There are always posters in football forums who blame FFA for every single problem in Australian football. I await the day the nets at my local park for the Under-6s are not set correctly with calls for CEO David Gallop resignation.
Last year it was at fever pitch as FFA had a number of difficult calls to make as various groups asked, nay demanded, their views be heard and how they were critical to football’s future growth.
FFA were portrayed as the governing body so error-ridden and inept it’s a wonder they managed to get officials to matches.
I have some issues where FFA have not performed as well as I would have liked them to. But in the words of Justin Hayward, it’s a Question of Balance.
I decided to write what I see as the key achievements of the FFA over the last 11 years, and the key things they got wrong.
Before I start I should point out that the National Soccer League crowds averaged about 4000. Take out Perth Glory, South Melbourne and the crowd numbers drop further.
Further, the NSL was broke, inept, corrupt, inward looking, full of internal issues, and by and large football was at the fringe of Australian sport.
Key achievements
• Having all A-League and Socceroos matches broadcast Australia wide
• The establishment of the A-League
• Moving from Oceania to the AFC
• Making all World Cups since the establishment of the A-League
• Winning the Asian Cup and also finishing runners-up previously
• Making football a mainstream sport
• Develop the Socceroos into Australia’s premier male team
• Develop the Matildas into Australia’s main female team
• Establishment of national coaching standards
• Establishment of national selection standards.
• Establishment of the W-League
• Unite football’s many and various tribes
• Developing the FFA Cup
• Developing the NPL
• Sponsorship more than double that of the NRL and ARU
Secondary achievements
• Advanced negotiations for the next media deal
• Obtain government support for many programs
• Create an environment where most teams have reasonable sponsorships
Key poor decisions
• Treatment of Perth Glory in A-League’s first season, which resulted in 50 per cent of fans walking away, and arguably Australia best ever football administrator, Nick Tanna, walking away from football. Only now do Glory look like recovering to where they once were.
• Not communicating football culture to the mainstream media.
• Lack of direct communication with the association park teams
• Keeping in place the state associations
• Neglecting A-League during World Cup bid
• Handover of power from Frank to Steven Lowy
• Poor selection of expansion clubs in North Queensland Fury, Gold Coast United and Melbourne Heart (where they did not create a difference with Melbourne Victory]
Secondary
• Lack of promotion of the A-League
• The missed bookings of stadiums
• Being seen as a more reactive than proactive body.
Over to football fans now. My assessment is a high credit maybe pushing a distinction, but nowhere near a high distinction.
CEO marks
John O’Neill: Distinction
Downgraded due to the length of the seven-year media deal, and the initial treatment of Perth Glory.
Ben Buckley: Credit
Did some good admin work, downgraded for turning down a $60 million media deal, his selection of North Queensland, Gold Coast and Heart as expansion teams and his poor media presentations.
David Gallop: High credit, low distinction
Has arguably had the best and the worst. Best in the sense of how well football was established when he arrived, worst in the sense of fans’ perception about how much power he and FFA have.
Downgraded for his late response in supporting football fans, and for still not adequately explaining the sport’s culture to the mainstream.
marcel
Guest
What did the FFA do to Perth in Season 1 ?
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Nice article Middy. The Crawford Report, the evolution of the FFA in 2004 and the A-League kick off in 2005, were the turning points, in my opinion, of the history of Australian football. An organisation will change leaders every now and then and its not always entirely the fault or credit of the CEO as to what happens. There is also the size of the budget, compared to the size of the task and what assistance or opposition they face from the rest of the country. Given their shoestring budget and the amount of work they have to do here and overseas to support the millions of players, thousands of clubs and hundreds of Australian teams, I think their efforts have been amazing. The sport has probably never been in better shape and there must be a lot of credit given to the organisation as a whole, including the weekend warrior volunteers, not just the CEO. The other negative for me, if I had to add one, was the way the FFA treated innocent fans that were wrongly named and shamed by the front page stories in the Sunday Lies and Daily Lies.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Shadier than the Bakries?? Not much chance of that. The guy offering to buy them made his millions out of renewable energy and the sun, not shade. . . :) He was once a sponsor of Adelaide, but fell out with them. Sour grapes maybe, starting rumours about him.
brendo
Guest
Not true, it was the PFA that took that fight public. Could the FFA have handled it better yes but it is rewriting history to imply that the FFA were the ones that trashed the football brand.
AR
Guest
The FFA didn't "create the competitive tension" for the broadcast rights negotiations - that's an absurd claim. Optus created the competitive tension - and it did this by purchasing the EPL rights in a move to increase its share of the mobile/digital market. If there are specific govt-funded programs which Gallop has driven (and I'm sure there would be) that's great, but Midfielder didn't refer to a single one, that was my criticism insofar as the article was concerned.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I agree that it's unlikely in the extreme, but given how much is already in the public sphere about dodgy brothers, it's amazing that the story had legs at all. About as much chance as you and I putting up our hands and saying we'll buy it, and should command about the same respect.
Sydneysider
Guest
Yep that's right Punter. Wanderers have peaked, no potential for growth for them. Have found their "natural level". Same for Sydney FC. No potential for growth with them either. The first derby at ANZ Stadium in October for season 2016-17 won't attract a big crowd. Don't forget that the Wanderers and soccer aren't popular in Sydney. No one likes soccer in Sydney. The game is going to die. Same for rugby league. No potential for growth for the NRL.
Midfielder
Guest
442 are reporting the new owner ... will not pass the FFA fit and proper person test as he is to say the least a shady character.
Midfielder
Guest
MASSIVE BREAKING NEWS THE ROAR TO BE SOLD TO A MELBOURNE GROUP>>> from SBS http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2016/06/08/bakries-agree-sell-brisbane-roar
Justin Mahon
Guest
I read advancing negotiations to mean creati some commoditise tension in the media deal for then1st time. I also know that thE various state and federal governments have funded clubs (Victory, United, Wanderers, Marriners that I know of), indigenous programs, grass roots programs, the COE, the A-League and more.
CG2430
Guest
David Gallop hasn't signed a new TV deal yet - don't get ahead of yourself. Besides, If they get $60mil/yr, I'd count that as another failure considering both Fairfax and The Australian have suggested they are/were looking for $80mil - it's pretty obvious what the target is/was. The AFL's last three deals (TV plus digital) have been $500mil, $750mil, and the current $1.25bil (all five-year deals)... Ref: http://www.worldofwookie.com/aflbusiness/?page_id=522 ...with the next one $2.5bil over six years - increases of 50%, 67%, and 67%, starting off a much higher base for a sport far closer to saturation in Australia than football is. The sleeping giant fisherman, on the other hand, isn't getting out of bed (to extend the metaphor) for an even smaller percentage increase (50%) on a deal worth about 16% of the AFL's outgoing deal. Now about falling in his lap again, big TV deals are generally negotiated over 6 to 12 months. Considering Gallop started cold at the FFA less than 3 months before the deal was announced (announced, not signed), he was in charge for no more than a bit under half of the time that the deal was under negotiation, probably close to less than a quarter of the time. That was not his deal, even if he got to sign off on it. By the way, the last NRL TV deal signed by Gallop ended up being worth a bit over half what the AFL got a few months later...
Justin Mahon
Guest
A bunch of other achievement that vary in size, but which have all contributed hated to the games development. Model state federation constitutions NYL into State NPL's MiniRoos SAP-NTC-COE pathway Accreditation to deliver A-Licence All Star game for the lean years where no touring football Monetising touring clubs for the games benefit National Curriculum Club licensing scheme MyFootballClub grassroots CRM FootballFamily loyalty program Caps for Socceroos A-League academies all on the way now Managed many ownership changes and did Clive on court, securing important legal confirmation of franchise framework Professional corporate governance and strong strategic planning If they pull of a TV deal of the type predicted and fundamentally reform the games governance the sky's the limit.
Midfielder
Guest
Of course
Midfielder
Guest
MF Fox offered BB 60 million per year and it started with two years to run on the existing 40 million dollars and went for another four years after all matches including Socceroos only on Fox ... BB believed he could do much better and turned the deal down... Rating fell and FFA wanted the Socceroos on FTA ... so the 60 became 40 ...
Midfielder
Guest
NRL is about 27 million.
Punter
Guest
Yep, we have facts like; GWS, 6th best AFLranked team in the world on current ranking, gets the best AFL players playing there every other week, has a Derby with the 2nd best AFL side in the world, has massive attention & budget, in the no 1 sport in Australia, struggles to have a presence in Sydney, but has great potential for growth. WSW, plays in 4th or 5th tier football competition, only chance of getting any top 20 teams in the world to play them is a meaningless friendly, was not in existence 4 years ago, has a Derby with another 4-5th tier team that is sold out every game, in the no 3 or 4th sport in this country, they have no budget & very little hype but has no potential for growth!!!! yep fully understand!!!!
Fadida
Guest
I'm pretty sure the FFA are responsible for global warming and cancer too
AR
Guest
That's an excellent post CG2430.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
At the risk of stating the obvious, but if the admin is going to keep accepting TV deals worth 50% less than what is offered (as Mid keeps stating) - that is hardly a recipe for ongoing growth. My personal opinion is that there is always an opportunity for growth - even a modest inflation rate of 2.5% or so offers a small opportunity for growth.
Punter
Guest
'No growth for football in this country" MF!!!!!