Off the Record: Former Reds owner Greg Griffin awarded rare FIFA law diploma, ex-Crow Ken McGregor new PR director for Premier Steven Marshall

An ex-Crow who played 152 games for Adelaide and coached SANFL teams has been appointed as the Premier’s new PR guru.

This week, the Premier gets a new head spin doctor, former Adelaide United owner Greg Griffin’s new football law diploma, and silence reigns over the City Council buildings.

Footballer-at-law

Former Adelaide United owner Greg Griffin just can’t leave the world game alone. A few weeks back we reported the high-profile lawyer was taking over the presidency of former national league club Adelaide City and now Griffin has been awarded a Diploma in Football Law by FIFA, the sport’s world governing body.

This is the first time FIFA has awarded such a diploma. Only 25 people worldwide took part in the course and Griffin is the only Australian on the list. Griffin was awarded the diploma remotely from Zurich this week by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

An uncharacteristically modest Griffin told Off the Record that it was “unbelievable that I got in let alone passed’’.

Greg Griffin has been awarded a FIFA law diploma, the only Australian to have one. Picture David Mariuz

But he said the diploma was a “great intro into FIFA and CAS (the international Court of Arbitration for Sport).

According to the FIFA website the course covered five modules; introduction to football law, CAS proceedings, transfer regulations one and two and other aspects of football law.

Griffin said the course involved hours of interaction with CAS judges and included moots, a kind of simulated trial, where he was asked “to be less aggressive”. A direction that won’t surprise many.

High flyer

Former Adelaide Crows player Ken McGregor is taking on another senior role in his varied career – director of media for Premier Steven Marshall.

McGregor, who has been a spin doctor for Health Minister Stephen Wade, starts the new gig on Monday, taking over from Ashton Hurn.

In another AFL connection, her brother is West Coast Eagles premiership captain Shannon Hurn. Ashton Hurn is the Liberal candidate for the Barossa-based seat of Schubert – incumbent Stephan Knoll will retire at the next election.

McGregor started his post-football career while still playing for the Crows – he completed an AFL Sportsready Next Goal internship at The Advertiser.

He played 152 games for Adelaide between 1999 and 2008. He also coached North Adelaide and Port Adelaide in the SANFL.

He went on to work for The Advertiser in the Canberra press gallery, then become deputy editor of Darwin’s NT News and edited the Sunday Territorian.

Adelaide Crows footballer Ken McGregor holds a football back in his playing days, and now Steven Marshall’s PR hopes and dreams.

Blank report

The word coming out of Adelaide Town Hall is a report examining its toxic culture won’t be seeing the light of the day for quite some time, if at all.

By all accounts, it has been sent to the Office for Public Integrity, which manages matters for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and State Ombudsman.

Exactly what has happened is shrouded in secrecy, with lawyers from Norman Waterhouse providing legal advice to councillors behind closed doors, including the need to keep their mouths shut.

As a result, lips are strictly sealed about the status of the report and its contents.

Speculation is rife it examines strained relationships between some elected members and senior management under the stewardship of chief executive Mark Goldstone, who has been on sick leave since January.

Adelaide City Council chief executive Mark Goldstone. Photo Naomi Jellicoe

It also apparently looks at excessive hours worked by staff as a result of changes to its meeting structure implemented by Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor, which last year saw meetings frequently ending in the early hours of the morning.

While there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing or wilful misconduct, the report can be used by ICAC to conduct an evaluation of the council’s policies and procedures.

As reported by Off The Record last month, such an evaluation was conducted at Playford Council in the wake of the sacking of its high-profile chief executive Mal Hemmerling who, coincidentally, was a former chief executive at Adelaide City Council.

– Colin James

Not a Lot

Hai Tran, the inaugural CEO of the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre has stepped down.

The chief executive of the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (A3C), Hai Tran, has resigned for personal reasons, with the not-for-profit, based at Lot Fourteen, on the hunt for a new leader.

The organisation is designed to help skill up the nation’s cyber security workers, with Tran starting in the role less than a year ago, when A3C was launched.

He was previously chief information security officer with the WA Police Force and has also held roles with the federal Department of Finance and Curtin University.

Non-executive director Libby Day has stepped in as acting chief executive while a new boss is found.

– Cameron England

Practical Nicola

She has developed her own cult, and fashion following, as she quickly became the public face of the state’s COVID-19 fight.

But it seems chief public health officer, Nicola Spurrier,also has a practical side when deciding how to present herself for the cameras.

As she waited for her second Pfizer jab at the Royal Adelaide Hospital on Monday, Prof Spurrier didn’t have to “roll up” her sleeve of her dress with flowing sleeves.

She quipped: “(It’s a) perfect vaccination dress, especially designed.”

She was heard to be “raving” about the dress, an import which she purchased from southern suburbs women’s clothing store Woolcock Reynella, at Old Reynella, for much of the day.

Nicola Spurrier gets her second vaccine from Registered Nurse Tovah Green at the RAH. Picture: Brenton Edwards