Is the A-League ready to be rid of the FFA?

With the news that the New Leagues Working Group (NLWG) – consisting of representatives from state, club, PFA, and newly elected FFA board members – will have until March 2019 to submit their proposal for the A-League to become an independent entity: is the competition ready to continue without the FFA’s guidance?

For the entirety of its lifetime, the A-League has been under the overarching control of the chief footballing body in Australia—the FFA: an organisation who have conserved the interests of the competition.

At its beginning, this partnership meant security and financial viability for a newly invigorated national league structure, following on from the scrapped National Soccer League.

However, 14 years on from its rebirth, the limitations that protected an investment — a salary cap, marquee limitations and revenue reallocation – which allowed for the provision of wealth to promote grassroots participation, have become boundaries for the growth of the A-League.

In a press conference screened in 2017, MVFC chair Anthony Di Pietro called for a move that would reinvigorate the A-League, while capitalising on football’s foundations in club-based participation and registrations.

For Mr Di Pietro, it was imperative that the A-League unshackle itself from FFA by the end of 2018.

“… [T]he A-League must seek independence, and it must seek it by the end of next season.
An independent A-League that maintains the revenues that it produces can generate growth; it can enable expansion with new teams coming in; and it can provide the right platform for a future, second-tier competition.

“An independent A-League can make real our vision and our plan to be the premier football competition in Asia,” said Mr Di Pietro.

It wasn’t the first time that a leader on the forefront of Australian football had voiced these ambitions. In fact, it was as early as 2003 – with that year’s Crawford Report – that whispers of the privatisation and reallocation of the A-League as an entity independent of FFA were starting to be heard.

To this day, the position remains the same – that the privatisation of the A-League will be central to the development of the league – commercially and financially. However, while the concerns of stakeholders were unheeded, they had not been unheard.

To their credit, a few months before Mr Di Pietro’s address, FFA acknowledged that the governing body accepted that the time had come “to create a new operating model for the A-League”.

“[The model] will give clubs more influence, attract more capital into the game, increase the value of the investment made by current owners and allow the league to expand with new clubs to 12 teams in the near future and then to 14 teams and beyond in the years ahead as it becomes financially viable to do so.”

What is the future of ownership for football in Australia? (Photo: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

The problem with that statement is that FFA failed to acknowledge that, by their own admission, they had directly affected the financial viability of the competition.

With a predicted annual revenue of $100m p.a. – which is roughly the same cost as running the game – they had run into a wall.

There was nothing left to allocate to the expansion and diversification of the league. By their own design, FFA could not escape the shadow of their umbrella of operations.

Less than a year on from Mr Di Pietro’s public adjudication to mount pressure on FFA, the position held unanimously by A-League clubs had only gathered more interest across the country.

In recent months, this was capped by the August release of the Congress Review Working Group (CRWG) report, which had the full support of both PFA and Australian Professional Football Clubs Association (APFCA).

Published collaboratively between a mandated FIFA and AFC congress, the report revealed that internationally the bid for A-League independence was supported from the highest level.

The report also revealed FIFA’s concerns with FFA’s governance—highlighted by the unopposed appointment of Steven Lowy in 2015—and their recommendation for a dramatic reshaping of FFA’s congress.

Both domestically and internationally, FFA’s reputation was called into further disrepute when the review revealed the congress to be substantially beneath the international standard of governance—comprising just 10 members at the time—with only one A-League representative.

Even more damning was the fact that there was no female representation for women’s football affairs.

At that stage, both FIFA and the AFC’s involvement have been as peacekeepers in navigating domestic concern. But if push had come to shove—which seemed likely given FFA’s incompliance—the disagreement could have put Australian and international football at risk.

“In the end it’s not up to the owners of FFA, it’s down to what FIFA dictates.

If they dictate an independently run league, I don’t know what FFA will do,” says Tony Sage, Perth Glory owner and APFCA member.

When both the APFCA and the chair of the most successful football team in this country call for change, you had better hope that the rest of the graces are listening. Thankfully, after a lengthy period of uncertainty, it looks like there will be smoother sailing for the governance of FFA.

Through the resignation of Steven Lowy, and with the appointment of an A-League independence supporter as FFA chair, the organisation is taking a tentative step in the right direction.

Furthermore, as a FFA representative on the CRWG, the emergence of Chris Nikou may prove to be the voice of reason in finally finding an accord on the independence dispute.

What’s more, under the recommendations of CRWG, FFA have confirmed their position in accepting the proposed changes to their congress by significantly increasing their membership and votes. The board will now consist of 29 members (from 10); while State federations will now comprise 55 votes (from 9); and Australian based A-League clubs will be given 28 votes (up from a single vote).

Furthermore, FFA have also made significant advances in democratising their governance by offering PFA 7 votes and a newly established Women’s Football Council, 10 votes.

In closing, perhaps the question posed in the title of this article ought to be the reverse: ‘Is FFA ready to be rid of the A-League?’ Because as the narrative has evolved, the story that FFA have gyrated the footballing public has become complete counterfeit.

The A-League were never at risk of losing FFA. The facts point to the opposite. FFA were at risk of losing the capital stability of a national league.

With the benefit of retrospection, I do not believe FFA are ready to cease control of domestic football. Nevertheless, if they would risk international condemnation, along with domestic investment, they have no choice. On top of this, as the facts have shown, there is nowhere forward for the league under their control.

FFA have played their part in the growth and cultivation of the A-League. They have helped to realise the dreams of hundreds, thousands of footballers, young and old—footballing fans alike—and have helped to reshape the modern footballing psyche. But now, 14 years after its birth, it is time for the mantle to pass.

With Christmas passed, and the New Year soon to arrive, I say cheers to the future and the unfolding of football in 2019.