foster would be great. too good for us. we wont get it.

@ crimsoncrusoe

I’d hoped for more from Foster, like you I’m hoping to see more football people (however you define them?) on the Board - Foster ticks that one for sure.

The criticism is he lacks relevant knowledge and skills to operate at Board level, that’s what he’s showing to me now. That’s quite alarming, we don’t need a cheerleader on there we need someone who can work at Board level and get things done.

He doesn’t seem to understand that the model has changed, he’s being elected as a Director not an Administrator and he’s certainly not a new Lowy. His role will be to represent the vested interests of the people that put him there similar to a director appointed by shareholders.

Fosters is acting like it’s a presidential campaign and he’ll figure out what needs doing when he gets there, meanwhile it’s “trust me”.

And vision is all very nice but the vision needs to come from Congress and it’s the job of the Board to deliver that vision

There’s some really obvious stuff that needs sorting - expansion, independence HAL, Div 2, allocation of funding, the new committees (which will have more influence than the Board), 2023 WC, new CBA with the PFA, new sponsors required etc ... that’s what Foster needs to focus on instead he’s giving us a “no prior deals” statement.

That sounds quite nice but if your a HAL owner you’d want to know where he stands on HAL independence and what he’s thinking about revenue split etc. having just fought a five year war with Lowy they don’t want to be in the same position come January.

The PFA, and AAFC could have the same concerns as could all the State Federations.

Unless he’s providing more “meat” behind the scenes (which his statement says he’s not ie “no deals”) then he’s a lightweight candidate who wont make the cut.

Directors have to have substance, Foster doesn’t appear to have any.

He looks more suited to an Advisory Board position rather than the actual Board.

I think Foz on Board would be good. As for the Chair, not too sure. 

I didn't get to listen to the forum the other night so I don't know whether Foz dealt with my concern there so I will share my concern with that rider.

Over the years I haven't seen him show an understanding of or acknowledge the importance of community grassroots football.  The thrust of his comments have been about the development and elite arms of football and how to structure it to optimise its effectiveness.  Thats great but its only part of the job.

Community grassroots football is the largest part of the game in Australia.  It is where most players get an introduction to the game.  With churn rates around 20% pa the length of involvement in the game for many is quite low but for more it is where they learn to love the game and stay involved in it either as a player, official or a fan for long periods and even for life.  A small percentage have their talent identified and move across to the development pathway.

What visions does Foz have for growing this part of the game?

The strength of football in Australia is too often measured by comparing numbers against the other codes of football here.  Our numbers look great but are they?  

Firstly, we are comparing against the wrong codes in the wrong places.  The mature football countries in other parts of the world can have 8-10% of the population involved in football as registered players.  In Australia it is 2.2%.

Secondly, looking at that 2.2% figure to judge how we are going is wrong.  We have a 2 speed football economy.  In FNSW, NNSWF and Capital Football the rates are 4% +/-.  In FFT it is 2.5%.  For the other mainland states it averages out at 1.35% with no state near 2%.

What are the strategies for growing the game numerically to international norms in all parts of the country?  How should the FFA be assisting the State Feds in this task?

Growing this part of the game is good for the country simply because increasing exercise is good for improving the level of health in the community and that in itself is a worthwhile exercise but that is not the only spinoff.  More players equals more fans of the game.  More players leads to more officials.  More players leads to more having talent identified which leads to the need for more elite clubs.  More elite clubs means the filling in of the tiers on the elite pathway.  More elite clubs leads to more competition to rise up the pyramid.  This, provided clubs get their player development structures right, leads to a higher quality player playing in our top tiers etc.

No part of the football ecosystem can be ignored and all parts need to be appropriately represented at the various tables within the FFA.

https://medium.com/football-supporters-australia/ffa-board-candidates-respond-to-our-questions-on-fan-engagement-c8fddf7b1f37

Fozzie Bear's apolitical stance is hilarious. What planet is he on.  

for anyone who's interested

https://soundcloud.com/fnr_footballnationradio/aafc-community-forum-fnr-football-nation-radio

I listened to it and was really impressed with Fozz and Remo everyone else was last in my opinion. 

Well Fozz is an easy target ,because people like Waz and Gyfox know him ten times more than they know any of the clingons.
Its the bicycle shed syndrone.
If you havent heard of that,its where a commitee spends five minutes deciding on a new power station which cost multi millions of dollars and an hour discussing a bicycle shed ,because they all knew about sheds and bicycles but knew very little about power stations.

If you seriously want to pan Fozz ,how about you scrutinise the clingons to the same degree?
Nothing? It's because you know nothing about their football philiposophy.They are too scared to come out from under the fridges.

Waz,your comments about Fozz ,being unsuitable because he knows nothing about boards or directorship sounds like a condescending Lowy diatribe.You dont pick all the board or directors based on their experience of being on prior ones.You need a mix of experience.
What you definitely need are football people ,as well as new people with fresh ideas.
Having a blend of skills would be preferable and people with opinions .Not professional board/directors who add nothing but a rubber stamp.like the last lot.

Gyfox fmd,what uniformed comments about Fozz and grassroots.Are you talking about the same Fozz who flew down to Melbourne to help out a kids football teams ,donated his earnings to indiginous youth development and is a champion of indiginous youth football?




To suggest Fozz is unsuitable because he lacks experience on boards makes me cringe.
If an ignorant Orangotang can lead the most powerful country in the world,i think someone like Foster can mangage to lead a basket case sport in Australia,where prior experience required revolves around the having the longest tongue to lick someones rear end and the most urine to fill a pocket.
Who on that list is there who can really represent the fans and players,who afterall are 99% of the football community?

#FFAvotes

http://footballtoday.news/football-media-watch/socceroos-w-league-matildas-ffavotes-womens-council-a-league-expansion-asian-cup

Ray Gatt reports that Craig Foster's hopes of being elected to the Board are fading as a 'gang of four' comes into play. Gatt writes that the favoured four are apparently existing Board member seeking re-election, Chris Nikou (go figure), Joseph Carrozzi, Stephen Conroy and Remo Nogarotto (pictured).

If this is so, it seems that the FFA Congress really does have a 'tin ear' to those who volunteer in, play and support the game.

Not only is Foster reportedly out of contention, but by Gatt's reckoning, there is no woman to be elected to the Board; but the two remaining women nominees, Heather Reid and Linda Norquay, are likely to be appointed subsequent to the election (as there are three appointed positions in addition to the four elected positions). 

Norquay, has stepped outside the Murdoch bubble to speak with Vince Rugari of Fairfax about her candidacy. She is a Sydney FC member, along with her husband and kids, and also an accountant who is entrusted with Lachlan Murdoch's personal finances, and has 20 years experience in financial and commercial roles. She supports A-League expansion but "more research" is needed about a national second division. It seems like the A-League clubs have briefed her already. 

Women's Council

Gatt also reports that Football Victoria has thrown a cat amongst the pidgeons by nominating Football Today editor (but not the writer of today's latest football news blog), Bonita Mersiades, as the Independent Chair of the Women's Council. We can think of no-one more independent or more able to assume this role. However, as the FFA Congress is unlikely to elect Foster to the FFA Board, they are also unlikely to agree to Mersiades for the Women's Council. 

At the end of this report on A-League expansion, Tom Smithies names the three A-League club representatives on the Women's Council - all staffers or existing club directors. They are:

• Erica Berchtold of Sydney FC (who has also been on the Western Sydney Wanderers Board)
• staff member Sue Crowe of Melbourne City, and
• company secretary of Melbourne Victory, Caroline Carnegie.

Smithies writes that they are added to the PFA's Alex Wilkinson, Elise Kellond-Knight and Lydia Williams, with only one state federation nominee known, Football West Director, Janette Spencer.

However, we can report that the other two women nominated by the state federations are Maha Abdo of Sydney, Executive Director of the Muslim Women's Association, and another state federation Board member, Fran Sankey of Canberra. 

This means the Women's Council is comprised so far of four existing directors of state member federations and A-League clubs, one existing staff member of an A-League club, one A-League player, two W-League players and one non-aligned community representative from western Sydney. 

Waz agree and well argued

Great so we have the chance to really change the game and we are going for more of the same.

If you need me ill be on my phone watching the premier league on optus sport

I would like Foz on the board but not chair. 

well what do you suggest? 

i have serious concerns with Linda Norquay. the last thing we need is a Murdoch plant when Fox Sports already has a tight grip on the game. and she is not a real football person. 

Fozz

I'm starting to have concerns with this whole process.

Seems we are going from Lawyers and accountants elected by Lowy's running the show to lawyers and accountants and politicians elected by other vested interests running the show. State feds, PFA, A-league teams (in no particular order). Nominees with links to incumbent media interests. Return of Soccer Australia figures. And the few seemingly genuine football people that might be there for the greater good seemingly not likely to get anywhere near the elected positions.

This could end up more fractious and divisive than what we had.

Maybe 'the people' do need some direct influence on the congress ie fans groups etc. it might mean more 'populist' nominees but at least it would be a broadly representative view if implemented properly. I know the state feds should be that also but I'm just not sure they really are.

Dandenong City is not a community grassroots club.  It is part of the development/elite arm of football.  Its in the NPL.

What vision does Foz have for growing the largest part of the football ecosystem in the country? i.e. the community grassroots.  Without it being addressed football will remain stunted no matter what is done in the rest of the ecosystem.  Just as if the other parts of football aren't addressed football will be stunted.  A strategic approach to the whole of football is needed.  Foz needs to widen his view from what he has spruiked on about for decades if he is to be an effective board member but he's not alone because during this whole renewal process the game has become myopic in looking at elite football only.  Only Heather Reid would be able to hold her hand up to be a specialist in the community grassroots area and it would be good to find another one to be appointed to the board later but every board member needs to become conversant with all areas of football.

As for Foz's personal traits there is no doubt about his passion for the game, in fact I would describe him as a football evangelist, but I'm not sure how he would be able to cope with making decisions that will inevitably be compromises.  That could be too frustrating for an idealist.

My real concern for him is how being on the board would affect his work for SBS.  With both board papers and discussions being confidential would it inhibit one of his roles which is as a critic of the management of football.  There would be no issues with his role as a football analyst though.

Gyfox,What about your in depth analysis of the other candidates?
Nothing you have said indicates he will be worse than any other candidate,who have said exactly what about football?
As I said before,typical bicycle shed syndrome.
One bloke who i agree is like a football evengelist who like everybody has personality flaws,but probably the only candidate we know who will be in there boots and all fighting for football.Sure he gets football fans offside,but seriously would you want him to fight for your opinion or an AFL stooge,a murdoch stooge ,etc etc skilled at stone walling and with no known objective?

How is it people can slag off Foster and say nothing about candidates who have no agenda but to do as their masters direct?

I would add ,that at a time when we are attempting to radically reform the game here ,do we really trust the old guard to do anything other than serve their own agendas ?
Someone does need to get in their and stir things up.Make sure the hard issues are dealt with amd Stop the same thing happening again and again.
Will we be here in ten years time still lamenting the lack of a football pyramid and no plan?



The first question asked of each candidate should be ...Do you believe in a true football pyramid in Australia?
If not then bye bye!

Next question ........Will you do all you can to get a football pyramid here in Australia?

Next ...What's your plan?

If you havent thought about any of those questions as a candidate then you should piss off!

Mark Rendells effort

If you can't read it, you've missed nothing, he says absolutely nothing

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DsGUoGRUcAEavNE.jpg:large

Foz has been trying to sell himself as the gift that football needs in a very public way.  He has been electioneering in the public realm which is strange because the people he is appealing too don't have a vote.  He has brought himself into the spotlight.  Others haven't.  He is fair game for fair analysis.

I haven't indicated that he will be worse than others in fact I have said that I see few who have shown much interest or experience in the biggest part of the game that needs a huge amount of work if football culture here is going to approach that in mature football countries.  My cry is for the whole game to be looked at not just the elite bit of it and that applies to all who want the privilege of serving the game on the board.

Do I see Foz as non aligned?  No.  He is the PFA's nominee.  He is a PFA man.  He is no different to other nominees in that way.

Would I want him in my corner arguing for football?  I have no doubt he would do his best and be good at it in areas of his special interest but as a board member and in management you have to be able to argue for the company view which can be confronting especially if your own view was defeated in the boardroom.  In that he is no different to any nominee.  We don't know and time will tell.

See a problem there?  The whole concept of this reformation was to bring in greater representation at the Congress level and have the Congress and Standing Committees provide policy input to an "independent" Board.  The Board to implement the policies in line with the principles of good governance.

Evangelism is appropriate at the Congress level, no so at the Board level.  If you have the Board acting completely independently and under the thrall of an evangelist, then what has changed?

Football pyramids are a matter for the Congress and Committees to champion, the Board to determine feasibility, and together to implement, or together to cast aside.

Politicking rampant as FFA elections expose rifts in Australian game

If the disillusionment of the average voter is the best argument against democracy, then the quarrel that has emerged among football's stakeholders ahead of the elections for a new Football Federation Australia board casts a bleak outlook for the future governance of the game.

After a two-year battle for more inclusive and representative governance, Monday's historic vote on a new chairman and board members will deliver the game its spoils of war. However, the stakeholders are yet to show they know what to do with them, at least collectively.

Four new board members will be elected from a field of 11 candidates and, despite weeks of horse-trading and canvassing, the game is no closer to finding the foundation for unity it so desperately needs with its next leadership.  Representatives of the state member federations, A-League clubs, the players' union and women's football will decide the game's direction on Monday.

Just a month ago, an alliance of stakeholders was so unified it ousted former FFA chairman Steven Lowy and pushed through democratic reforms rubber-stamped by FIFA. However, signs of fractures have since appeared and there are fears that harmony was temporary.

Former allies in the Congress reform processes have now distanced themselves from one another, and some alliances are understood to have broken down following heated exchanges. Indicative of the rifts, it's understood one state member federation requested police background checks on several board candidates.

Politicking has reached its most rampant, pacts are being formed, and replacing David Gallop as chief executive of the FFA with preferred administrators has even been canvassed. Sources are suggesting proposals are being made daily, with claims of voting blocs forming and deals being made amid a climate of growing distrust and scepticism.

At the heart of the fracturing of unity is conjecture over who should be elected to govern the game after 15 years of near autocracy. As of Friday evening, no one clear leader had emerged favourite. Only a shortlist ranging from four to eight candidates, depending on who you ask, and plenty of concerns over influences and character. "It's bloody fluid at the moment," one figure involved in the voting told Fairfax Media.

The likely shortlist is understood to include former Capital Football boss Heather Reid, former Soccer Australia chair Remo Nogarotto, PWC partner Joseph Carrozzi, lawyer Chris Nikou and former federal minister Stephen Conroy.  However, the most popular candidates are proving the most divisive.

Sources suggest the proposal of Conroy, in particular, has polarised A-League clubs. Nikou has widespread support but those who oppose his candidacy flagged concerns that he was an FFA board member who opposed the reforms process yet could become the new chair.

More certain is that the people's choice won't become the next chair with Craig Foster appearing to be struggling to gain the numbers required to be elected to the board. However, his nomination poses a problem for the game. The FFA is in desperate need of a PR triumph in an era when football fans have proven their unwillingness to be commodified. While fans won't have a vote, online opinion polls suggest they believe "Foz" will best represent their interests within the FFA board.

There is good reason for fans to have their concerns as they, like all participants in the game, will be impacted by the events that unfold on Monday. Immediately after forming, this new board must resolve A-League expansion and make a decision on which two new teams will enter the competition and when. A-League independence will soon follow, then the board will have to address a range of issues: grassroots registration fees, player pathways, Indigenous football programs, strengthening women's football and improving broadcasting of the game. Before any of these longstanding issues can be addressed, there must first be a restoration of trust and direction from the new board.

Despite the conjecture, a new chair will be appointed shortly after the board vote. For all the recent division, there is still hope of the new leadership delivering unity. Restlessness naturally follows the collapse of any autocratic rule, but good governance will determine how long that will continue. A code that has historically been rife with self-interest has never had a better opportunity to put the game first.

As the late Fairfax journalist Mike Cockerill once said: "There are a lot of broken people in the game, yet it's still the sport with the most blue sky in Australia. Even after everything, it's only scratched the surface."

If the stakeholders elect someone who can mend the game, they will realise how far football can go.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/politicking-rampant-as-ffa-elections-expose-rifts-in-australian-game-20181116-p50gif.html

Indicative of the rifts, it's understood one state member federation requested police background checks on several board candidates.

replacing David Gallop as chief executive of the FFA with preferred administrators has even been canvassed. 

Foz is out of the running.
Check out @Craig_Foster’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/Craig_Foster/status/1063334131591917568?s=09

Astonishing? 

Monday will come soon enough.

I can't understand how people can back Foster. We are all so critical of the way FFA do their business, and in regards to expansion nearly everyone on this forum, including me have constantly bagged the shit out of the Southern Sydney bid for obvious reasons, and even suggested it'll be the club chosen because of the idiots making decisions ( FFA ).
Then on the other hand we have people wanting Foster to run our game, who just happens to be the face of the Southern Sydney bid.
I wouldn't want anyone running football in Australia who can't understand a club representing 3 different areas, and playing out of 3 different stadiums isn't a shocking idea. 
I'm glad he's pulled out.

Hahaha all that campaigning he set up.

Sth Expansion must have paid him good $$ not to leave them