FFA Fails to Reach Agreement
The FFA annual general meeting on November 30 failed to reach agreement on reforms.
What was interesting and disappointing is that it has now been acknowledged that this issue has delayed other important issues such as expansion of the A-League.
Below we have included the statement released by FFA and the statement from the A-League clubs.
Members of Football Federation Australia’s Congress have not passed a resolution which would have increased representation for women, professional clubs and professional players.
Seven of the 10 Members voted in favour of the resolution but with more than 75 percent approval required to pass, the outcome fell just short of the threshold required. The result means that FFA’s constitution remains unchanged and the Congress continues with its current membership – one representative each from the nine Member Federations and one representing the Hyundai A-League clubs.
FFA will now formally communicate the outcome to football’s world governing body FIFA, which had instructed Australian football’s stakeholders to agree on expansion of the Congress by today’s date. “We have all been discussing and debating this for more than a year,” said FFA Chairman Steven Lowy AM. “We are disappointed that the Members were unable to agree sufficiently on expansion of the Congress for the measure to pass.
“Throughout this long process the FFA board has had two objectives: to expand the Congress so that Australian football is better represented within our governance arrangements and is more in line with FIFA practise around the world; and to preserve the model that ensures FFA’s directors continue to be independent and make decisions in the best interests of the whole of the game,” he said.
“We will now talk to FIFA about what steps can now be taken to resolve this issue so that we have a larger, more representative Congress.
“In the meantime we remain keen to create a new separate operating model for the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League, working closely with the clubs and other relevant stakeholders.
“A new separate operating model for the leagues will provide a better return to club owners – new and existing – and is the key to attracting more capital into the game and expanding the league. This in turn is critical to improving our commercial performance so that we can fund other aspects of football development in Australia and of course our national teams.
“We will also continue the process of identifying the right person to take the Caltex Socceroos to Russia in June and prepare the Westfield Matildas for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in April.”
What was interesting and disappointing is that it has now been acknowledged that this issue has delayed other important issues such as expansion of the A-League.
Below we have included the statement released by FFA and the statement from the A-League clubs.
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Statement by FFA
Members of Football Federation Australia’s Congress have not passed a resolution which would have increased representation for women, professional clubs and professional players.
Seven of the 10 Members voted in favour of the resolution but with more than 75 percent approval required to pass, the outcome fell just short of the threshold required. The result means that FFA’s constitution remains unchanged and the Congress continues with its current membership – one representative each from the nine Member Federations and one representing the Hyundai A-League clubs.
FFA will now formally communicate the outcome to football’s world governing body FIFA, which had instructed Australian football’s stakeholders to agree on expansion of the Congress by today’s date. “We have all been discussing and debating this for more than a year,” said FFA Chairman Steven Lowy AM. “We are disappointed that the Members were unable to agree sufficiently on expansion of the Congress for the measure to pass.
“Throughout this long process the FFA board has had two objectives: to expand the Congress so that Australian football is better represented within our governance arrangements and is more in line with FIFA practise around the world; and to preserve the model that ensures FFA’s directors continue to be independent and make decisions in the best interests of the whole of the game,” he said.
“We will now talk to FIFA about what steps can now be taken to resolve this issue so that we have a larger, more representative Congress.
“In the meantime we remain keen to create a new separate operating model for the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League, working closely with the clubs and other relevant stakeholders.
“A new separate operating model for the leagues will provide a better return to club owners – new and existing – and is the key to attracting more capital into the game and expanding the league. This in turn is critical to improving our commercial performance so that we can fund other aspects of football development in Australia and of course our national teams.
“We will also continue the process of identifying the right person to take the Caltex Socceroos to Russia in June and prepare the Westfield Matildas for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in April.”
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Statement by A-League Clubs
FFA congress member and APFCA Chairman Greg Griffin
attended today’s FFA AGM fulfilling his role as the sole A-League
representative of the current congress.
The meeting considered six resolutions relating to FFA
governance. These had been put unilaterally by the FFA Board for
congress consideration on the final day of the FIFA deadline for FFA
congress reform. Mr. Griffin voted against all six motions. In doing so
he represented the unanimous views of APFCA members that the resolutions
did not represent consensus motions from the three FIFA identified
stakeholders in the reform of FFA governance – the Member Federations,
the A-League Clubs and Professional Footballers Australia.
The most important of the motions (number 6) the
composition of the Congress was defeated (seven votes in favour, three
votes against) meaning that the matter of FFA congress reform had not
been achieved by the FIFA deadline of the 30th of November.
On the 5th of July FIFA Secretary
General, Fatma Samoura wrote to the FFA CEO outlining the direction
given by the FIFA Associations Committee – specifically “to find
agreement on an alternative model with all stakeholders (Member
Federations, A-League clubs and PFA), also taking into account the
importance of gender equality. Furthermore, the Committee decided that
if the FFA membership is not expanded based on the above parameters by
30 November 2017, it would recommend the establishment of a
normalisation committee to the FIFA Council.”
Speaking after the AGM Mr. Griffin said: “Our position was
guided by the fact that two of the three FIFA identified stakeholders,
APFCA and the PFA, have identified two threshold matters that are
fundamental to achieving an outcome of good governance. They are that no
single stakeholder should ever again hold a majority equal to, or greater than the prescribed majority required to elect
Board Directors and that any congress reform solution must recognize the
importance of gender equality in football in a meaningful way. The FFA
Board’s unilateral resolutions fell far short on both matters.”
He added: “FIFA has been clear for the last 14 months
about what is required. The FFA Board has continuously ignored those
requirements and the ongoing direction from FIFA. What has motivated
them to do so is clearly for them to answer, but they have lost focus on
the ongoing needs of our game and have now “lost the dressing room”.
