without such questioning the FFA would have little to no accountability.
In response to the Fox Sports interview, Perth Glory owner Tony Sage launched another stinging attack, particularly with the notion that the FFA spends 48 per cent of its revenue on the A-League.
Tensions are obviously rising and the FFA cannot alienate financial heavyweights like Sage – one of the few men who can prop up A-League clubs losing $25 million per season in total.
Perhaps the most interesting point to emerge was Buckley’s comment that the marquee rule, as it is currently written, isn’t achieving its desired result of attracting name players to the A-League, but rather it is used as a way for clubs to navigate around the salary cap.
Apart from that, it was the standard responses.
When asked about crowds in the SMH interview, his answer could have been taken from a past FFA press release:
“Clubs and the FFA have to work together to engage with the fan base and to get fans coming along regularly. Teams will ebb and flow in performance and crowds will be the same. I’m sure once some of the noise from the other codes has dissipated our trend line will improve.”
We’ve heard that too many times before. It tells us nothing and the fact is the claim that they are working “together to engage with the fan base” has little evidence to back it up.
Where is this work? Why aren’t fans being asked?
It’s time for some real answers and analysis.
What A-League fans wanted to hear, rather than flat out denials, was an acknowledgment from the FFA that they are aware of the reasons why the league is failing.
As I wrote in my previous column, to not acknowledge the obvious reasons why crowds are down is to only fuel the belief that the A-League is failing as the sole result of a lack of interest.
And if the FFA cannot acknowledge the flaws in the current A-League setup, then how can it begin to address them?
The message Buckley delivered did little to dissuade fans and critics alike.
But more than anything he could have said was the manner and conviction with which he spoke.
Buckley, sadly, lacks the charisma needed from great leaders during a time of crisis.
There was little passion and conviction on show as he spoke. He almost mumbled his way through his responses, rarely changing tone or body language to stress his answers.
This perceived lack of charisma from its leadership has helped distance the FFA from the supporters, who want to see some passion in the game.
So when Pim Verbeek openly criticised the standard of the A-League and World Cup bid critics openly questioned the impact of hosting, the FFA’s leadership was rarely heard from because they were not presenting their own viewpoint with any great conviction.
In an age when the media relies on edgy sound bites, Buckley’s lackluster responses and docile tones just don’t cut it.
Even while watching the Buckley interviews on Monday and Tuesday night I couldn’t help but feel the manner in which he spoke would’ve bored a number of people whose attention spans are only held by captivating figures. Buckley, sadly, just doesn’t do that.
He just couldn’t sell the message he was trying to get across.
At the conclusion of the Fox Sports interview, Mark Bosnich implored Buckley to be more visible in the media.
Ultimately Buckley needs to be more available to the media at all times, but with more passion and forthrightness.
Presence and leadership is essential for a code desperately in need of mainstream attention.
Yet current A-League chief Lyall Gorman is an invisible figure, rarely appearing in the media.
Contrast this to the leaders of other codes, who are often highly visible and don’t need a crisis to come out and defend their game.
John O’Neill, formerly of the FFA, speaks with conviction and purpose.
His rallying calls at the formation of the A-League did much to build excitement around the new league.
The AFL’s Andrew Demetriou is an ever-present figure – good for an opinionated quote, and always defending his game and pushing its agenda at any opportunity with great purpose.
His World Cup bid attack, from an AFL perspective, was a masterstroke – timed to perfection, which spoke to its fans’ mindset.
David Gallop has withstood countless controversies and his passionate speech when the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal broke helped galvanise league supporters.
These three leaders are there when their codes and the media need them.
They are readily available to standup and sell their game. Therefore, they are inevitably heard.
Buckley’s media tour did little to console football fans. In fact, it seemed to only confirm football’s lack of strong leadership when compared to the other codes.
It’s time for Buckley and co to get on the soapbox and defend the game in a much more convincing way, with honesty and passion.