Everyone involved in soccer across Australia will play a part in making the sport the country’s No.1 under an ambitious new “whole of game” plan.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) boss David Gallop on Thursday announced the start of a four-month consultation process with all stakeholders – from the grassroots to national level – to help layout a blueprint for the game’s future.
Gallop said soccer had massive potential, but didn’t have the money, resources or structures to harvest the opportunity.
“We have many mouths to feed, but rarely do we have enough to go around,” he said.
“We could sit and wait for things to change – and certainly the game will continue to grow if we were to continue our current course – but leadership demands more of us at FFA.”
The chief executive conceded the so-called ‘national plan’ would not be an overnight fix and would take longer than the next four-year World Cup cycle.
“But we need to start and the first step is to galvanise this generation to address this challenge,” Gallop added.
He dismissed suggestions it was an acknowledgement that there was still an element of mistrust towards the FFA from sections of the soccer community, particularly from active fan groups.
“I think it’s actually the opposite,” Gallop said.
“We’re starting to build momentum. Let’s make the most of that momentum.
“I think it’s part of the evolution when you’re a relatively young organisation, only 10-years-old, that you need to continually reassess where you’re at.
“We sense that this is the right time to undertake this exercise.
“There is a unity of purpose and that’s the time to take this opportunity to actually bring everybody onto one track.”
A-League expansion will be one of many topics addressed, as will issues around the shortage of facilities, engagement with fans, player and coach development, and governance.
The consultation process will be completed by the end of the Asian Cup in January next year, and will be rolled out from July.
Justin Mahon
Roar Rookie
Egg sports are 'games of chance' with scoring systems to reward mediocrity and a good dose of aggressive hugging and wrestling built in in leu of ball play - little more :-)
Martyn50
Guest
'wrestling sports" Please explain. Is controlling an oval shaped ball with players advancing at all angles about to tackle Wrestling?. Compare that to a missed tackle and the acting antics that follow
Bondy
Guest
j binnie Nice to hear from you and by the way H Berger I believe has shot through with not much change implemented. Also do these wrestling sports AFL and NRL's wreck our development as a sport technically, I believe so .....
j binnie
Guest
This article and the resultant level of discussion is actually a sign of one of the major problems facing the growth of the game here in Australia.Once again we see the "10 year" history being used as the centre of discussion when in fact the history of our game is over 100 years old and a study of those 100 years would see the same mistakes re-occuring over and over again .Let us go back just 30 years and we find the man who has created the latest 10 year achievements walking away from the game around 1984 ,no doubt fully aware of what he, as a visionary, had tried to introduce into the heirarchy of the time. Result,- 20 years of progress curtailed again. Then lets go back even further to 1974 when a Director of Coaching was first appointed and set the task of coaching coaches.He did get started employing qualified coaches (who were also qualified educators) to each state and the education of coaches at grassroots began.Then the money ran out and the whole system (nicknamed by some as the Pommy Mafia)) collapsed in a heap 4 years later. Now I have been involved in Australian football on and off for 50 years and I could write a book about the "gaffes" I have witnessed at all levels of the game and even now I pale when I read of Han Berger admit that he seriously underestimated the comprehension of football philosophy and education he has found here.As he is about to leave the job I would like to pose the question, has the grand "Dutch based" plan created by Baan and himself been a success or a failure ?, if either,why is he leaving the job?? The discussion over "soccer" and "football" is a media generated piece of nonsense that in importance to the advancement of the game rates alongside the mud caught up in your boot studs. We do have masses of kids playing junior football and it is not in these numbers that the problem lies, but in the way they are being handled by sometime well meaning "organisers" that it is to be found.We have organised our junior football into something resembllng a sound base for pyramid building,and it is in this area the real improvement has to begin. One has only to watch objectively a local match and a top league match in Europe to register what is painfully obvious to most , a deficiency in the basic skills being evident in our localised game,things like first touch,close control, passing accuracy,speed of thought and most important scoring ability. These skills are "teachable" but have to be done at a very young age where the basics of the skill will be deeply entrenched into the psyche of a developing youngster. Sure there are a few "elite' kids who are more advanced than others but the overall average of skills education has to be seriously upgraded and the importance of "winning" demoted until a different psychological age is reached by the kids.That message was also introduced 40 years ago and if David Gallop gets down to the real grassroots he will still find lesser "Alex Fergusons" playing out their fanatasies with small teams of 6 and 7 year old players who are simply looking for fun,fun,fun. The problem is huge and we can but wish the man luck in establishing his vision for the future of the game. jb
Bondy
Guest
Mister Football What would you estimate the television global audience being for the second leg home tie between the Wanderers and Seoul FC ? .5- 600 Million.....
Justin Mahon
Guest
Plastics? Really? Oh dear, Gallop's job is bigger than we all think with clowns like this. What an authentic, soccer hard man we have here. I'm in awe of you and your soccer cred. I wish I could be you.
Bondy
Guest
What do you offer thats constructive here ?. Your sports nearly over it felt like it only ran for five weeks.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Garcia mate, careful who you call a football plastic - I'll have you know that fussball is also a passionate Man Utd fan.
The Bear
Guest
Wow this article is rubbish.
Bondy
Guest
Garcia Pull your head in clown...
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I support the Melbourne Victory Football Club. Which club do you support, Garcia?
Garcia
Guest
"All sports teams are clubs not franchises we’re not Americans with our way of sporting life here in Australia" lol what No they're not, you don't understand the difference between a sport franchise and a club. Looks like we have another modern football plastic. Which Aleague franchise are you a customer of Bondy?
Bondy
Guest
Garcia All sports teams are clubs not franchises we're not Americans with our way of sporting life here in Australia .. Franchise sounds like a fast food outlet C'mon man this is sport ...
Garcia
Guest
'Teenager' really that's the best you can do? :) Soccer
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Anyone who uses the world "plastic" in relation to football is a teenager, or wannabe teenager. Regardless, I your comments are of limited value.
Garcia
Guest
You claim to be a football fan yet you don't know what a football plastic is LOL How long have you been following football fuss since the 16th of November 2005? 'what make you think you know a thing about who I am, or what I believe' Well you have the Melbourne Victory franchise logo as your profile pic so I can only assume you're a Melbourne Victory customer. Also from reading some of your responses it is pretty clear to me you are a football plastic. So much irritation over the word soccer
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Nope. Nothing irritates me more than shoddy journalism. I don't care if the author calls the game soccer. But, Gallop did not use that word, so, if a journalist is reporting what Gallop said it is shoddy journalism to quote words that Gallop never used. PS: Please enlighten me. What is a "football plastic" and, given you've never met me - and hopefully never will - what make you think you know a thing about who I am, or what I believe.
Garcia
Guest
Nothing irritates modern football plastics like yourself fuss than calling football soccer #FirstWorldProblems Comparing this to the important work of Journalists in conflict zones and other dangerous situations get a grip fuss.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Agree. And, I'll contribute to articles written by football people, who understand & respect all aspects of The Game: the history, the culture, the Laws. Have a look at The Roar articles written by Tony Tannous & Mitchell Grima (yesterday & today, respectively) on this subject. Both have researched the topic & they understand the issues. By contrast, this piece of writing is simply a summary of a Media Release; and it doesn't even accurately quote the Media Release.
Rangaraider
Guest
There is so much about this topic to discuss and instead we highlight this quibble?! @Fussball ist unser leben @Bondy come on you guys can contribute so much more than this. Please do. This is a massive undertaking, something akin to the Japanese 100 year plan. I have thought for a while now this sort of road map should be the final legacy of Mr Lowy's reign, it will be something that WILL drive the game forward at a pace if it can be done. It will be fascinating to see what the outcomes are.