Football Australia
The Future of Australian Soccer
and the National Soccer League
4 February 2001
In recent weeks, ex-Victorian premier Jeff Kennett and ex-player Robbie Slater have been
vociferous regarding the state of Australian soccer, and the much vaunted NSL reforms and
the general state of the game has come to the fore again. Soccer Australia General
Manager Stefan Kamasz, on On The Ball this morning, claimed the reform process was well on
target. He defended the 12 team number unconvincingly by stating that it was a clear
demonstration to Ch7 that the reform process is happening, and that marketing research
suggested that 12 was the optimum number in terms of having the entire league fully
capitalised rather than just the handful of clubs that are at present. While 16 is
obviously too much with at least two current clubs (Gippsland and one of the western
Sydney clubs) seemingly surplus, it is hard to see which two clubs, along with Gippsland,
could be cut considering most of the lesser clubs' statuses are similar to each other when
matched against the proposed criteria which most fail. It will almost come down to board
discretion as to who goes and that is when grievances, and hence court action, will
occur. Probably the only avoidance of this is the fact that effectively it is an all
new comp next season and that all clubs are applying from scratch to join it. In
effect, no one is being chucked out.
A more sensible option would be to proceed with a 14 team league by omitting Gippsland, who are in serious debt. Then let natural attrition do the rest. With West Adelaide, Carlton and now Gippsland falling spectacularly within such a short period of time, attrition is working, and accelerating, as the likes of Perth and Spirit and even the resurgent South Melbourne and Olympic extend the benchmark for what a successful NSL club should be in terms of attendance, professionalism and success.
The wild-card in all this is Auckland. Their guaranteed two-season stay will be up at the completion of this season and would seem an obvious choice to cut in the 12-team league to protect Australian club interestests. But then, they too have recorded 10,000+ crowds recently so have a good argument to stay. And NZ offers extra exposure for any potential sponsors for the new league - another reason to keep them. However, the decision may be taken out of SA's hands as Fifa approval is still required for Auckland to stay. If they are cut, that would leave just one club to go which would almost certainly be either Sydney United or Parramatta given that SA ideally want every major region to contain at least one NSL club.
Given that there are several new entities applying for the new league - including two from WA and one from South Australia - SA may wipe the slate almost totally clean and strart as fresh as possible. That seems unlikely with the current board likely to be sympathetic to the traditional clubs. And personally, I would not like to see it. The AFL went through a similar scenario a few years back with mergers and re-locations on the card. It failed, received a huge public backlash in the process, and what it learnt in the end is that the strength of the league is in the clubs and their supporters and that they should be respected.
Soccer in this country has only recently awoken in terms of broad-based appeal in the last 5-10 years or so with a true multi-national local fanbase starting to develop for the South Melbournes and Melbourne Knights of this world, and much further advanced for our national team. I am living proof of that and feel that the traditional clubs should be allowed a few more years to prove themselves. Whilst I will never stand on the muddy terraces in the semi-wastelands that is the Knights's home ground in Melbourne's outer west, if they, or South, progress to a point that they are able to play regularly at a decent venue like the Docklands, then I could be enticed to go. After all, there are countless clubs around the world, including AC Milan, Brazil's Corinthians (both have English origins) and Vasco de Gama (Portugese), that have transformed themselves into national icons after being ethnically founded. Of course, they have totally revamped and neutral strips and only retain minor symbols of their origins (AC Milan has the St George cross in their badge and "AC" actually refers to Athletic and Cricket club of Milan). These clubs have been around for decades and no doubt our "ethnic" clubs could do so if allowed a similar time frame and made similar changes. So while the current SA regime are basically useless nepotistic bureaucrats, at least their self-absorbness will protect the immediate future of most of these traditional clubs. However, in terms of everything else about the game, they are redundant and need to go.
Unfortunately, the current regime seem to be sticking around, especially with the nominees of SA chairman, Labbozetta and Brondolino. The former was pinpointed in the Stewart senate report as to never be allowed to hold an official post in Australian soccer, and the latter offers little policy and incentive to suggest that he won't be just another bag carrier. If SA really wanted to demonstrate to Ch7 the level of their reforms, these two, or any of their kind, would have nothing to do with Australian soccer's future direction. The best thing the current board could do to increase the public's perception and to further demonstrate to Ch7 their willingness for a new start would be to actively seek an outsider to nominate as chairman. The board have to realise that Slater and co are not a vocal minority; they are expressing views that are representative of nearly all Australian soccer fans whom are frustrated and fed-up. However, the board's selfishness and ignorance of this means we will be forced to suffer one of these fools as chairman. Hopefully their influence will be minimal and as baggage free as possible in the re-launch of the league. What they fail to realise is that at the end of the day, it does not matter what the say and how effective they might be in office. It is all about image. While Labbozetta had his punishment reduced after the fallout of the infamous Okon transfer to Club Brugges, he was never officially exonerated, but more to the point, he still represents a legacy and an image of the game that everyone in Australian soccer is sick of and wants eradicated. In electing a new chairman, it really is a case of worst the devil you know than the devil you don't. It is time Soccer Australia accepted it.
Another area to be addressed in this relaunch talk is that of the name of the impending competition as well as the name of the very governing body of the sport in this country itself. In fact, dumping the NSL and the Soccer Australia "brand" names should be an utmost priority for the new season with the word football entering the equation. When SA changed from the Australian Soccer Federation during the Hill era, their reasoning was that the word soccer readily identified the actual sport whereas the word football left ambiguities. Maybe so, but it also prolonged the public's perception that soccer was an insignificant relation to the mainstream footballing codes. SA's stance of the time was defeatist and it is time this current regime promoted the sport as what it actually is: the definitive code of football. In re-identifying itself, the only name that can eloquently, succinctly and most importantly, pre-eminantly, define our game is Football Australia. Lets give ourselves some credit and let the other codes worry about ambiguities. They're the insignificant relations. Going further, competitions would then become the FA League and a re-installed cup competition would become - you guessed it - the FA(Football Australia) Cup.
This totally revamped cup competition should involve state teams which could be restricted to playing teams in their own states in the initial rounds to conserve costs. But in the third or so round when the big boys come in, it can be fully random just as it is in Europe. Imagine such illustrious ties as Mudgee United vs South Melbourne. The FA Cup acronym maybe a bit cheeky and a nice play on the English FA Cup, but when other sports like AFL and Rugby that use their hands and often rarely even kick the ball have the temerity to call themselves football, there is no reason why us, the true football, can't do the same. With Ch7 supposedly wanting to show a commitment to the sport in light of the lost AFL rights, SA must take this opportunity by the balls. If the FA acronym is stretching it, then an alternative could be the FAA - the Football Association of Australia. After all, it is association football we play. We simply have to start believing in ourselves, and hence, calling ourselves by our name that the rest of the world uses. The name Football Australia would restore to the Australian psyche that the word football means exactly that. Otherwise we are accepting that we are second best and we will never get off the ground.
The Vote
In a close call that went down to just a handful of votes, Labbozetta did get up in what
can only be described as a pyrrhic victory - a victory that's more like a defeat.
You see, six of the other eight board members elected - including the two
deputy-chairmans - are Brondolino backers, meaning the reformists have the overwhelming
balance of power on the board. Labbozetta's conservatism will be in direct conflict
with the board, and while he declared the board will work in harmony at the press
conference, surely his victory must feel like a loss. If Labbozetta had to win, then
he has won under the best circumstances possible for the tired Australian soccer fans who
want to see the game prosper. There has been little emotion either way from the
media and football commentators regarding the election result, only a mild sentiment of
congratulations on Labbozetta's achievement and that he should be allowed to have his just
desserts. It is just unfortunate for him that it is dessert that he may not want to
eat.
We await the outcome of the reforms, and so does the corporate world. News is that Telstra is about to leap on board as naming rights sponsors, and the league will get a new name. Robbie Slater's suggestion of the Australian Premier League sounds great - especially with the tie-in with the popular English Premier League. Unfortunately, there is no news on the governing body's name, but maybe a renamed Soccer Australia to the Football Association of Australia would be therefore appropriate. That way, a more intrinsically named cup competition called the FAA Cup could be announced. Ideally, Labbozetta notwithstanding, all remnants of past administrations will be left behind..... forever.
6/4/2001: Update - Financial Rankings
Stage one of SA's reform - club rankings based on financial viability - has been
completed. In a suprise, Northern Spirit, now owned by Glasgow Rangers, finished
near last along with Marconi, while predicted strugglers Melbourne Knights and Sydney
United finished near the top. Eastern Pride (Gippsland) and Canberra were not even
included in the rankings as they were shockingly not considered as "going
concerns". Canberra have a real cause for grievance given the football
heritage in the area as well as it being a huge contradiction of SA's desire to have all
geographical areas covered. Especially when you also consider that Brisbane finished
second-last and would seem to be on the chopping block as well. Auckland, who
finished last, has a year to go on their league guarantee and is immune from
relegation. Clearly, SA will have to modify their selection policy or end up with a
league that no one wants. Keeping a NZ club at the expense of Australian ones
is ridiculous. Thankfully, all clubs have rights to appeal so this list is still
very much in the preliminary phase.
The Knights and United, two teams with minimal cash flow and limited support and favoured to fail, have benefited by owning their own stadiums making them asset-rich. In contrast, Marconi is subsidised by its social club, which while obviously connected, is a separate entity. The football club itself regularly makes significant losses. Spirit is in a similar situation. The reforms seem likely to breakdown unless there is flexibility on the criteria that allows board discretion and common sense. Of course, if that happens, all hell will break lose when disgruntled clubs that have passed the criteria, find themselves gone and challenging SA in the courts for retention. SA have painted themselves into one hell of a corner and the only solution seems to be to go with 14 teams by eliminating Pride, then the following year, eliminate Auckland and one other team. Those favoured for a 12-team league won't be happy with 14 teams, but then I doubt they would be happy with the resultant 12 teams presently selected in the new12-team league.
The bottom line is: SA - plus all those external influences and third parties - want a 12 team league with broad-based, geographically spread, and financially sound clubs. Instead of messing around with a useless criteria, bite the bullet, eliminate the less suitable clubs, and relaunch the fully re-vamped and re-titled league in a blaze of glory.
5/6/2001: The Reform Result - "Monolithic
Stupidity" Abounds
After the debacle of the NSL grand final where the home team - Wollongong - was forced to
play their "home" grand final in Sydney, which resulted in a predictable paltry
crowd of just over 13,000 that were forced to pay way too high prices of $37 for adults
and $20 for kids to sit in a half-empty stadium, little hope lay for Soccer Australia's
so-called reforms to provide anything visionary, or even at least different, to make the
NSL an attractive proposition for the public, sponsors and media to get behind. As
predictable as the crowd's eventual booing of Tony Labbozetta non-stop during the trophy
presentation on the weekend, a monumentally inept outcome to the reforms would be the
result. Using the financial criteria they so absurdly calculated some months back,
the lowest two clubs, Brisbane and Canberra, were ejected, leaving a 12 team competition
with no teams in Brisbane and Canberra, but 7 NSW teams and 5 in Sydney alone. Now,
if that is supposed to inspire people to attend games, for commercial TV to telecast games
and for sponsors to start throwing money around, then I am a Dutchman. How can
reducing national represenation of the league be an incentive to corporations to provide
sponsorships? How can retaining many of the clubs that have failed over the past 20
years to increase their patronage do that job now? How can Channel 7 justify showing
matches played in half-empty stadiums of fans waving and chanting foreign symbols and
names? They can't, on all three questions. Fact of the matter is, the league
is now significantly less attractive to what it was last season. You call that a
reform?
The absurdity continues when Labbozetta announced that the door was not totally closed on Brisbane and Canberra, and that they can apply to re-join as early as the season after next. Why throw them out in the first place? Especially so since it was also announced that "12" was not the magic number of teams in the league, and in the future, it could be 14 or even 16 teams. Apparently market forces will dictate the final number. So on one hand they have ejected clubs based on some silly financial criteria that was framed at two specific days in the last financial year, meaning the financial table could be totally reversed - even with a year or two - given the cyclical nature of football clubs' relative successes. Yet on the other hand, they are prepared to let the league evolve as the market dictates as what has happened so far. While Brisbane's and Canberra's finances were a problem, so too Brisbane's alarming crowd erosion, at the very least SA could have sought replacement clubs with better business and marketing plans for these regions before expelling them the incumbents. Leaving their respective regions barren of the world game defies any form of logic whatsoever. Even the NSL clubs see the absurdity of the situation and the negative effect it will have on the league. So much so that a few days after the "reforms" were announced, they voted unanimously to re-include the two teams.
So, after three years work, that is basically the sum of the reforms so far: eject two clubs based some financial ranking table that totally ignores the marketing power of a team or its geographic importance, and then to just let the league roll on as usual like it has done for the past 25 years. What possibly should have happened was for the league to be totally relaunched and revamped in American MLS style. Over there, the US body controls the league and all the clubs and runs it 100%. The clubs are basically the point-of-sale venues of MLS. Nationwide exposure for sponsors is guaranteed while the individual clubs carry region-specific sponsorships. Regardless, it all goes back into MLS because MLS is essentially the only entity in the league. An option for SA was to go at least part of that route by only retaining the financial strong clubs, and then creating their own self-controlled franchises in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, that would be the basis of the new league. One club in each city would be required for the full benefit of financial streaming to occur. As with the MLS, players on SA-controlled teams would be employed by the league body, not the clubs, and would be farmed out to any of the clubs via a draft system to ensure a competitive club in each region. Then you would add Perth, South, Wollongong, Newcastle, Spirit, Auckland and Parramatta (or maybe Marconi) to form the 12 team league. Complications arise now of whether they should function independently as they do now or to maybe have a full league draft and salary cap system as the AFL and most US sports leagues have. Of course, the ideal scenario would have been for the SA board to turn complete control of the league over to an independent body, AFL-style, and start from absolute scratch. But they are too selfish and protective of their own interests to do anything like that.
Investigating scenarios such as the ones above is what this period of reform should have been about. The critical thing was to attract a major sponsor, whose money could have been used to help subsidise the SA-controlled teams in the early years of this one possible scenario. But no, nothing. No sponsors, only the ejection of two geographically important clubs that leaves the league's public perception reaching a nadir that seemed impossible to reach. "Monolithic stupidity" was how Canberra Cosmos chairman Danny Moulis aptly described it. And according to SA, the reforms aren't over either. This was just stage one, god forgive. But don't expect anything of hope. I, personally, am fed up, and wash my hands totally of Soccer Australia and the imbeciles that run it. For as sure as there is no life on Pluto, the amoeba-size minds of the SA board predictably produced, over 12 or so months mind you, an outcome that confirms to the nation nothing else but a hopelessly myopic and visionless body that functions with neolithic incompetence. Nuff said.
Subsequent Events
One month later, the board did in fact buckle to public and club backlash to reinstate
Canberra Cosmos and Brisbane Strikers. This means the years of reform process
achieved a nett value of nothing. That is actually quite good considering the record
of SA. Normally they go backwards - as the intital elimination of teams from
Canberra and Brisbane proves - but this time they've out-done themselves by renaming at
the status quo, albeit with a heap more negative publicity for the game. But hey,
there has always been a price to pay when Australian Soccer achieves nothing.
Late July saw the hostile board pass a no-confidence vote against chairman Labbozzetta. No surprise there and just confirmation of the status of the board members' allegiences. Two were for Labbozzetta, and four were against him, right from day one.
On the 4th of August 2001, an extraordinary general meeting was called by Labbozzetta where all board positions were put up for re-election in an attempt to spill his hostile board. Amazingly, in a self-proclaimed worst day of his soccer life, it was Labbozzetta that was spilled when he withdrew his very own nomination for chairmen of the board upon the realisation that former friends had turned enemies and numbers were now against him. Former Cosmos chairman Ian Knop took over as chairman when stakeholders representing the 14 national clubs and the state and territory federations elected him. And days later, former NSW premier Nick Greiner was announced as president. Greiner's impact is expected to be on the commercial and advisory side of things as he sits on the board of a number of high profile companies, while Knop's chairman role is actual running-the-game position. Knop was one of the Labbozzetta supporters that turned, and did enough on the On The Ball show a while back to suggest he won't be yet another typical SA stooge. Compared to the insidious pall Labbozzetta's image cast over Australian soccer fans upon his election, Knop's new face, his declaration of war against the other football codes like rugby league and union, and his openness to the possibility of an independent advisory group, potentially headed by former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett - something that Labbozzetta felt could contribute nothing to the game - provides at least some optimism for the future. But until something concrete actually occurs, there is still no room for genuine excitement because, at the moment, the upheaval at board level is just another one of your typical SA power struggle by board members concerned with nothing else other than furthering their own needs and that of their constituents.