This means the end of football club de-wogafication in Australia, the agenda of Lowey and Gallop. Might see expansion with eventual pro/rel. Neither were going to happen within 20 years from now. Other codes (Afl's Eddie), will be seething that the majority fans will finally start getting what they want.

Actually, the other way round.  If the A League gets hold of the FFA then they will rule the game here and what we have now doubles down. A League 1 - Wogs 0.  Full time.

SWandP

The A League doesn't want to "get hold of the game here" - all they want is the ability to run their own competition just like in other countries in the world.

And you trust Griffin to run it? Maby City group can run it? Lets bring back Clive's rebel league at that rate.
The only clubs seriously agitating for a change are the ones looking to turn a quick buck.

Bring it on.

Out with this stale bread. 

-PB

@ Ultimate.

That's a laughable statement, who invests in any football club let alone in friggin Australia to "make a quick buck". For crying out loud, the ond thing they're not in it for is a quick return 😂

It's time we cut the BS in this discussion - we're not unique so let the HAL clubs run their own competition. If they fuck it up there's another set of clubs ready and waiting to set up a new league.

But somehow I'm betting the owners of City, Victiry, Wanderers, SFC and Jets, all seriously wealthy and successful in their own right, won't fuck it up. But yeah, you focus on Griffin lol ...

Yep

Owning a football club... to make money. Right.

How do people eat this shit up?

I don't think you know very much about Griffin

Oh diddums someone disagrees with you

There is also nothin wrong with owners wanting to generate more money and capital. It allows growth and re investment. A league clubs are long term investments at one point owners are going to want to make and generate money from these clubs, it's the end game really. If we have clubs making profit. Player salaries will increase therefore clubs will be able to retain and attract top quality talent. academies, overseas tours, more advertisement and promotion of the league etc etc.

I feel if the owners run the league it is more likely we will see expansion, pro/rel, transfer fees within the a league, loan outs within the a league. Which in turn will make the a league resemble a more established and professional league

If the club owners were in complete charge and they wanted to make money then it's likely we'd get things like transfer fees, no salary cap/salary floor, less regulations on squad sizes, more use of smaller boutique venues to save money, more friendlies with foreign clubs (since they wouldn't need to pay the FFA's $250k extortion fee "sanction"), and a shift towards the methodologies of European clubs that are run to generate profit (creating and selling youth players, low wage bills, etc.). 

Those aren't bad things...

i cant help but feel the same way..  anything that the ffa does now just feels like a band aid temporarily covering the inertia.  the ffa is our fatberg.

I haven't seen anything that supports that statement other than speculation on web sites and journalistic speculation.  Your interpretation seems from here to be just wishful thinking.

If that's all they actually want, why  haven't they come straight out and said that?  Why no list of "here is what we want to do with the A League"?

Frankly I didn't see them going all ape shit until Lowy Jr said he supported a second div and future pro/rel.  All I have seen used on those subjects is weasel words and carefully crafted statements (like the one on expansion - we welcome it as long as the sale fee is distributed to existing owners).

When they actually publish a  clear and logical manifesto about why they NEED full control of the whole she-bang to get an independent League I will be the first to hail it.
I do not recall a single occasion when I have seen an official statement that says something like "all we want is a separate and independent pro League governed by the Clubs and Players with the FFA setting the overall parameters from afar.  (No day to day involvement in the running of the League). 

I don't think I'd be far from the mark if I was to say that the independent League has very broad support.  It  has mine for sure. 
An independent 2nd Div as part of that League should be written in blood on stone.  Do that and whoopee we have a path to an unfettered, perhaps risky, but promising future.
Where is this future in what the A League group have revealed?

Control of the whole game here by a small group headed up by an AFL Lawyer?  Nope.  No way.  Never.

To be honest I don't understand why the FFA aren't going the whole hog with expanding the membership of the congress something like this:-

Give the A-League clubs and W-league clubs 1 vote each (18, to grow as expansion happens in each league and div 2 starts/grows),
Give the PFA 1 each for male and female professional players (2, to grow by 1 with each new professional division),
Give the states NPL competitions 1 vote each for each NPL level (12, to grow by increasing levels and including female NPL competitions),
Give the states 1 vote for both the first 40k male and 10k female grass roots players (NPL players not included in the numbers) (18, to increase on a sliding scale with numbers of players over the 40/10k level),
Give Futsal, beach football, referees, coaches 1 vote each for both male and female (8),
Give international teams 2 votes each per team (18, to be represented by the coach and a player)
Total 76+ extra grass roots votes depending on the sliding scale adopted.



If the clubs want more say then grow the leagues.
If the PFA want more say then co-operate with the clubs to make leagues and expansion more sustainable.
If NPL wants more say then co-operate with the state feds in growing the game numerically so they can expand.
If a state wants more say work with all clubs to make the game affordable and attractive to players and their families.
etc.

Don't they just come in and run the game until mew elections can be called? 

I'd imagine that they would be reluctant to make any changes while as caretakers and would leave that to the next elected board. 

TimmyJ,   The role of the NC is to run the operation of football as the interim board and develop a new constitution along with the stakeholders and arrange new elections as soon as possible.  FIFA has said in other instances that they would like the NC replaced by the new board within 12 months.

My concern with HAL clubs taking over is that half of them have foreign owners. Whilst they want to run their club at break even as a minimum anything left over is unlikely to go to football. They don't have the emotional or cultural interest in Australian football.

I don't understand where anybody got the idea that people buy football clubs to make money but it is just plain fucking wrong

Any owner has millions of their own money as a result of profit from another business. Football ownership is the same as sponsorship or a charitable donation. It is good will. it is community engagement. It is promotion for another business. It is a luxury spend

Nobody on this planet looks at a football club as a means of getting a return on investment. It would be less of a financial risk to give it to a bum in a promise he'll pay them back when he makes something of himself

Football owners come for a few years, splash a bit of cash around, then go. All we have to do is take it and use it. More of a risk than sponsorship in terms of dependence on it but too lucrative to turn down. And no less riskier than a TV deal as we have found out


Owners don't see eye to eye because they are in competition with one another (at least they would be if the A League had a sensible model). It is unlikely that the owners will have any way of colluding together and using their power to control the game. And if they did, no worse than the current dictator model

If club owners can own their club, there are no competitive or financial restraints so they can protect what they are spending money on, and their is transparency in how what their name and brand earns is divided up - then I think you'll find they wont have much to complain about

The day I see a foreign owner invest in some land, a grandstand, a clubhouse or similar, is the day I start believing they have an interest in the future of Australian football.

They are there in 99% of NPL clubs. Obviously they have an interest in the future of Australian football. 

How many professional sports teams in any code in Australia own their stadium and the land it's on? Melbourne Knights and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks come to mind, but that's about it. Certainly none of the AFL teams, they get the taxpayer to shill for that although often get de facto control. There's also Docklands, but that's owned by the league, not any club.

Many still have clubhouses, most don't have billionaire owners. I'd expect our billionaire owners to contribute to the football community with something they can't take back with them when they pack up leave.

However, some of the influential NPL clubs are there primarily to support their own ethnic community, not Australian football.

Stan Kroenke? Glazer brothers? John Henry?

Pretty embarassing to read this reply to be honest. You got called out big time. AFL clubs have upwards of 75 million in annual revenues and don't own a square metre of dirt to play on. Granted, they're really good about buying the land their pokies lounge sits on.

Yes, that's one of the examples I gave how they can contribute. In the scale of magnitude don't expect massive pokie clubs but for our humble requirements even a small club house where fans of the game can get together.

Mark Schwarzer - Marconi
Lucas Neill - Manly United
Tim Cahill - Sydney Olympic, Sydney United
Jason Culina - Sydney Olympic, Sydney United
Brett Emerton - Sydney Olympic, Marconi
Tony Popovic - Sydney United
Mark Viduka - Melbourne Knights
John Aloisi - Adelaide City
Scott Chipperfield - Wollongong Wolves
Stan Lazaridis - West Adelaide
Harry Kewell - Marconi

Going by that list of half the 2006 world cup squad I'd contend those NPL clubs are a) there to support Australian football and b) did more than you ever did for Australian football

Players are not clubs and although it has nothing to do with the topic you don't know what I have contributed.

Thanks Gyfox, does the NC report to FIFA or are they allowed to run the sport as they see fit?