31 December 2014
A new year, new opportunities. Here are my top 10 football wishes for 2015.
1. A new FIFA
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. FIFA is incapable of reforming itself. It seems apparent that most of the football associations of the world are incapable or unwilling to push for meaningful change either. So we need a game-changer of a significant nature if we want a world governing body that’s free of corruption, mismanagement and is accountable to the game’s stakeholders.
2. A new FIFA President
Even if Sepp Blatter was the most marvellous FIFA President on earth – and he has overseen some good things – we’d be advocating this. He has been at FIFA for 40 years this year; 17 years as President; and he’s about to seek another four-year term. Time to go, Mr Blatter.
3. There’s an alternative to the ‘Egon Zehnder’ ticket
On the one hand, we have a man in Frank Lowy who has done so, so much for the sport; but on the other, he wants to continue to manage it his way – even when he has to go due to the term limits in the FFA Constitution (one of the few governance reforms we implemented from the Crawford Report in 2002). The three-person ticket being searched for by head-hunters, Egon Zehnder, to replace Lowy and his two closest allies on the FFA Board may be terrific choices. But that’s not the point.
The point is there should be transparency around when nominations open for the FFA Board, when they close, when elections take place – and we should not passively accept a three-person ticket served-up to us by an executive search firm shared by FIFA and FFA. That is not the sign of a democractic, transparent and accountable organisation.
4. Australia wins the Asian Cup
We at least need to make the Final on home soil. Anything less and we will have gone backwards since 2011.
5. FFA has a ‘Plan B’ to ensure the continuity of the A-League with a national footprint
With much chatter about the relatively imminent expansion of the A-League into the major centres of greater Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, let’s hope that FFA’s plans also include how regional teams in the A-League – such as Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners – can also be sustained. The A-League needs them.
6. Matildas get past the second round of the Women’s World Cup
It’s time for the Matildas to shine. The best they’ve done at the Women’s World Cup is the quarter-finals in 2007. Let’s see them go at least one further this year.
(By the way, it was one of the strangest sporting stories of 2014 when FFA acceded to ‘player power’ and former coach, Hesterine de Reus, departed as coach of the Matildas).
7. Australia’s youth teams replicate the ‘Scheinflug Era’
Once upon a time, Australia performed well at youth levels. It wasn’t just a matter of an easy qualification pathway through Oceania; we performed well when we got to the tournament on most occasions also. 16 years ago we had our best-ever finish when we won the Silver Medal on a penalty shootout against Brazil at the U-17 World Youth Cup.
This year there’s two world youth tournaments – the U-20 World Youth Cup in New Zealand in June and the U-17 World Youth Cup in Chile in October.
Ever since we threw the baby out with the bathwater on youth development, we have been unable to replicate the performance of the Scheinflug era. Let’s hope the U-17s under Tony Vidmar can kick-start a resurgence.
8. FFA & the state federations stop taxing players
We accept that we don’t have hundreds of millions of dollars for FFA to hand-back to the game at grassroots level. But it is time to stop the great big tax on players. It’s been going on in one form or another for decades, and it was seen as a way of the grassroots contributing to the Socceroos (not kidding!) when it was first introduced in the 1970s. But that was the 1970s, and then there were the 1980s and 1990s.
In 2015, neither the FFA nor the state federations who, together, gouge between $60 and $450 from a so-called grassroots player, should be reliant on their tax on players to maintain their operations. It’s a key factor in making the sport more affordable for more kids and their mums and dads.
Bottom-line: even if they can’t give back, they should no longer take.
9. Help the referee
We need to bury the notion that the romanticism of the game is somehow linked to the human frailties of refereeing decisions. Let’s support referees by introducing assistive technology to make their job easier and the game less error-prone.
10. FFA Cup continues to build
What a joy the first year of the FFA Cup was! Long may it continue; may it build; may it flourish. It has the potential to bring the game together at a truly national level – especially if FFA and the state federations quit imposing yet another charge for grassroots club to compete (but that’s a story for another day!). It should one day be the pre-eminent trophy in domestic football.
Happy 2015 everyone!
