Much has been said & written about FFA, Rebecca Wilson & the Sunday Telegraph in recent days. Let's use the opportunity to get change
Wouldn’t it be good to be as clever as David Squires and be able to put things into words AND pictures?
His contribution today in The Guardian regarding the events since the publication on Sunday of 198 names and faces included on FFA’s list of banned individuals – and which we wrote about here – is not likely to be the last word, but it’s one worth highlighting. So here it is:
We don’t think FFA and David Gallop have covered themselves with glory so far. They’ve been much too slow to react and when they have, they have been missed some crucial points.
It is also disappointing that the new Chairman of FFA hasn’t used the opportunity to prove what he said about being different from his father. They will use the excuse that this is a ‘management issue’ but there are times also when a unifying, visionary, statesmanlike statement is needed and welcomed. This is one of those times.
However, we agree with Gallop that alleged death threats against Rebecca Wilson are abhorrent. It is going too far. They also serve no purpose to advance the issue that is worth fighting for – an appeal process. What the death threats do is give Wilson more grist to her mill by helping to prove her point. It also shifts the debate.
The debate should be focussed on the egregious breach of the Privacy Act (for which FFA is responsible in the first instance as those who seek the data), and the lack of natural justice by way of an appeal in the banning procedure. FFA does not even have the same standard of due process that FIFA has in place and, considering the mismanagement within FIFA, that’s quite an indictment on its governance. It needs to be fixed.
So forget death threats. They don’t help the individuals, and it certainly doesn’t help the game. The individuals named by the Sunday Telegraph should pursue their rights. The rest of us would do well to focus on the opportunity for something positive to come out of this by way of natural justice in the banning process.