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Don't jump the gun on David Gallop

5th December, 2015
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David Gallop and FFA might now want South Melbourne in the comp. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Roar Rookie
5th December, 2015
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1841 Reads

I might have been the only person in Australia to empathise with FFA CEO David Gallop through his two media statements, both of which he was heavily scrutinised for.

We all know the saga of media events that have plagued football for the past fortnight, from Rebecca Wilson and Alan Jones confusing football for Syria, to hitting the breaking point with the puzzling ban policy that has enraged A-League fans for years.

To put it in a term, football descended into chaos in late November, and I agree with the fans on two big things.

Yes, the FFA should have chastised Wilson and Jones for their ludicrous comments and unethical breach of privacy. None of those 198 deserved what The Daily Telegraph dished out; it was a breach of privacy that some of our most serious criminals don’t even face.

Secondly, enough was enough with the bans. It’s something I’ve heard about for years in a Perth Glory context and there still seems to be a complete lack of understanding of the rules from all parties. It needed attention immediately.

In light of these issues, an extremely cautious PR strategy exercised by the FFA completely backfired on them in a way unpredictable to most. It’s even got to the point where comments calling for #GallopOut are popping up everywhere.

While I agree with the fans for voicing their opinion, I completely disagree with #GallopOut. For me, it all comes down to a matter of understanding the man and who he is.

In a professional sense, Gallop is not the charismatic, charming and extroverted leader to lash out at Wilson and Jones. Originally a lawyer, and the son of one of Darwin’s most serious and menacing Supreme Court judges John Gallop, Gallop’s professional personality was shaped to be unemotional and as steely as possible.

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So if you were expecting a speech from Gallop that reached the passion of Mel Gibson in Braveheart, a re-elected Barack Obama in front of his Democrat audience, or the capo of the RBB, you were expecting too much.

However, what Gallop lacks in charisma and charm he makes up in his impeccable administration skills. Our AFC Asian Cup 2015 was an amazing success on and off the field. The appointment of an Australian head coach was Gallop’s vision, and he was the one to pitch it to FFA chairman Frank Lowy. The rest as we know, is history.

It’s also important to note that while Wilson and Jones were bouncing off each other in a whirlwind of vitriol, Gallop was in India at the Asian Football Confederations Awards. With the FFA nominated for five big awards, Gallop was central to laying important groundwork to maintain and optimise Australia’s standing in the Asian Confederation, which could potentially mean more Asian Champions League spots for A-League clubs.

As a diehard Perth Glory member of nine years, I couldn’t be any more welcoming of this, given we were so cruelly denied our rightful place in the competition after finishing third in season 2011-12 due to administration politics.

It may also be assumed that Gallop should have been back home immediately when all hell broke loose, but here again you have to see it from Gallop’s perspective.

These awards were the first time Australia had the full attention of the confederation since joining it in 2007, an opportunity that is simply unmissable for the governing body. Even if Gallop had wanted to put the fans first, he also has a new boss in Stephen Lowy that he’ll be desperate to impress from the outset of his tenure.

The underlying issue to the whole PR explosion is the misreading of fans.

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Gallop’s background is NRL, where most of the crowd sits still for a majority of the game. Suddenly, he’s running a game run by active crowds; jumping up and down, left to right, holding their messages on big banners and even turning their back on the game for a full minute.

Gallop has admitted it himself; he loves it, and the marketing team of the FFA do too. However, stadium security and a surprisingly bigoted NSW police force do not, and there lies the big challenge for the FFA.

Understandably, you may not agree with me on this point, but I can forgive Gallop for being a bit slow to understand the stadium staff and authorities versus active support issue, given it’s probably the one thing that isn’t in his extensive history of sports administration.

Even on the issue of the right to appeal bans, that’s a problem that has gone on for much longer than Gallop. In fact, as someone who sits well away from the active support areas at A-League games, I didn’t realise it was such a big problem until now. I don’t think many non-active supporters did either. Mind you, I could be completely wrong as well, maybe it has been very visible.

So if we don’t want #GallopOut, where do we go from here?

Let’s teach him the football way. Gallop is an excellent sports administrator and businessman and he’s proven he’s not scared to make big decisions for the good of the game; coming down heavy-handed on Melbourne Storm and Perth Glory in response to salary cap rorting. While he may not show his passion outwardly, it still drives his competitive edge and determination to make football Australia’s number one sport.

If there’s one thing Gallop would have learnt this week, it’s that passion for our sport burns in Australian football fans like nothing else, and we want to see a bit of it from our governing body. With a revised media statement this week, where Gallop was gallant enough to say “we were wrong”, there’s no doubt that Football Federation Australia has received that message. The fans’ message has really shaken them in the past fortnight.

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I’m confident the FFA will act appropriately on reshaping the ban appeals process. I’m confident the FFA have learnt to strongly defend their fans from unfair vitriol and heavy criticism after this weekend. I’m fully confident David Gallop is the man to lead the charge.

As fans, let’s guide this very competent sports administrator to understand our beautiful game in full. We have the floor to shape our game. It’s time for us to move forward and do so.

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