With failed A-League expansion, small thinking, authoritarian rule, and wasted time on a pointless World Cup bid, the FFA are holding football back in Australia. I join the ever-growing group of people calling for football-people in a progressive Football Federation Australia.
The FFA team seem to have been well-suited for most of their actions in this first wave of growth and reforms but they have shown that they are absolutely incapable of working in a deeper-football world, where further insight and knowledge of the game are needed.
They are completely attached to total power but won’t use that power anymore to progress the game, rather only focusing on very narrow-minded issues that they seem to think are the only things football is concerned with, when football operates in a grand world related to everything from stadiums, to business, culture and philosophy.
Focusing on the World Cup bid seemed to be the FFA’s highest priority, but was destined to failure because we did not cheat and bribe our way to success. The FFA have neglected our domestic issues in favour of the chance to secure the 2022 World Cup, and now we are left with nothing.
With Frank Lowy wanting to secure his own legacy and not the legacy of football in Australia, the FFA have in the meantime avoided the most important domestic issues of football and failed the public.
The FFA say they have a big job ahead of them but I doubt they should consider their jobs secure as they have failed time and time again to have any real foresight and plan, and seem unable to take football forward any more.
Constantly comparing themselves with Australia’s other codes, which couldn’t be further from the unique world of football, and responding to every bit of criticism from the media, the FFA at the moment aren’t leaders but are moving backwards with the people who do not feel passionate for the game in Australia.
There needs to be some sort of government intervention, similar to what is happening in England at the moment with a government intervention and review of all things English football after their failed World Cup bid. So changes can happen in terms of the FFA’s management as well as their powers and how un-involved all the A-League clubs seem to be in terms of decision making and ideas.
Why isn’t there a board with representation from each of the A-League clubs?
I also have to ask why the FFA are so scared of installing a body that is directly focused on the professional league(s) in Australia. Like the LFP in Spain and France or The Football League in England and Scotland, as well as their independent break away Premier League competitions.
Devoted management to these counties professional league’s is the only format for success, accountability and long-term plans and achievements.
People say that the A-League is too small to have a separate commission from the FFA and it wouldn’t work, but obviously what we have isn’t working at the moment in the set up of the FFA.
Wouldn’t it be logical to say the A-League has a lot of issues currently and with the FFA so focused on things like the national team’s, youth development, hosting international events, managing the state federations and so on, there should be more being done about securing the long-term prosperity of our domestic professional league in Australia.
There is no reason why the A-League should be neglected by being thrown in with all these other parts of the game when it is so important to the growth of football in Australia. When you can have an organisation with devoted people only thinking about the league, I think that would benefit the A-League and football, and help further reform and progress as it only can get bigger and better from here.
The A-League might be too small to some to have its own regulatory body but it is not too small in terms of its current issues and barriers.
One could argue that it is more vital to be focusing on the league now, with a devoted management body when it is small and struggling, than when it is developed and popular in all areas.
You can’t say the A-League is over-managed or too focused on currently, it is neglected by the FFA and devoid of any plans, ideas or long-term strategy. These things would only come in the current football environment of Australia, when a devoted league body is established, under license from the FFA, but still independent in terms of management and ideas.
With many articles on The Roar talking of these very issues of FFA inadequacy and much more talk across the media, I hope the public start asking more questions and some changes are made to the management of the FFA.
A group of passionate football-people who care for the game and Australia will secure football in the hearts of the public.
Until then, we will constantly be let down.
Jaryd
Guest
Why not? those great Melbourne knights teams with Viduka, Simunic etc were simply amazing.....what about Ange going back to back with South Melbourne with players like Trimboli, Boutsianis, lozanovski etc..freakish players....wasnt that long ago when Ange was considered "old soccer" and destined to be a failure with the Roar because his success came in the "average" nsl....not that many people are talking now though...go ask Ange in a private convo which players he feels were better his old south players or his current Roar.... chances are you wont get the answer you want! hell even Carltons cameo in the nsl, josh kennedy, archie, grella, bresciano etc....the nsl always had the quality on field and it was as good if not better than what you see now, of course the nsl had a lot of rubbish as well...but so does the A league. The issue is that the sport should have been more inclusive of the old clubs, not saying to be in the A league but more respect shown, when the ffa divides the game up with comments such as "old soccer, new football" of course its going to alienate people, unfortunately these people arent coming back now and thats a shame cos our sport needs every fan it can get right now.
thom_canberra
Roar Rookie
When talking about the World Cup, I am only saying that there was no point bidding on a WC that was rigged, which was demonstrated before the bidding day- that it was corrupt and the voting should have been delayed as stated by Transparency International. Of course the WC cup was important but don't you think the FFA were putting all their eggs in one basket? They were obviously nieve to think we had any chance in the bidding process without a represenatative in the FIFA executive board and once the group of 22 men went into the room, Australia's voice and promises were left behind. The FFA in the meantime neglected every other issue in terms of domestic football and now we are left in this situation. There has been some great achievements in the last 10 years or so and I wouldn't be writing this article if I thought football was ruined, but what I am saying is that the current FFA group have done their job and cannot take the any game further. They don't have the insight or football-knowledge to do any more good and progress for the game and at the moment there are some huge issues and the FFA just aren't managing...
John
Guest
Are you serious these teams would all beat the 2 teams you mentioned. Marconi mid 80s early 90s, Adel City early to mid 90s, sth melb 90s syd utd mid 90s melb knights early to mid 90s syd oly late 90s wollg late 90s early 00s
TheMagnificent11
Roar Guru
I agree. The A-League needs should eventually have its own regulatory body that works on behalf of the A-League clubs. That body must have at least one seat on the FFA board. Let's assume though that from next season there was this new A-League commission with each club having representation on the A-League commission's. They negotiate the A-League TV rights and sponsorships for season 8 and FFA does everything else. The A-League commission would then have to use the money they make to fund the A-League clubs (give them enough money to cover the salary cap or most of it) and also promote/advertise the league. They would also have to assist the clubs with community engagement issues. That's all well and good if they get enough money from TV rights and sponsorships. However, if they do not, the clubs will be neglected by this new body the same way the FFA neglects them at the moment. Also, the FFA would have to cough up the money to setup this new body (unless they get a subsidy from the Federal Government).
Stevo
Guest
Nick, in season 1 I sat next to an older gentleman (from Euro background) at Olympic Park Melb and I asked him how he was enjoying the A-league. He said it was great to be going to football again after over twenty years. He said he had stopped going because of crowd problems. The problem with the NSL clubs is that they did not connect with the wider Australian public and pretty much kept to their cultural backgrounds. That's why Steve Waugh recently said that when he had to choose between cricket and football, he chose cricket because he felt it was more inclusive. You can't bring back the NSL model - it failed to connect.
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Can see why they needed a fresh start, but perhaps needed to be more inclusive of the NSL clubs, instead they seem to have allowed themselves to be guided too much of a fear over how the media would over-hype things rather than nruture the football fraternity
Robbie Di Fabio
Roar Guru
Thom, I understand your passion and applaud it, some of the things you wrote have due rationale. Conversely I don’t agree with some aspects you have written about. To say it was a waste of time and pointless to bid for the World Cup seems farcical, if we won the biggest event on Earth, I doubt people would have this negative view. Bidding for the World Cup proved we are a serious football nation, even though we didn’t win it, it must be applauded that we gave it a decent shot. . I believe the FFA has some issues at the moment; however it's not all doom and gloom. We only need to look how far the game has developed in the past 10 years; it has been quite an achievement. As it has been mentioned: we have a respectable domestic competition in a very competitive Australian market, albeit crowds declining there is much potential and a need for optimism, moved into Asia (playing more competitive/higher standard of games), currently witnessing the best technical standard of football the A-League has seen, an abundance of mainstream coverage from the media (in contrast to the NSL), qualified for 2 consecutive World Cups, redevelopment of the junior set-ups, higher participation rates at grassroots level, $120 million t.v deal (unheard of for football before the FFA, and will improve with the next deal), an FFA technical director, creditable National coach and set-up, a sense of admiration from the football world (for the A-League/National teams) etc. Yes, the FFA should have improved certain aspects of their business dealings recently, i.e marketing for the A-League, engaging with the fans (what they want etc), the expansion process (Western Sydney bid) etc. However, the governing body can and hopefully will improve these aspects in due time. It’s disappointing but we will get there. Football in this country will always be fighting an uphill battle to some degree. I’m optimistic and believe these issues can be turned around.
NUFCMVFC
Guest
Interesting point. In the spirit of self reflection I will admit to the fact that active fans haven't always been angels of course, and sometimes some stupid actions gave certain sections of the media fuel for a hysterical beat up (think South Melbourne flare and the Brick being thrown at the Tram etc) but nevertheless crowds still managed to be strongish during that time and keep going up (although there were issues with Perth and SFC after season 1). Now what's happened...? I will say there is certainly a lack of foresight in their policy making regarding fan issues
Realfootball
Guest
Hmm, so the NSL sides would have topped Victory v.2 and the current Roar side. Pull the other one. I remember the NSL only too well. What amazes me is how there are still old reactionaries who will still talk it up like it was the promised land. I don't know what world you live in, Nick, but it ain't the same one as me.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
So, Nick, what are you saying? Are you suggesting that: If the A-League had been operating during the 80s & 90s, then "viduka, kalac bosnich schwarzer katholos yankos emerton culina agostino lazaridis bresciano grella zelic" would not have been footballers? Are you seriously saying that these lads would have taken up another sport, or they would have followed a non-sporting career path if it had been the A-League rather than the NSL? I think we can thank Mr & Mrs Viduka, Mr & Mrs Kalac, Mr & Mrs Bosnich, etc. for producing those champion Aussie footballers and the NSL clubs gave them an excellent grounding. The A-League has been operating for 5.5. years so how can anyone make any comparison about the quality of player that it will produce - we'll have to wait 40 years to make a valid comparison with the NSL. I guess, the most telling assessment come from guys, who actually played in the NSL: Kalac, Zdrilic, Foster, Bosnich, Slater, Zelic, Corrica etc. have all said the A-League is a far superior league to the NSL ... and, I reckon, they would know. In fact, I have NOT heard a single ex-NSL player say that the NSL was a better football product. The only people, who go on and on about "the NSL was better than the A-League" are disgruntled ex-NSL fans with a chip on their shoulder.
Nick
Guest
I Doubt the a league could get the likes of ferenc puskas to coach here let alone ian rush asanovic estavillo beardsley and many more who came to australia in an excellent quality football league let alone produce the likes of viduka, kalac bosnich schwarzer katholos yankos emerton culina agostino lazaridis bresciano grella zelic, people do indeed have short memories
sydboz
Guest
Yes, the NSL people have extremely short/wharped memories. http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/NSL/9899/reports/report147.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/09/1065676096258.html?from=storyrhs http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/08/1034061205006.html
hop sing
Guest
Surely Some of the bigwigs could take a pay cut to bring more (football) people in.
Pete
Guest
Actually, Frank Farina was national coach under Frank Lowy's reign. We have also had sell out grand finals in the past and - before the NSL - club crowds of up to 20,000 in places like Wentworth Park on a regular basis. We also had absolute top quality European and South American pro imports, some of whom actually went on the full international caps on their return home. Like you said JAJI, people have VERY short memories.
December 17
Guest
Great post!
MartyB
Guest
Lowy was also the reason that the Sydney Rovers were picked as a provisional expansion team over seemingly better prepared bids from Canberra & Tasmania. I don't think you could say that Lowy and the FFA are NOT keen to put a team in the west of Sydney. Quite the opposite - seems there was no "groundswell of interest" as was expected to happen, and the bid withered on the vine.
Realfootball
Guest
Absolutely.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Well I was just so looking forward to seeing the WC on Australian soil before I head off to some other place in the universe.. Now that dream is dead----Australian Football has always been my only real passion and development of football in the Oceania region is very important to me as well.. Australia was their only hope for that to happen.. So it was not only Australia that lost out but Oceania as well, via Australia being geographically placed in the South Pacific region..
punter
Guest
Well said Jaji.
sydboz
Guest
2 or 3 incidents? Are you kidding me? The incidents got to such a level that every week, it' wasn't the football game on television it was the mass riot, pig head, security guards getting attacked or a bunch of thugs going gun-ho at each other, football in this nation was held to ransom by various groups using football as an excuse for their own inferior complex syndromes. I have nothing against the NSL, it done a fantastic job for football but it's time was well and truly up and the A-league is the next step in the football story within Australia. The quality of football is amazing compared to the past, however it just needs to get some proper people working more closely with the game in mind than what it has at the moment. Ben Buckley, Edwin Lugit etc are not what the game needs. You need charisma, you need personality, not Mr Lugit from Sydney FC. I have no idea how the football executives in this nation are selected, no idea at all.