Sacking of ex-Matildas coach Alen Stajcic prompts FFA to launch independent probe
Sacked and publicly vilified, former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic’s demise has prompted another inquiry, but key figures involved in his demise have left or are leaving FFA.
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The ructions caused by the decision to sack Matildas coach Alen Stajcic promise to reverberate on for months after Football Federation Australia launched a wide-ranging inquiry into the management of its national teams.
Though FFA said pointedly that the actual decision to remove Stajcic in January was not under review, the inquiry will question lines of accountability and oversight, after a second Matildas coach in five years was removed in response to alleged issues relating to “dressing room culture”.
As The Daily Telegraph revealed recently, the three-person panel to conduct the review will include Olympic bid supremo Rod McGeoch, as well as former national netball captain and broadcaster Liz Ellis.
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The panel will be chaired by Diane Smith-Gander, a Perth-based businesswoman and management consultant who previously chaired the doping watchdog ASADA.
FFA promised the inquiry would conduct a full “review of documentation, information and correspondence”, as well as hold interviews with members of FFA’s management.
However a number of key figures involved in the decision to fire Stajcic have left or are leaving FFA, including company secretary Jo Setright, Head of Women’s Football Emma Highwood and CEO David Gallop.
The decision to sack Stajcic was taken by the revamped FFA board as one of its first acts, based on recommendations from management, and several directors have pushed since for a review into how the internal workings of the national teams unit could get so dire that such a fundamental step was considered necessary.
“The panel will compile a confidential report and provide findings and recommendations to the FFA Board by the end of October 2019,” the governing body said in a statement.
“The FFA Board will consider the report and, where appropriate, will share publicly a summary of the findings and next steps.”
It promises to address some far-reaching questions according to its terms of reference, including what processes are in place to “give the Board comfort that Management recommendations are driven by full and frank disclosure of information and are not based on any personal bias or unsubstantiated claims”.
It will also question “what is the duty of care that FFA owes to the players and its employees”.
However it remains unclear whether the review will question how the decision was implemented by FFA, with FFA director Heather Reid forced to issue a public apology for slurs made against Stajcic.
Reid’s future on the board remains unclear, after she took leave of absence in the wake of those slurs and to seek treatment for cancer.