FFA are paid enough to cope with criticism

Fussball ist unser leben, Your comment in relation to hindsight " the library of hindsight is never full" is in part correct but in relation to the establishment of professional sporting clubs in Aust is far more incorrect. Our society is skill specific, this is why we are evolving and moving ahead( supposedly) and gaining more knowledge. If you are sick you go to a GP if he is not sure he/ she will refer you on to a specialist who has specific knowledge and skills in that particular area of health. This also goes for buisness, specialists exist in specific areas of buisness.FFA never took the advice of these specialists who were very well paid. If you have itchy balls you do not go to grandma to ask her what to do, you go to grandpa who will advise you on what to do. Common sense really mate, if other pro sporting teams have failed in these communities the chance are they will fail again, unless a pro review of the whole buisness plan is put in place and the mistakes made are fixed. In the most part the reason for their failure is a combination of a number of factors, in the most part it is that the poulation and finacial base is not sufficient to sustain a pro football team. We here in Aust are not a Football 'religious ' country like many in europe or the Americas The hindsight that you talk about is a myth, man does not learn from his mistakes due to egos and hidden agendas.

Time for the regional areas of northern australia to start looking joining the leagues of our northern neighbours. Football federation of australian capital cities does not represent northern australia.

There is one game of Football left this year. But the real donkey work begins straight after it in relation to the F.F.A . Just in relation to the so called growing pains of a new League is that really the issue or has the F.F.A. just treated the A League like a shopping centre I.E. well have one here ,here and here. I think to myself what if the A League didn't radically expand would these issues be discussed today, was the first model really the right model.

Francis Awaritefe also makes a great Wiggle.

You call the WC2022 bid vote of 1 meeting or exceeding expectations? That only ONE issue you speak of isn't quite as small as you make it out, it has no one answer and the debacle that was this week and the last 6 months for that matter clearly illustrates more than ONE issue. The premise alone that GCU and NQF were only allowed into the competition as a part of a strategy of winning 2022WC hosting rights and the resulting decision this week is disgraceful. Pardon me if fans get a little miffed on the whole existence of one club being around on the slightly deluded visions of the FFA. And answer me this - if hindsight is such a great thing, which we all know it is, and organisations often use this when deciding the future of staff and the direction of an organisation, how many monumental errors of judgment does it take before someone loses their job? Is the failed WC2022 bid, the failed Western Sydney franchise in a heartland of football and cutting the Fury this week not enough to gauge that perhaps we have the wrong people in place?

Ben Buckley is not a fit leader of the FFA and needs to be replaced by a younger, more passionate and energetic CEO like Kimon Taliadoris or Andy Harper.

There's always going to be a problem when there are ONLY football people or ONLY suits. The trick is to get the balance right and to have the right people in the right roles. PS great post above Axelv.

Let me change that NSL was run by football people with certain agendas & never saw the big picture.

Very good post. Please email it to FFA. With links to the MLS documents.

FFA is a weird organisation Mike. The stakeholders are broad and numerous. It's like an NGO, more than a private corporation. FFA seem to believe it is purely a business but forget about the public aspects of it. Unfortunately, it is beholden to almost no-one. It seems to pay most attention to the few big stakeholders (Sage, Palmer, Tinkler) with lots of money, but even then seems to make its own decisions without proper consultation with those guys. It's pretty poorly run from a business management perspective.

+1 Hopefully with a new TV deal, the clubs will be able to get closer to breaking even. But with a (hopefully) increasing salary cap, I don't see how a franchise in small regional areas would be able to compete or even survive in years to come. FFA can't organise a team in western Sydney. What?! Fozz said that and it's so true. The words piss-up and brewery spring to mind.

"Before Fury and GCU came around, there were consortiums pitching for an A-league licence left right and centre. Where are they now? Look, you really should check the facts before you post a comment like this. This was not the case at all. Fact: there were expressions of interest from various parties. NONE of them actually had the cash except for the Fury and GCU. I am not a fan of FFA at all. I think they are an inept dog's breakfast of an organisation. But we need to stick to the facts. West Sydney: none of the interested parties had the cash. The FFA can't just magic up a west Sydney franchise. Why do they persist in this ownership model? Because its the only ownership model on offer. It doesn't matter what the FFA says - any investors know the story. They know they are going to lose money, perhaps forever. The disconnect with reality in this debate is astounding.

NSL was run by football people and we all know what happened.

I think that this article is spot on. The lessons have to be learned from the MLS because they had the exact same problems as us and they had to change things to fix it, the MLS didn't fix itself magically by burying their heads in the sand and hoping for the best that things will turn around for no reason other than time. I think it's a bit harder to compare ourselves to the J-League because sports and cultural wise, Japan and Australia are very different countries, even how the Japanese fans operate, they are for more politer in general. America like Australia is sports mad and they have so many multiple codes competing for both fans and players. I recommend anyone that has not seen Foster's Peter Wilt interview on TWG, that they see it asap to understand the similarities between the MLS and the A-League. http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/video/404732/Peter-Wilt-exclusive---Part-1/ problems and mistakes for the MLS includes: - Honey moon period and assuming it will last forever. - Appealing to non football fans and making the matches appealing to the family friendly foremost, at the expense of the already existing football fans. - Police and security not knowing how to handle active fans and being too heavy handed towards them. - Having teams locked into expensive long term contracts with NFL stadiums (80,000 capacity) when the crowds were only 5000-15,000. - Over priced ticketing - Handing out team licenses with little market and lack of long term planning and goals - Multiple existing, established big codes that include NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, American Football, Basketball, Hockey and Baseball - multi million dollar losses per season Does any of the above sound familiar to anyone? They have have addressing these issues by: - Appealing to football fans - embrace and encourage the passion of the active support - Police and security taking a passive approach and engage with fans to tackle the real trouble makers. - building boutique 25,000 stadiums that are owned by the clubs and have full attendances for the season - affordable and enticing ticket prices - rejecting new club licenses unless they meet the very strict requirements on entering the MLS - Not comparing themselves to the other codes and focusing on themselves - clubs are now breaking even and making a little bit of profit How does all of this relate to the FFA and Australian Football in general? Simple! We need to learn from the mistakes that they have made and address the current issues facing the game in Australia. Denying there is a problem and saying we are unique and there is no other nation in the world like us is bull. Hoping things will fix themselves is not the way to go. The FFA need to wake up and make it happen! Apologies for this mammoth post, not recommended for those with ADHD.

The only long term solution is to go back to clubs. That will mean going semi pro. Fully pro is too pricey. Better than nothing.

How can the FFA not be culpable for Fury? You say Matheson's two partners cut and run. What contractual agreements did the FFA put in place to ensure that invetsors meet stringent criteria, so that this was unlikley to happen? What are those entry criteria in the first place? As I understand it, they are nowhere near as rogorous as those used by the MLS. What promises did the FFA make about profitability, to these idiots who actually think running a football club is about making money? Before Fury and GCU came around, there were consortiums pitching for an A-league licence left right and centre. Where are they now? Gone. Who would want to touch this tainted product. Under the FFA's post, West Sydney STILL do not have a team, and are unlikely to have one for the next few years, if ever. Yet this was a key area identified in the Crawford report. Why do the FFA persist in this model whereby one or a couple of owners run the show, such that when they leave, the club is dead? Promotion and marketing? The FFA have no money for it, one of the key reasons why they couldn't support the Fury. Its more dire than people think.

Frank Lowy has made these appointments therefore he must take some blame. But he is the only one who could bring change. When I say no wins i mean from a decreasing crowd, poor adviretisement, bad expansions tactics and just poor management. The appointment of Holger was a definite win! My whole reply was from an A League view point that we need that overseas person in the Archie fraser role with a free reign to make changes!! I believe that is the way forward.

This is a strange article, Mike. Are you in some way suggesting that FFA officials should not be paid for what they do? That they should enjoy the kind of unbalanced criticism they have been copping ? That Don Matheson is personally responsible for the Fury? For God's sake, the man put in $5 million dollars of his own money. That is hardly cutting and running. When was the last time you put $5 million into a venture from which you know you will never see a cent back? In my view, this article is seriously short on history and balance - the signature of most of the opinion pieces about the demise of the Fury, in fact.

Excellent post. Well said.