Football Federation Australia can add another disgruntled businessman to their list of critics after seemingly extinguishing Canberra’s long-held hopes of entering the A-League.
Bid leader and TransACT boss Ivan Slavich’s three-year battle to get a team up in the nation’s capital was revived briefly when the FFA this week revoked Gold Coast United’s licence and announced it was keen to maintain a 10-side competition.
But the FFA has since confirmed its preference to start a franchise in western Sydney rather than consider Canberra’s long-standing $4 million bid.
“I don’t think it’s fair,” Slavich told AAP on Friday.
“It is frustrating because we do have money behind it and a lot of capability and it seems western Sydney doesn’t have any capability, yet the FFA is prepared to completely fund it.
“We would have had a great team.
“The FFA’s thumbing their nose to the actual football supporters in Canberra – that’s the disappointing thing.”
To get the bid up and running originally, Slavich secured financial backing from the ACT government, business and private investors, which included $200 a pop commitments from thousands of foundation members.
But pending the veto from the FFA – Slavich has yet to be told directly – he will begin refunding the pledges.
With the FFA not planning to expand the A-League for another five years, it means Canberra fans are in for a long wait.
Slavich said Canberra deserved a spot and insisted he could have had a team ready to go for the next A-League season, despite the teams that have fallen by the wayside, courtesy of short preparation time, like Gold Coast and Townsville.
“It would have definitely been a lot of work and time, but I think we could have done it.
“We were prepared to do it.”
A disappointed Slavich said he’d been burned by the process and would only commit to another bid if the FFA openly courted one.
“We’d have to have a much stronger commitment from the FFA that they would include us, rather than wasting our time.
“If it’s just a roll of the dice and see what happens – which is the way it’s operated to date – I doubt I’d do it.”
Lucan
Western Sydney might be the ideal location, but surely the FFA need to start doing this by open tender and awarding the licence to the best suitor regardless of location. ("Exclusivity" clauses are all finalised as far as I know) Lessons need to be learnt from the failed NQF, GCU and Sydney Rovers. Don't award the licence and then try to make it fit, that is nonsense.
pete4
Guest
Wilson - Gold Coast have 9000 registered players. Townsville had something like 3500
wilson
Guest
canberra should be feeling lucky that what happened to fury and gcu hasnt happened to them. they should give it team and do it right instead of rushing in for the sake of it when they only have 18,000 players.
Evan Askew
Guest
Its good to see that he is still prepared to commit to a bid if FFA make an open approach for a team. Because to me it indicates he is fair dinkum about the sport and though he is dissapointed and disagrees with his city not being on the radar, he accepts the authority of FFA. Unlike a certain corpulent former owner.
pete4
Guest
I saw an article there is 18,000 registered players in Canberra and apparently struggling to get enough suitable fields in the ACT to cope
David
Guest
I agree with your complaint. From the outside of Melbourne and Sydney and looking in, football can look like a very insular community that is only really interested in those areas.
Swampy
Guest
While Canberra hasn't a great history of turning up in numbers to support any code, it is disappointing to read the content of this article. Canberra is full of well paid middle class and is a much more centralized population than say central coast or Newcastle. Could we go any worse than Townsville or Gold Coast? Surely the FFA need to keep risking new franchises to find ones that can come up with a financial model that works. The reality is that the A-League will never prosper if it can't establish and maintain teams in smaller markets. If we end up with 4 or 5 teams in Melb & Syd each then where is the national interest going to come from? Where does the tangible development path lie for juniors? Can we ever establish a second tier competition? As sad for football as this last week has been (including the class of 06 still proving they are our best options at national level) with so much focus being placed on our administration, perhaps the FFA will come to the realization that in the last 3 years they have really dropped the ball. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.