Victoria leading the way on grassroots online roll out
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
FFA CEO Ben Buckley at work with FFV Nick Monteleone and FFV CEO Mark Rendell (left)
Football Federation Australia (FFA) and Football Federation Victoria (FFV) have held talks in Melbourne where they discussed the future of Australian football as far forward as the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.
The round table talks were attended by FFA CEO Ben Buckley, FFA board director Jack Reilly, FFV President Nick Monteleone, FFV CEO Mark Rendell and FFV board directors Ian Eman-Ammache, Bart Harrold, Annette Hughes, Lynne Jordan and Steve Milicevic.
During the two hour meeting, a wide range of issues were discussed including joint FFA-FFV initiatives currently improving grassroots football.
The meeting highlighted the continuing successful roll out of the My Football Club online portal, which is funded by FFA and implemented in conjunction with FFV.
The registration website aims to make the lives of grassroots players and football club secretaries easier by streamlining the player registration and fee payment process. The portal also includes a competitions management module.
Ben Buckley said he was particularly impressed with the rollout of the program across Victoria.
“The My Football Club portal is a great success which has been reflected by the fact that almost 19,000 players in Victoria have gone online and self-registered for this season,” said Buckley.
“That’s double the number of 2010 self-registrations. The My Football Club is being rolled our nationally, but Victoria is leading the way with over 300 clubs covering 50,000 players using the online system.”
From left: FFV CEO Mark Rendell, FFA director Jack Reilly, FFV Nick Monteleone and FFA CEO Ben Buckley An FFV proposal for the introduction of a club accreditation system has now moved to a pilot scheme in Victoria that could be the template for a national roll out.
FFV CEO Mark Rendell said the system would aim to set minimum benchmarks for clubs to be accredited at various levels, including coaching staff qualifications and policies on players’ health, welfare and personal development.
“The aim of this scheme is to develop a fresh model for clubs to aspire to, as well as provide feedback on areas that may need further attention,” said Mr Rendell.
“All clubs in Victoria are now level one accredited and we look forward to working with the FFA to develop the next levels of the scheme.”
Discussions also centred on player insurance and the importance of keeping costs to play football as low as possible.
Another key topic of discussion was the Smith Review which will be conducted in co-operation with the Federal Government over the next four to five months. As recently announced, this is an independent review of football in Australia aimed at providing a current status snapshot of the game.
The recommendations of the Smith Review will provide a blueprint for football in Australia in the lead up to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup which is to be hosted by Australia with an expected attendance of 500,000 fans.
Mr Buckley told his FFV hosts that the FFA is well advanced in setting its strategic priorities for the next World Cup cycle. The three pillars around which the strategy is built are;
• the continuing national team excellence, in particular with qualification of the Qantas Socceroos for the 2014 FIFA World Cup
• connecting with the 1.7 million Australians who make up the football community to create greater engagement and productive partnerships
• promoting the growth and sustainability of the Hyundai A-League.
Mr Buckley applauded FFV in its co-operation with Hyundai A-League clubs Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart.
“The success of the Hyundai A-League has a ripple effect that can be felt all the way down to grassroots football. Everyone even remotely involved in the game benefits from the A-League being successful,” he said.
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