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The FFA’s fan management is an absolute shambles. One only has to look at Liam Pender’s “Could the FFA’s grip on the A-league be suffocating its fans?” article on this website for an indication.
One can see the FFA’s tendency towards disregarding the fans desires to facilitate an empowered football culture – a tendency that has led to festering tensions.
The reasoning is quite flawed, too.
The FFA have often harped on the fact that their policies were on the basis of recommendations of a review. The problem here is that this review was conducted by people with no previous football experience and it did not involve any engagement with the fans.
It is quite predictably inadequate, as proved through the fact that, despite Buckley establishing that the Cove and old SCC needed to be herded into the same space like cattle so they could be “watched,” in the very first match of the season, a fight broke out in the HEM area.
All the cameras could do was record.
More able advice would have related to facilitating preventative crowd management procedures based on interaction and positional deployment. The football media have given the issue no attention, but the underlying truth is that the FFA’s security review preceding the 2008/2009 season was bungled and horrifically mismanaged and is a contributing factor in alarming trends that are occurring.
The article goes on also to allude to the FFA’s attempts to impose allocated seating. In terms of Melbourne, this overrided an agreement forged on the basis of mutual respect between fans, club and stadium to break an impasse that had ensued during the 2007/2008 A League season (season 3).
Fan’s desire to continue with the system that had provided stable, boisterous and colourful support during the 2008 ACL group stage was overrided on a condescending “we won’t be dictated to by fans” policy, underpinning their shutting out of the process.
Predictably this led to marginalisation and associated security problems.
In the region of 35 flares were lit during a pre-season game at Green Gully, delaying the start of the second half. No one purchased into the HEM area, given its violation of a core fan principle of institutional independence, leading to scattered active fans in several different areas of the stadiums and giving rise to conflict situations in the first few rounds of the season.
It is worth mentioning that Adelaide fans had the same issues with the HEM system, but their smaller numbers meant the same dynamic played out on a smaller scale.
No less relevant, though.
This is without touching on other issues, such as the Eureka flag and Buckley’s insulting remarks that fans desire to use the flags out of patriotism empowered an anti-social psyche.
Of course, the Perth fans are obstructed from celebrating their history because “they became a new element” in the minds of the FFA so, therefore, their history no longer existed.
They also had to put up with FFA attempts to change their team’s sacred colours and put a “horrendous” (probably NQ Fury like) kit in its place.
Fortunately, Tony Sage made a stand.
This is without mentioning FFA’s effective inaction to club owner’s threats to throw active fans of the Jets over balconies, and other problems, which extends to national team fans.
Active fans are often denied the use of drumsticks because “they aren’t FFA approved”, leading to the absurd situation of having to use air horns and a squeaky toy whale instead.
The FFA need to be careful.
While there is a need for assertiveness and decisiveness to roll-out, much needed and well-focused reforms such as youth and coaching development, there are certain areas within football that it is understood a more “democratic” approach works best.
Taking a democratic approach is distinct from allowing different power bases that enabled the chronic infighting of previous years that crippled football.
It is a matter of trying to facilitate everyone’s interests for the optimum outcome for football and ensuring enthusiastic motivation, such as was the case with Melbourne’s “ACL system.”
The FFA are running the risk of a Government that has been in power for too long and slowly marginalises people through disrespect and scandal after scandal. Football is not like the AFL or NRL, where there is only one league.
Despite being committed to local football, people will only put up with so much disrespect. With football, there are plenty of other leagues and teams of resonance to fans or “substitute products” that fans can put their time, energy and money into.
There is some cause for optimism.
The AFC’s Pro League requirements should hopefully lead to the necessary change in structure so as to allow clubs more appropriate influence, leading to a proper balancing of the football fraternity powerbase.
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