Dark hours for soccer. And new dawn seems long way off

The Socceroos knocked out of the Asian Cup, the complete debacle that is the Alen Stajcic saga and the death of Awer Mabil’s sister. It hasn’t been a great week for Australian soccer.

• Heartbreak follows Socceroos disappointment
• Inquiry demanded into Stajcic sacking

A BIT of a sad week for Australian soccer … actually more of a tragedy!

The Socceroos knocked out of the Asian Cup and the complete debacle that is the Alen Stajcic saga.

Is this somewhat of a ‘dark night of the soul’ moment for football, speaking metaphorically. Or maybe football, in Australian its entirety, certainly in its management, needs to view it that way.

To quote Joseph Campbell, “The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed.”.

That may seem melodramatic but there has been a lot of damage done to the game’s integrity and credibility in the past few months.

Australian players react after the AFC Asian Cup quarterfinal loss to the United Arab Emirates. Picture: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

Firstly, with the nasty business of the FFA governance issue in the latter stages of last year, and the deposing of Steven Lowy as chairman. Now it’s the sacking of the Matildas coach, which has sadly captured headlines and social media space for more than a week. And I don’t think it’s going to end any time soon.

Those charged with the wellbeing of the game, the care of its soul, need to have a good look at how and why things are as they are, what their intentions really are and what drives their actions. It appears the processes that led to the removal of Stajcic are flawed … or at least questionable. There has been a lack of transparency and sufficient explanation.

That people can hide behind the anonymity of a survey to say something that has had a massive effect on someone’s life — the equivalent of a public pillorying — is wrong. Put your hand up if you feel that strongly — own it and be responsible for it.

That the powers-that-be used surveys to instigate a clause in Stajcic’s contract to send him away and then hid behind the cloak of confidentiality was wrong as well. It has done nothing except provide a rat to smell … an agenda.

Call me old-fashioned but if you are not prepared to put your name to something, don’t say it — deal with it and get on with the job. It’s called strength of character.

Leaking of information to selected journos, damning texts and plenty of innuendo, but no evidence. I understand that breaching confidentiality would provide a field day for lawyers but that doesn’t mean it’s right.

Whether Stajcic is guilty or not is almost irrelevant now. It has all become a bit too grubby for my liking.

I can’t help but think this is only going to get messier than it already is.

Finally, on a very sad note, my heart goes out to Awer Mabil, who tragically lost his sister in a car crash in Adelaide while he was playing his heart out for the Socceroos.

With all the crap going on in the game, this really puts some perspective on life.