Fostering dunces a big part of FFA’s problem
Roar Guru By Dugald Massey, 10 Mar 2011 Dugald Massey is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Andy Harper, Craig Foster, Crawford Report, FFA, football, simon hill
Football Federation Australia (FFA) Chairman Frank Lowy AC and CEO Ben Buckley. AAP Image/Tracey Nearm
In recent days, both Craig Foster and The Age’s Michael Lynch have called for independent reviews of Football Federation Australia’s performance in recent years.
Simon Hill and Andy Harper can see some real problems there too, as does Jesse Fink, who thinks Frank Lowy’s time is up. Mike Cockerill’s been critical too. I nodded off while Les was talking.
It sounds like terribly serious journalism. It’s not.
Conspicuously absent from their long lists of areas requiring urgent investigation is the quality of the football commentariat’s performance since the last independent review of football in Australia, the 2003 Crawford report.
In a former life, I worked in electrical retail.
One of the running water-cooler jokes was the abject stupidity of manufacturers. This included the instructions in the box when common sense told us it was smarter to post them out later on, when the consumer is at their most receptive to absorbing ‘Important Information Regarding Your New Purchase’ – after smoke started pouring out the back of it.
It’s a lesson completely lost on our football commentariat.
If any of them did read the Crawford report, they either didn’t comprehend it or they have all descended from goldfish and it was a clean slate again three seconds later.
So here we are again, just like the last time and the time before that, smoke pouring out the back of our football, pretending the product must be faulty.
Read the bloody instructions fellas. If you don’t understand it, at least ask questions.
Stop pretending.
- Explore:
- Andy Harper, Craig Foster, Crawford Report, FFA, football, simon hill
March 10th 2011 @ 9:24am
Clanscout said | March 10th 2011 @ 9:24am | Report comment
What the??? Right up there with the “Tomatos a fruit but you wouldnt put it in a fruit salad” comment
March 10th 2011 @ 2:16pm
Dugald Massey said | March 10th 2011 @ 2:16pm | Report comment
Sorry folks, I can’t even understand what it says — something’s happened to a couple of paras between my pen and their paper
Dunno how this stuff happens but I got work to do.
If it’s important to you, ask the editors to find the missing words.
DM
March 10th 2011 @ 10:25am
Beelzebub said | March 10th 2011 @ 10:25am | Report comment
What a pointless article.
Is it the FFA’s fault that fans are not rocking up to matches? It is the fan’s fault PURE AND SIMPLE. Get it!
Maybe Australia is just not a soccer nation. Maybe some people in Oz will have to accept that and just move on.
Personally, I think they private ownership system is always bound to fail. Does not even work in Europe. Every club bar Arsenal is losing money. In Italy, it is the same, as well as Spain. Real Madrid has debts like you get in third world states but cannot be run out of business because of the prestige of the organization. Too big to fail.
The A League needs fine tuning, going back to club structures, playing in cheaper stadia. Perth is looking at this now, Melbourne’s teams should look to suburban grounds to cut rents drastically, same with Adelaide, Brisbane etc.. Also, maybe going mainly semi-pro will help.
Probably 3 teams in Melbourne and Sydney each, to increase numbers of participating clubs. It will essentially go back to an NSL, but it is obviously the only model that works, well sort of.
March 10th 2011 @ 11:24am
Australian Football said | March 10th 2011 @ 11:24am | Report comment
Oh that’s right take the game back to the old Sokkah days. Is that your forward thinking??? We have been there and done that.. What we lacked was promotion of the HAL—that is what has been missing—that is what will be fixed next year.
March 10th 2011 @ 12:13pm
John said | March 10th 2011 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
^^^^ What is this bloke smoking
March 10th 2011 @ 12:58pm
Australian Football said | March 10th 2011 @ 12:58pm | Report comment
Were you asking me what Beelzebub was smoking? Clearly the same substance that Mr Nixon was on I guess…
March 10th 2011 @ 4:14pm
triffid said | March 10th 2011 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
Why do have to wait until next year?What about this year?.This would not happen in any mainstream sport.For this monumental ineptitude alone Buckley and Lowy should be gone.This is basic business management.If FFA think this is acceptable it shows they have no idea.What do they have to do to be gone?
I just find it unbelievable.But self appointed dictators can do what they want I guess?
Anyone?Please tell me how we the football public can deal with this incompetence?
ps
If FFA say they couldn’t advertise this year because they had no money.That reinforces my opinion of their incompetence!
March 10th 2011 @ 5:08pm
French Fries said | March 10th 2011 @ 5:08pm | Report comment
+1
They really are just guessing at this.
I wonder if Buckley has an MBA. All the basic business management strategies that FFA have completely ignored are covered in such courses.
March 10th 2011 @ 8:22pm
ian said | March 10th 2011 @ 8:22pm | Report comment
triffid,
Is that from day of the triffids?
Your ntrying to tell people that Frank Lowy does not know how to run a buisness.
You are kidding me and that is very funny.
He has built from scratch one of the biggest retail construction and management companies in the world. You are obviously Paul Allen in disguise.
Can you lend me a million or two ?
No I thought not.
March 10th 2011 @ 8:57pm
triffid said | March 10th 2011 @ 8:57pm | Report comment
Hehe I could if I wanted to.Yes I have run a successful business ,where I had build a client base with extensive marketing.The issue you raise with Lowy is pertinent.The fact remains that most businesses are run by businessmen who know their particular genre of business.Just because you run a successful real estate business,does not mean you can run a football competition.In any event a lot of wealthy business people have lost the lot once by taking risks.I have met such people.Regarding Lowys business Westfield,if you want to run your eyes over the balance sheet you will see that it relies heavily on massive debt.A business that has performed dismally over the last few years.
March 10th 2011 @ 8:19pm
Hrundi V Bakshi said | March 10th 2011 @ 8:19pm | Report comment
Pretty much agree with Beelzebub. Not sure why it was censored, not exactly profanity filled and sledging soccer. I guess it is the old story about the soccer brigade and their trouble of copping it on the chin.
If you understand anything about business, if you are losing money in running an enterprise you either raise your price or you reduce your costs. In this case, you cannot raise prices because people won’t pay it and if you reduce costs it means you need to cut fat. Fat is player and staff salaries, stadium rents etc..
Do not buy the constant harping on by the soccer community about this ‘promotion’ to save the A-League. Ask yourselves this, the AFL has live, primetime, free to air tv, into Sydney and how well is that working? The tv ratings are less than what the Iron Chef get’s on SBS at the same time and you could argue the SCG is mainly the AFL states ex-pats all getting together in their ‘community hall’ in the heathen north.
March 10th 2011 @ 10:32am
ItsCalledFootball said | March 10th 2011 @ 10:32am | Report comment
Dugald, you might be the dunce?
Do you ever have anything constructive to say about football and the FFA?
March 10th 2011 @ 4:18pm
triffid said | March 10th 2011 @ 4:18pm | Report comment
I do.”Please resign”.
March 10th 2011 @ 11:23am
Realfootball said | March 10th 2011 @ 11:23am | Report comment
The point Dugald is making, if I am correct, is that the commentary on football’s current ills is woefully lacking in context, balance and expertise – a point I have made more than once myself.
Foster is an idealogue, a zealot, without experience in either administration or business. He is, bluntly, an amateur. Jesse Fink is a self aggrandising cynic who has decided to carve a specific niche for himself in this debate to disguise the fact that he actually has nothing to say worth the screenspace it takes. Les Murray, icon though he is, is also something of a dinosaur, a representative from an earlier time.
Dugald is perhaps being rather too obtuse for his own good, but I get the point and agree, though I must confess, Dugald, that you did lose me towards the end there.
There is way too much hysteria and misinformation among the commentators in this debate, and not nearly enough solid journalism. The endlessly self promoting Jesse Fink is an example of all that is wrong with the football “commentariat”. No substance, no balance – just self serviing bluster.
March 10th 2011 @ 1:10pm
floppybottom said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:10pm | Report comment
well said realfootball.
March 10th 2011 @ 1:38pm
Joe FC said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:38pm | Report comment
Couldn’t agree more.
March 10th 2011 @ 1:55pm
Australian Football said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:55pm | Report comment
“Foster is an idealogue, a zealot, without experience in either administration or business.”
Without experience? Hardly he was instrumental in setting up the Football Player’s Association.. I think the first president of the Professional Football Player’s Association for 2 years and was involved in formulating their own HAL model that John O’Neil rejected now many are calling for its implementation. No, he has a wealth of experience and knowledge in Australian Football administration and clearly knows his stuff..
March 10th 2011 @ 3:14pm
Realfootball said | March 10th 2011 @ 3:14pm | Report comment
If indeed he was involved in setting up the rejected national league model, then this is even worse. Foster is, like a spurned lover, a sworn enemy of the victor. That’ the thing with Craig – he always considers he could have done it better. Without ever actually doing it, of course. I admire his football brain, but he has been king of the limited intellectual hill at TWG for too long, and it hasn’t been good for him.
TWG/SBS’s hostility to the A-League has been a problem right from day 1. Another spurned lover – they didn’t get the TV rights and have spent much of the past few years sulking about it.
March 10th 2011 @ 4:06pm
Australian Football said | March 10th 2011 @ 4:06pm | Report comment
Realfootball—-off the top of my head the model the Players Association had called for were 2 teams in Melb; 2 in Sydney, East and West playing out of small affordable stadia—only one in Brisbane Qld and the usual suspect Glory and Adelaide etc. Now I know recently you have written as much as saying the same—a model of one that was most affordable and should have been adhered too. I think it was about the only time I thought his proposal was too conservative. and liked John’s model better.
March 10th 2011 @ 6:05pm
apaway said | March 10th 2011 @ 6:05pm | Report comment
That’s not all that far off what we’ve got.
And I might be wrong, but I think Kimon Taliadoros was the first president of the APFA.
March 15th 2011 @ 3:28pm
Mahony said | March 15th 2011 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
He lost me at “Fink” – untill I understood he was ragging the football media. I would agree – it is amateur hour in the football media with very few exceptions. I think Lynchy is great. Would liek a lot more coverage from Fairfax and I sometimes don’t agree with him – but he is a very informed commentator………. One of a very few……
March 10th 2011 @ 12:00pm
French Fries said | March 10th 2011 @ 12:00pm | Report comment
I’m confused. What’s the metaphor about the water cooler? Who, the what?! Why? What are they pretending?
Did you mean that the FFA didn’t read the instructions in the Crawford Report? Did the Crawford Report say that self-righteous football journalists and zealots should do something different too?
I suggest a Crawford style report on football journalists to be named the Massey Report. Getting rid of Robbie Slater should be noted in the Executive Summary (in bold).
March 10th 2011 @ 2:35pm
floppybottom said | March 10th 2011 @ 2:35pm | Report comment
are you french?
March 10th 2011 @ 5:09pm
French Fries said | March 10th 2011 @ 5:09pm | Report comment
Non. Oui. No, not at all.
Is your bottom really floppy?
March 10th 2011 @ 12:02pm
Aka said | March 10th 2011 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
I like your articles Dugald. I’m not sure I get them which is why I like them. They make me think, and often outside the square.
March 10th 2011 @ 1:11pm
floppybottom said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
a fine article dugald.
March 10th 2011 @ 1:43pm
Art Sapphire said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:43pm | Report comment
floppy, looks like you’re a fan of brevity. Only 261 words in this piece.
Dugald used most of them up in today’s Essendon piece which came in at a hefty 1810 words
March 10th 2011 @ 1:57pm
MyLeftFoot said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:57pm | Report comment
That story is a long one in the telling, there’s no other way around it.
Pointing out that soccer journalists have let Lowy off the hook the past few years is a very short story.
March 10th 2011 @ 2:02pm
Art Sapphire said | March 10th 2011 @ 2:02pm | Report comment
MLF, you’ve got plenty of time on your hands. Write that long story and put your name to it.
There’s a good lad
March 10th 2011 @ 2:40pm
floppybottom said | March 10th 2011 @ 2:40pm | Report comment
art,
very much a fan of brevity as my beckett collection will attest.
football journalism for whatever reason is attrocious. i wrote a similar, if briefer, piece on that ignoramous fink but the moderators wouldn’t let it through.
March 10th 2011 @ 3:03pm
Art Sapphire said | March 10th 2011 @ 3:03pm | Report comment
floppy, they probably didn’t let it through because everyone would have agreed with you.
what was there to debate?
March 10th 2011 @ 1:34pm
Rob McLean said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:34pm | Report comment
Um…yeah…I might have to read this one again.
March 10th 2011 @ 2:37pm
Dugald Massey said | March 10th 2011 @ 2:37pm | Report comment
No, don’t.
March 10th 2011 @ 9:39pm
Rob McLean said | March 10th 2011 @ 9:39pm | Report comment
No worries. An author is always his own harshest critic.
March 10th 2011 @ 1:44pm
MyLeftFoot said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:44pm | Report comment
Dugald is spot on the money.
I can recall Greg Baum, a Walkley winner, attending one of his first ever soccer press conferences, in the early days of Buckley’s reign.
He announced a brand new sponsor for the FFA or the A-League, or someone.
The room stood up to clap and give Buckley a standing ovation.
Baum was quite mystified by this reaction, he had never seen anything like it in an AFL press conference, rather, the questions would have been flying about who, what, how much, how long, etc, etc
Who was the sponsorship with and for how much?
I couldn’t tell you, the journos present were too busy clapping and cheering.
This is precisely what Dugald is talking about.
March 10th 2011 @ 2:23pm
French Fries said | March 10th 2011 @ 2:23pm | Report comment
Ah. Got it. Thx.
March 10th 2011 @ 3:58pm
floppybottom said | March 10th 2011 @ 3:58pm | Report comment
are you sure youre not french?
March 10th 2011 @ 5:11pm
French Fries said | March 10th 2011 @ 5:11pm | Report comment
Ah am definitely not Frrrrrench. Why doo yoo ask eh you silly kniggot? Ah fart in the FFA’s general direction.
March 10th 2011 @ 1:54pm
roger said | March 10th 2011 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
The HYUNDAI ,sponcer Australian football league with AU$2,000,000 a year, and BEN BUCKLY’S salary is ,AU 2,000,000
so the question is:-
Who the car maker HYUNDAI , is sponsoring ?is it sponsoring BEN BUCKLY, or Australian football league?
March 10th 2011 @ 7:43pm
midfield general said | March 10th 2011 @ 7:43pm | Report comment
wow Buckley’s on 2mil??? he probably could have saved NQF by sacking himself
March 10th 2011 @ 9:21pm
triffid said | March 10th 2011 @ 9:21pm | Report comment
Are you sure.$2mill a year for a business with a turnover of $90+million seems a bit over the top.Especially when you consider there are other highly paid executives.I presume Lowy draws a salary too.