https://www.fourfourtwo.com.au/news/ffa-vows-to-block-ffa-v20-blueprint-499789

Football Federation Australia has vowed to fight the key changes proposed in the blueprint for a new governance of Australian football.

                                                            The Congress Review Working Group report to FIFA was published earlier today and revealed a masterplan to split the A-League away from the FFA in time for the 2019/20 season and to overhaul and expand both Congress and the FFA Board.The FFA has been desperately opposed to significant changes to the status quo, which forced FIFA to get involved and set up the working group to draw up a plan for the future.Now the FFA has come out to oppose key changes proposed in the new structure.FFA chairman Steven Lowy insisted: "There are many elements of the report which are positive steps and wholly supported by the FFA Board."But he then went to produce a lengthy list of items they will be fighting against with FIFA.He added: "There are also some crucial aspects of the report which the FFA Board does not believe are in the best interests of the game and are inconsistent with its guiding principles submitted at the beginning of the processAn FFA media statement spelled out: "Specifically, the independent FFA Board expressed strong concerns over the following key aspects

• the proposed model excessively weights votes towards “professional” football at the expense of “grassroots” football and effectively would allow the professional game when acting as a block to dictate the election of directors to the FFA Board.
  
• the proposed model grants A-League clubs, acting as a block, the ability to veto amendments to the FFA Constitution
  
• the proposed model delivers PFA a disproportionately greater voting representation than each Member Federation
  
• the Women’s Council appears to extend the voting reach of other stakeholders at the expense of a truly independent voice for the women’s game
  
• the proposed model does not sufficiently broaden the membership of FFA at the outset - to this end, the FFA Board was supportive of the immediate admission of special interest groups including AAFC in light of the importance of NPL Clubs in the Australian football ecosystem
  
• the proposed pathway to an alternate A-League model is inconsistent with the foundational good governance principle that independent directors should manage the affairs of FFA in accordance with their fiduciary duties in the interests of FFA. The proposed pathway instead blurs the role between Board and Congress decision-making. The FFA Board instead proposed a process which preserves the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder while consulting with all stakeholders throughout the process before a final vote of the Congress on the proposed A-League model."

In a letter to the working party, Lowy wrote: "The directors consider that the current CRWG proposals in relation to the new composition for the FFA Congress and the pathway to an alternative A-League governance model are not in the interests of the game."As such, consistent with their fiduciary duties, the directors would have no option but to recommend against their adoption."