“Eventually we will have to have promotion and relegation,” an FFA official once said. “In my estimation, we will be made to do that.”
That was former Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy speaking to Fox Sports in October 2014.
He said a couple of other things FFA no doubt wishes weren’t being dredged up some three and a half years later, including – interestingly enough – that there would be two new expansion teams playing in the A-League by the time the 2017-18 campaign kicked off.
So where are they? And what, pray tell, have FFA been doing in the meantime?
Constantly criticising the FFA is not a particularly fun thing to do. It would be more enjoyable for everyone if we could simply focus on the football.
But here’s the problem. Last October FFA’s chief executive David Gallop was quietly awarded a two-year contract extension – a fact only revealed by one of the best journos in the business, David Davutovic, a fortnight ago.
According to Davutovic, Gallop is being paid $1.25 million a year plus bonuses for the privilege of leading the FFA.
And even if the FFA disputes that figure – which they did – an obvious question remains: what, exactly, is football in Australia getting in return for these executive salaries?
Because a lot of the problems we’ve had this season – dwindling attendances, plummeting TV ratings, the threat of a breakaway competition – were easily foreseeable to anyone with even a passing interest in the A-League.
Yet all the signs were overlooked by a group of well-paid executives more concerned with clinging on to power, when it surely would have been easier to simply expand FFA’s Congress and get on with the business of running the game.
If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, it may well have been because a frustrated football fan ripped a flare on Palantine Hill.
Finally! Only problem is we’ve heard it all before.
And given the rumours that a couple of clubs have already been hand-picked to fill the two expansion slots supposedly on offer, you have to wonder how much point there is opening up the floor to bids from across the country anyway.
It’s a tiresome state of affairs, and quite frankly fans should be fed up to the back teeth of the way football is being run in this country.
Not least because all this politicking is taking away from what should be the showpiece of our domestic game – the A-League.
Can either of Adelaide United or Melbourne City bounce back from last-start defeats at Coopers Stadium tonight?
Will more fans turn up in Auckland to watch the Phoenix go around than in their home city of Wellington?
Have Sydney FC lost their aura of invincibility, making them ripe for the picking for Brisbane Roar in a Saturday night blockbuster broadcast on free-to-air TV?
Or will Melbourne Victory’s stellar midweek defeat of Kawasaki Frontale in the AFC Champions League spur them on to a Sunday afternoon shellacking of the Central Coast Mariners?
Dunno. All I know is that I’m sick of writing about what FFA should be doing when they’re getting paid plenty to come up with some solutions themselves.
But I will say this. I’m glad that the scrutiny placed on the FFA by journalists like Davutovic, by commentators like Simon Hill, by cartoonists like David Squires and even by your not-so-humble columnist, has forced executives like Gallop to finally react.
Because the game’s struggles – and it’s not just the A-League, but Ange Postecoglou’s resignation as well – have happened on his watch.
David Gallop might be the nicest bloke in the world, but that’s not what football is paying him to be.
The game is crying out for some leadership. Let’s start with expansion and take it from there.
Chris
Guest
So the chickens are coming home to roost so to speak. David Gallop's complete overreaction in sacking the women's national soccer coach is close to his disgraceful decision to dock Canterbury Bulldogs all their points for a salary cap breach in 2002. Canterbury fans have long memories and that action was both over the top and disgusting to fans and players. No other team has ever been dealt a penalty like that. I have no sympathy for Gallop and if he looses his job I'll be cheering. It's called KAMA, live by the sword , die by the sword.
chris
Guest
Cathar what chestnut? Im saying that the way league is going with their refusal to look into size/age etc is killing it at junior level. Im not close to league as I once was but I used to play when very young. There were weight restrictions then (4stone 7s!) so are there weight restrictions now? Happy to be corrected.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Rugby league's a tough sport & that's the reason its aligning the game with touch & tag versions which are going great guns. Participation levels are actually stabilising for tackle & future mums of the game are picking up the game. Here in the country, where I now live, I've seen a increase. My local club has recorded 43 new players in the junior level so far, 87% retention of 2017 juniors (185 players). They have added U/14, U/16 & seniors ladies tackle which emanated from the tag version. I read Penrith league for example in the city have over 960 girls enrolled in their comp this year, the largest in that area for any sport! By country, do you mean the whole country or areas that are affected by population of young people drifting to the cities, drought etc? This effects ALL sport & businesses etc. And the old Pacific Islander chestnut hey? League's an inclusive sport so you get that. Perhaps Aussies are becoming so soft they'll be the only people playing high level sport aka NBA which eve conservative America still fawns over in big numbers.
chris
Guest
I have to agree with you there. League and football fans cross over quite nicely in NSW.
chris
Guest
What about the plummet of participants playing league? Where are the players going to come from in future? Its dead in the country areas and city areas not doing much better. Keep importing from the pacific islands I suppose.
bobbym
Guest
The NRL and AFL think he's worth every cent.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Apart from stepping in to counter your misinformation, where are all these 'league' fans having a shot? Of all the major codes, rugby league fans probably have a greater cross over of fans for both codes. You seem hellbent on creating angst against the NRL/its fans which has nothing to do with A league's/Gallops perceived woes.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Actually that 'massive' debt was down to $1 million apparently 1-2 years ago to the NRL. Since the Wests Group took over the Knights, all their debt has been paid, so the Knights are in the black. They are also putting $10 million into a Centre of Excellence for the Knights according to plans. "When those thousands of kids playing football grow up guess who they will be supporting. It’s called generational transition!" that's been going on for 100 years! So many league fans play or have kids who play soccer & who end up supporting an NRL team. This has been going on for decades. The plummet of A league crowds & TV ratings suggest otherwise to your assertions.
Rolly
Guest
We have one fool in the White House and another at FFA headquarters he can no longer justify his tenure time to move on Gallop you have done too much damage to the game already .
realfootball
Guest
And it all matters so little, doesn't it? Football, of all kinds - people chasing an air filled ball. Somehow we conspire to invest it with so much meaning. Marx might argue that we've replaced religion with sport as the opiate of the masses in the affluent west. One could also look at the act of chasing a small, hollow object as particularly apt metaphor for the human condition. You only have to glance at SMH's ludicrous "Executive Style" section to see that in action. Are there really people that facile? Obviously the SMH thinks so.
realfootball
Guest
... and board a big jet airliner My son and his friends did in fact discuss whether they could get away with exactly that, but (thankfully) were too honest in the end! At least that's what he told me...
Worried
Guest
Gallop does exactly what Lowy tells him, Nothing More, Nothing Less. Can get a secretary to do that for a lot less money! Get rid of both, and start again with a more inclusive governing body!
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
In the immortal words of Steve Miller: take the money and run (ooh hoo)
realfootball
Guest
And I agree absolutely with all of the above.
realfootball
Guest
You, no doubt, would have looked out at the iceberg from the deck of the Titanic and insisted that it was simply a reflection of the moon on the water. This is, in fact, my first visit and post in some time. I saw Mike was continuing the good fight, and decided to look through the window. Attendances and viewing figures are an empirical measure of the commercial viability of the A League. I would have thought that this isn't a particularly difficult concept to grasp. And no, I'm not Pip. Now there's a name from the past. Pip and I once had a very heated altercation about AFL handing out money to kids to register at my son's primary school (Pip said it didn't happen, but it certainly did). My son is almost 21 now, which means that was at least 10 years ago. In such ways do we measure our mortality.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Considering all your negative comments its amazing you are still reading the articles about the A-League on the Roar and adding your comments. If it was that bad, you would have thought you would have stopped reading about and commenting on the A-League and long gone, long ago Pip. Your interest in A-League crowd figures is truly astounding.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Yes, the behaviours and the lack of leadership given their huge salaries is indefensible. Its turning into a power struggle and political dogfight. We'd just like to enjoy the football and go on about how good it is considering everything that's going wrong, but the administration of the game has once again let us down. Lets hope FFA, FIFA, or the owners, anybody, please sort out this mess and put us back on track for expansion and growth, as big as we are getting in the participation numbers. We all deserve better. Lyall Gorman should take over as CEO of FFA.
realfootball
Guest
For a Friday night, the ideal slot for the Reds, traditionally. That is a very poor figure.
Buddy
Guest
Attendance was given as just over 7k during the game.
realfootball
Guest
The attendance at the Reds/City game looked pitiful. Can't have been much more than 5k. Even the die hard rose tinted glasses crew must surely now see that the A League is in deep trouble. And FIFA came and went and did nothing, and Gallop, a man with the leadership qualities of a dead mullet that's been too long in a fish shop window, gets another two years in a job patently beyond his capabilities. Our very own version of the Roman's torture of the small cuts. Good on you Mike for still calling Gallop and FFA out. Sadly, they absolutely do not care. As for me, my reserves of belief are gone. I haven't been to an A League game this season. I'm cancelling my Fox sub. This era that promised so much as been undone by incompetence, nepotism and priviledge.