The Crawford report was the reason why there was a reform - everything else including its recommendations were ignored - not partially either

Edited by Chris: 14/8/2010 01:24:22 PM

The main issue is Power. No one wants to lose their power and influence, so any move to change things is always going to be shot down.

Everyone thinks their own ideas are right, so how can we change things with that kind of mindset?:)

The Crawford Report is very much a very broad statement on taking away thpose power blocks, but the fact we got as far as we did is a win in itself. No report has ever been implemented completely, as theres always roadblocks that can not be overcome.

Turn left at alberquerque

You will find the one major area of the Crawford report that has not been forfilled is reform at State level. The FFA still has limited control over State operations. While in NSW the State Federation has limited control over the local Associations (NB that Craig Foster wrote an article about this and how some local associations have over $1Mil setting in accounts doing nothing but earning interest). Trying to explain to many (especially on this forum)this corporate structure and its associated issues is to blame for the problems of our sport (Re; Crawford Report) becomes all too hard for them. Much easier to blame the NSL and the NSL CLubs, which lets not forget totals over forty Clubs some of which are now in the A-League, while this "anger" usually focuses on a handful of the former NSL Clubs. SMFC, SYD. UTD, MELB KNIGHTS, MARCONI and SYD OLYMPIC to be totally forthright, are the issue for these forumites blinded by their anger as to who is to "blame" for the state the game fell into by 2003. Of course this becomes an "ethnic" issue as those Clubs either were told "do not apply" or did not want to be part of the A-League (due to costs) while a handful of privately funded Clubs were immediatley accepted into the A-League fold. This created a perception of "who is to blame" "we found our scape goat" the "ethnic Clubs" which the vitriol and hatred hurled towards these Clubs and communities associated with them borders on the racist.
So in effect the NSL and now the A-League becomes nothing more than a Myer window shopfront, change the Myer Windows and we change the "perception" while the truth lies behind the shopfront. This "perception" is enhanced when the authorities ignore the "historical past" or set up ridiculously low "compensation fees" has no transparent guidlines for bidding for an A-League Licence, provides no long-term advice or feasibility as to an FFA Cup or possible A2 League. Or just plainly ignores the "grassroots" as a whole.

Many of the people who played the machiavallian games prior to 2003 are still there, while Tony Labozetta is gone, the people who put him and others there are still around.

The core of Crawford's Report was about changing these voting structures which has not happened to the extent Crawford envisaged. Frank Lowy due to his force of personality has been able to paper over these cracks, but as I have said before what happens when his gone?

Our game still seems to rely on that magical panecea to come along and everything will just be fixed from the tycoon with all the money, to holding a World Cup, to making a World Cup to that magical TV Deal.

Going back to when George Negus was on the board of the ASF he was calling for the scrapping of the State federations. Reasoning; all the machiavellian voting, alliances and deals comes from them.

In the end the FFA cannot give the FFV a directive to do so, while the State Government may be able to squeeze change by cutting funding, in the end I suppose change has to come from the constituants, of which leadership is clearly lacking, let alone interest in participating in the FFV political process. Here in lies the danger of which I speak, as the lunatics run the asylum and why many at grassroots cheer when the FFV loses a Civil Court Case and will again if SMFC wins theirs. Yet thats not really the answer is it.

It would likely need to come from FFA's directive, as govt involvement is unlikely.

The issues regarding the FFV administration are many and varied. Personally I would like to see some kind of independant report about how the FFV should run with all stake holders involved.

In what way? If the clubs lost pokie machines you mean? Or something else?

Check if there is a link with pokies regarding these mergers

When looking at Wikipedia before, I was amazed to see the amount of mergers that have taken place in the last few years.

The biggest shock was the Italian-backed clubs, who have gone down by a large amount.

'Whittlesea Zebras FC was formed in 2007 after a series of mergers firstly in 1997 between several clubs based in the Italian Australian community, namely Brunswick Juventus, Box Hill Inter and Bulleen Lions. In 2007 the club known as the Bulleen Zebras merged with the Whittlesea Stallions FC to be known as the Whittlesea Zebras FC.'
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittlesea_Zebras_FC

Thats 4 clubs into 1. Whittlesea also had a merger with the Fawkner Blues for 2 years (2005-06), before they went their seperate ways.

The fact that those clubs traditional support bases are nowhere near Epping is another weird thing to see, as it would be hard to see supporters going that far to attend matches, or actively support their clubs.

Is this due to the shrinking relevance of those clubs to the next generation? Seems strange that so many clubs could struggle to that extreme.

Many other mergers have gone on, but that was one that really stood out to me.

It either points to systematic issues in football in this state, or issues with those clubs remaining relevant to their target markets.

I have no problem with this, however it must be done so that clubs in the lower divisions are not left behind. I don't want to see a Premier League/Football League gulf in the state leagues.

The FFV are required to have an exclusive board specifically for the VPL - and the same should apply in other states - how can a "premier state competition" - (2nd tier Nationally) - in football, governing a sport that has the highest participation rate in the country not have its own exclusive board is beyond me?

Look at the VFL for example - their federation is exclusive to the VFL

How can a body that is currently governing football across all regions, age groups and all tiers within that state have any focus on its premiership competition?

As a result - there are missed opportunities in key areas such as

Sponsorship
Media
TV

which are all accessible - however the federation lacks the recource to explore

How can any club thrive in a competition that cannot even sponsor itself?



Edited by chris: 11/8/2010 09:29:32 AM

The card thing sounds like they are desperate for cash, by any means possible.

Sad to see the state of the game in this state.

I think the NSL issue was more to do with a NSW Vs Vic tussle, another powerplay unfortunately.

Edited by heart_fan: 10/8/2010 01:24:46 PM

The FFV has always had egos too big for the game. You can go back to the founding of the NSL when no Victorian club wanted to leave the league. You also have the standard of refereeing going down due to infighting within the local branches, good referees are being pushed out of the game due to the politics of the developmental system. There has been no FIFA accredited referee for ages because of this.

At the same time you have management at FFV HQ making life more and more difficult for clubs struggling financially. For example, it used to be the club gets fined for an accumulation of yellow cards, now it's a fine for every card; and with refereeing going downhill fast the amount of cards and therefore fines directly affects the bank balances of the local clubs. Plus there is more and more red-tape and 'regulations' that prevent smaller clubs from progressing through the leagues.

The FFV is in trouble, but has been for ages. This isn't new

If he had his time at FFV, that wont help, I would not suspect anyway. The issues there have been going on for a while now, not just a few years. It just seems to have intensified in the last couple of years, due to increasing politiciation, club power and eroding of overall confidence in everything.

These things are not new, but many factors have started to come into play, including restless clubs who are desperate for bigger and better things, but for which the FFV can not provide. It all went down hill from there, along with the fact that so many strong egos never work together well:)

He was the CEO of FFV before the nix, so i dnt think cost would be an issue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Pignata

Communicates well with the fans. Example being his account on yellowfever, intervening when fans may get confused about a particular issue. I think he personally sorted out acouple of guys season passes last year

Its more likely a question of if FFV can afford him?

Dealing with the politics that is involved with football in thios state could be harder to deal with though. No one seems to be strong enough to deal with it, with any confidence.

Tony Pignata did a good job at Wellington and would be an asset

Edited by joffa: 9/8/2010 09:12:39 PM

Why him in particular?

Firstly, the FFV is commonly considered to be falling off track, confusing everyone in the way they are running the game. What can be done to fix it? Hire Tony Pignata

Edited by Everton FC: 9/8/2010 08:59:57 PM

After reading quite a few different seperate discussions on here, I am more confused now than before about how the game can be fixed in this state.

Firstly, the FFV is commonly considered to be falling off track, confusing everyone in the way they are running the game. What can be done to fix it?

Secondly, how can we make the VPL more relevant and more effectively managed, generating more interest and ultiately more corporate support?

Fixing the FFV is one major step to fixing the 2nd point (VPL), however theres likely more to it than that.