Socceroos striker Mathew Leckie is confident the ongoing pay dispute with FFA won’t distract Australia’s soccer stars ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh and Tajikistan.
The Professional Footballers Association and FFA are still at loggerheads over the stalled negotiations relating to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which expired on June 30.
The Socceroos have ruled out the prospect of boycotting any of their upcoming World Cup qualifiers over the issue.
But they’ve taken a significant stand against FFA by pulling out of any commercial public appearances in Perth this week.
The Socceroos will still fulfil their fan day and charity obligations, but they’ve withdrawn from anything to do with FFA’s commercial partners.
The pay dispute is threatening to overshadow the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh in Perth on Thursday night.
But Leckie said the players were keeping their mind squarely focused on the job at hand.
“The scenario we’re in at the moment isn’t the best,” Leckie said.
“But for me it’s not too much of a problem.
“Those things don’t really worry me. It’s something the people behind the scenes have to figure out.
“The main thing is to make sure we’re getting ourselves right for the game and get in good shape.”
PFA chief executive Adam Vivian said Australia’s soccer stars felt vulnerable now that their previous collective bargaining agreement has expired.
The new CBA will cover the Socceroos, Matildas, and A-League.
Further tension was added to the situation when FFA scrapped their memorandum of understanding with PFA.
The move effectively strips the PFA of much of their powers.
“FFA are still negotiating with us,” Vivian said.
“But ultimately there’s no contractual obligation to it, and the players feel vulnerable because of that.”
Vivian said another big issue that needed to be resolved was the $4.5 million in outstanding payments still owed to past and present A-League players.
That figure relates to owed statutory payments, superannuation, bonuses, salary and wages, and disputed loss of earnings.
“That doesn’t include Socceroos non payments. That’s A-League only,” Vivian said.
“So I think the licensing system for the A-League competition needs to be reviewed seriously.”
Although there’s no plans to boycott games just yet, Vivian said it was an option that remained open to the Socceroos, Matildas, and A-League down the track.
Midfielder Massimo Luongo said he wasn’t fretting over the pay dispute.
“We don’t really get too involved in it,” Luongo said.
“We just train, have team meetings, eat, and then let them worry about it.”
Midfielder
Guest
There is a guy on 442 who has a theory which he in part supports with evidence but let’s say I am still not convinced. But he contends the PFA are funded in the past and take advice from another code and in many ways they try things that will hurt Football. To cancel visits to see school kids is beyond belief….. to ask for a 12% wage rise when two clubs are broke and a number of others just hanging on…. To run heaps through the media … To claim innocence all the time… to assume as they have often indicated it’s not our fault the clubs and FFA are run so poorly and we know it can be done better boarders on stupidity the arrogance is breath taking. In the great Fossie charge for pay back in the day the end result was the NSL could no longer afford to play the Socceroos in Australia. A recent example of the PFA I am aware of is Micheal McGlinchey. In the dark days of the Mariners Arnold pulled the senior players together and said we will get through this hang in there. The promise was when it was over if a player received an overseas offer they could go for a free transfer as long as at some time the Mariners received a fee as some time in the future. MM signed a 3 year contract and only weeks in received an offer from a Chinese club. The club kept its word and released him for all but the last 6 months of his contract when he needed to return to the Mariners. This would insure the Mariners either had MM back as a player or received a fee for a club wishing to buy him. MM had a difficult time in China and left with 12 months to go. The Mariners could only fit in for 6 months. Wellington came along and offered MM a contract. MM had been advised by the PFA he was a free agent because when Charlesworth purchased the Mariners he had all players sign new contracts with the new company who owned the licence. The PFA also advised Wellington the same. The Mariners screamed from on high we have a contract. The PFA said with the old company not the current licence owner. This thinking is beyond stupid as it meant any club to fire a player but having a new company take over and simply not sign the player they did not. The PFA ran a very abusive media campaign and insisted they were right. The Mariners insisted it go to court … the PFA screamed and screamed how they would wipe the floor … they lost they had to pay all the Mariners cost… Morally a club not that wealthy they were prepared to do something if done the other way they would scream. Me thinks the PFA have lost it it’s like they think we have a top tier professional league not a league still fragile and by most observers while mistakes have been made have overall done a good job.
Waz
Guest
Agreed.
j binnie
Guest
Waz - You'll excuse me for walking around today singing that old favourite "I've heard that song before". As you say the decision maker who cancelled the visit to the school should be hauled over the coals by whoever is the top dog in football.Even Channel 7 in Brisbane,a station infamous in sports news for never mentioning the game gave this air=time. and that surely is a measure of how big a boo-boo this was What I would like to know is just who it was who cancelled the school visit for it has to be someone in or close to the Socceroos camp and in the terminology of the middle ages he,or she should be put in the stocks and "pelted" by the public. As you point out a totally idiotic decision purely aimed at upsetting a bunch of school kids. Also what should be examined is the intestinal fortitude of those players who were earmarked to make this visit for surely they should have told the perpetrators to go and "====" themselves. Pity.on to the next verse of that old hit-tune. Not so cheerful jb
Mister Football
Roar Guru
But which side has its finger on that button? The FFA or the PFA? It's around 20 years ago that Fos was the leading the charge for improved pay for the socceroos, so this is not a new debate.
Waz
Guest
It is official - we have idiots at the very top of our game. After 10 years they've found the self-destruct button and can't stop trying to press the bloody thing ...
Brick Tamland of the pants party
Guest
Yeah not good, apparently they cancelled a visit to a school which the local media will make the most of and it will probably overshadow the game itself. In fact it kind of already is, when i walked past the papers in the servo this morning i see SOCCER ROW! plastered all over the front page about this pay dispute. Real shame this has to take place right when the national side visits Perth for the first time in a decade.