Technical reports is normal after international tournaments at senior and at youth level, always interesting to read.

Bur for the FFA to sack Staj on his results on that is very sus, funny that and they still made the final.

This is getting real dodgy.

Heather Reid should explain her role in this. As a Canberran, I can tell you she isn’t admired widely in the Canberra football community, noting she has done a lot for the womens game. Many of us were worried she would actively work against a Canberra A-League side. She is happy we have a W-League side, and there never seems much enthusiasm from her about a mens team!

Honestly though, the weirdest thing to come out of this is that there are "several players" in sexual relationships with each other. WTF? I have never heard of such a thing in any sports team in the world, let alone a national team. Do they have orgies in the dressing rooms? It can't be good for cohesion and morale, as it basically guarantees the formation of cliques and unnecessary drama. It guarantees a fucking soap opera within the Matildas. Stajcic definitely should have put his foot down in this regard. Instead, it sounds like he took a hands-off approach, which kind of reflects badly on him, as he should have seen that it would lead to a breakdown in discipline and overall morale. 

I don't know why people bother commenting on something they have no idea about. 

I just commented on the repeated assertions out in the media that several players of the Matildas are in relationships with each other, which struck me as potentially unprofessional and not conducive to a healthy team environment. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I can't believe this was seen as appropriate. 

Seems pretty clear that something was not right in camp, I doubt that lesbians was the problem, until things come to light either way I don't see the point in people who have no idea what the problem was commenting on it.

I have no problem with them being lesbians, but pursuing sexual relationships within the national football team set up does strike me as unusual and potentially unprofessional. But OK, I can see how it could happen occasionally. What concerns me is that there are apparently "several" team members hooking up with each other, which indicates major problems with discipline and team culture to me. 

There a lot of things that are becoming clear. You pointed out one them, Another from the SMH.........

Sources suggest Stajcic's dismissal has been met with mixed reviews from staff members, players and union officials, who claim the manner of the dismissal – not the decision to sack the coach.

I've coached women teams for years and suggest it's not as unusual as one thinks.

we should try to poach a national team coach from another country so we can detail their preparations a well 

This story gets less clear every day, no idea what the truth is.  Even though it will be messy I really hope stajcic sues so we can see it all come out in court 

This is getting crazy.FFA pulling out any garbage they can find to throw Stajcic's way.

Considering this is a female sports team,lesbian players are far from unusual.Cricket and Tennis at the top level is full of lesbian players.I know a friend who coached a representative cricket team and he said half the team were gay.
All this is totally irrelevant to performance of the team.
If people dont get on within a team ,that can happen regardless if you are gay or not.

Unless FFA have a code of conduct,they can point to,which Stajcic breached they are also culpable.

I cant believe FFA have no HR people.So where the hell are they and what procedures were there and why were players scared to deal with staff and HR didnt deal with this?
From an employer perspective HR is a serious issue.You have to have a documented procedure in place if you want to avoid liability when a disgruntled employee has issues.
Maybe the sports world hasnt caught up with the business world yet in this regard.But this case could be a wake up call for all sports.

The problem isn't that they're lesbians, but that they're hooking up with their teammates. And it's apparently not a one-off incident but seemingly part of the culture, which simply feels wrong in a professional sporting environment regardless of sexual orientation. Sexual relationships sometimes lead to messy breakups and emotional drama, which should ideally be avoided in professional sporting set ups like the bloody national football team, so that everyone can focus on the actual sport they're being handsomely paid to play on behalf of the nation. 

Tennis is obviously different, since it's an individual sport. Hooking up with an opponent on tour doesn't affect any of the other players. Team sport dynamics are clearly very different. 

All this stuffing around is going to cost us Mary Fowler isn't it. There's no way her Dad will let her play for Aus now, it's Ireland for her.

Regardless of what went on, I think it is a bit strange to have a female team coached by a male. 

Why? 

Because of his gender?

Same reason people would find having a female coach for the mens team strange I guess.

Yeah but what are you going to do?  Put a blanket ban on falling in love?  It's as ridiculous as Turnbull saying no one in the government is ever to have a relationship with any of their work colleagues ever again.  It's farcial.  A large % of people meet their partners through work.  There's nothing wrong with it and frankly nothing you can do to police it from ever happening.

Does that mean that its a bit strange to have women CEO's running men only NRL clubs and Rugby Union?  Or is it OK for gender neutrality in jobs as long as its a woman?

Show me a female coach in the NRL and I'll admit defeat and no I wouldn't find it strange having female CEO's at mens clubs or vice versa.

Well.. he said CEOs at first, so let’s go with Raelene Castle from the Bulldogs

Imke Wubbenhorst coaches a men's fourth division German side (only female coach of a male team in the top four divisions of the German leagues).

I don't think gender matters in regards to coaching. It is their ability to manage the team that is important.

I would say at the professional / national level it is probably "frowned" upon (i.e. having relationships with other players in the team). 

I think we're straying into territory that isn't entirely relevant...

The two points are:
1. The reasons for the sacking - It's 50-50 at the moment and not entirely clear what the reasons are
2. The handling of the sacking - It's probably agreed by all that it's been poorly handled and someone within the FFA needs to be held accountable.

"Sources suggest Stajcic's dismissal has been met with mixed reviews from staff members, players and union officials, who claim the manner of the dismissal – not the decision to sack the coach."

Why is a man more likely to have relationships with players in the team?

Frankly it would be incredibly stupid for the coach (man or woman) to go there.  How can you possibly coach a TEAM when you are sleeping with one of the players.  Its NUTS!

Also, given the gay element to these teams probably a man is safer because many of the players wont be interested.  So that explodes that proposition.

In my view the only thing surprising about Stajcic's appointment in the first place was that he got through the huge bias towards a female coach for the role.  You can bet London to a brick that a female coach will be appointed now to satisfy the bias against men in the role.

In any event all I care is that they win the WC.  Lets face it they have a chance. How often will we have a team this good again.  Led by clearly the best player in the world (in the players eyes if not FIFA's).  I bet all the other teams are thrilled that we have blown up the team now.  

Question  Since the players supported him who wanted him out?   

Another thought...

Its all very sad and should have been handled much better.  

This is a first for me.  I think its time for new leadership.  I have been willing to take a balanced view of Gallop.  On the whole I think he has done as well as possible with an incredibly difficult role.  I know in this forum I am in the vast minority on this point, but no more, there are too many things that have gone wrong for me now

the dispute with the PFA a few years ago which stuffed that season and reduced interest seemingly permanently
managing the wanderers active support with the club
the FIFA oversight and structural reform issue
sticking with Lowy junior (he should have resigned)
and now most damningly this!

These are all big strategic issues that have gone wrong.  More importantly they were managed poorly so that we had an unfolding train wreck on the way through just like this one.  Thats down to poor management and someone has to be accountable.  That's DG.  He could blame S Lowy before but he is the common element all the way through

We were talking about players have relationships with other players.

I don't think many would argue with point 2, unless he said something untowards in the meeting he had with FFA (but nothing has come out suggesting this).

Nothing to see here. Let's just let ANOTHER shot be fired at football be fired because you're too last and gutless at what will be exposed.

Raelene has moved onto to CEO of Rugby Australia.  After destroying the Bulldogs, she set her sites on destroying Rugby Australia.  By all measures, she is succeeding in wiping out Rugby in Australia almost singlehandedly.  Hopefully she's not lining up the FFA as her next move.