Football Australia's XI Principles talk of 'modern, efficient and effective governance', but they don't practice what they preach
You wouldn't know it from the information emanating from Football Australia (FA) - other than a Facebook post the day before - but the annual general meeting of FA is to be held this week.
The good news facing the stakeholders is that FA made an $11.8 million surplus in the financial year 2020-21 - quite some feat when so many other entities in the country struggled to maintain a positive financial result and cash flow.
The surplus comprises two elements:
$10.2 million from “discontinued operations” - in other words, the unbundling of the A-League (etcetera)
$1.6 million from ordinary operations.
While the $1.6 million surplus from ordinary operations may seem modest it is, in fact, a $5.1 million improvement on last financial year.
In a year in which revenue includes the full Job Keeper payment to which FA is entitled, Employee and Team Benefit expenses accounted for $16.8 million compared with $18.1 million in the previous year. That figure is almost half (49%) of total revenue of $34.3 million, compared with 40% of total revenue ($44.8 million) the previous year.
Although many people didn't get to play the game in 2020-21 due to lockdowns, revenue from Registration Fees increased from $8.2 million to $10.1 million. While that may suggest state federations are the losers because grants to state federations declined from $7.3 million to $3.6 million, overall they are not, as members' equity nas increased from $4.5 million in 2020 by almost 400% to $16.3 million in 2021. The real losers are the mums-and-dads who pay the great big player tax.
In terms of the FA's discontinued operations, the A-League entity realised a $10.2 million surplus on its 2021 operations, and finished the year with $20.8 million in the bank. However, some of the revenue for the A-League in FY21 was due to recognising revenue in 2021 that would previously have been spread over the life of the A-League club license.
Also happening at this year's AGM is an election of two Board directors. We use the term 'election' loosely because in true football fashion, the only nominations for the two positions are incumbent Board directors who, presumably in the absence of competition, will be re-elected.
In other words, there is no election.
Imagine if we applied the same concept of 'competition' to the football field. There would be no football.
Just as there is no democracy without the forgotten stakeholders of the game being involved in its governance; just as there is no transparency when no-one, outside a small coterie of Congress members, know anything about any of this; and just as there is no accountability when the Congress, the stakeholders-on-paper of the game, continuously fail to hold the game to account or to ask legitimate and critical questions.
A post on Facebook the day before, a closed shop nomination process, a non-representative Congress, and a Pyongyang style ‘election' (two vacancies, two nominees) is not good governance.
When it comes to “modern, efficient and effective governance” as highlighted in Principle VII, talk is cheap and easy; and even more so when those who ask questions are intimidated and silenced.
NB: This was updated late on 22 November to note the FA Facebook post and to include further analysis of the financial report.