How FFA scored 32 own goals in 18 months and CEO David Gallop still kept his job

AFTER the debacle over fan protests, it’s clear FFA has made enough howlers in the past 18 months to raise serious questions about the game’s leadership.

IT took less than two weeks into Steven Lowy’s chairmanship for Football Federation Australia to plunge into crisis. The sight of empty terraces at A-League games, with fans protesting against the governing body’s botched handling of the ongoing saga, is a poor look.

Transparency, privacy issues and a haphazard appeals process were at the core of the issue and chief executive David Gallop will meet with representatives from all fan groups on Wednesday in Sydney, with even Wellington Phoenix understood to be attending.

However it has now morphed into a full-blown debate about the FFA’s long list of priors, with years of frustration bubbling to the surface.

Having only replaced hid dad on November 17, we’ve given Steven a chance to get up to speed with the issues bugging football fans.

We didn’t have enough room to delve back into the Ben Buckley era — which included botched expansion into North Queensland and Gold Coast at a time when the bid to bring the World Cup to Australia failed spectacularly.

Submit your questions for David Davutovic’s Studs Up chat in the blog below:

But over the past 18 months alone there’s been enough head-scratchers to help Lowy recognise the scale of the task in front of him.

Melbourne Victory chairman Anthony Di Pietro told The Herald Sun that recent months have felt like a “caretaker period” at FFA as the board made the transition from Frank to Steven at the helm.

“But there’s no excuses any more,” Di Pietro said. “The old chairman has retired, the new chairman and board is in. They must approach this with new energy, a new set of eyes and ears.

“It’s time now to deliver.”

Gallop last Thursday admitted to failings in head office’s response to a story naming 198 fans banned from attending A-League matches.

Upon announcing a review in to FFA’s banning process, Gallop also admitted that upcoming meetings with fans could also see raised plenty of other issues that need addressing. Many of those issues are bound to be on our list of 31 own goals the FFA has scored in the past year and a half.

FFA needs to listen to the fans, Gallop said. If it doesn’t, the ongoing protests and boycotts might just be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the problems facing the sport.

The fan saga continues FFA’s trend of policing but coming up with few ideas, which has left clubs frustrated.

FFA CEO David Gallop and Chairman Steven Lowy have faced on of the game’s toughest weeks.

32 OWN GOALS IN 18 MONTHS

1 SPONSOR-LESS SOCCEROOS

FFA continually boasts about participation numbers and the popularity of the Socceroos yet they haven’t had a major sponsor for 30 months. There’s talk a deal with Caltex is on the horizon, and surely Asian Cup win and likely 2018 World Cup qualification are strong enough selling points.

2 NO SKY BLUE IN YOUR CITY

Melbourne City’s attempts to adopt a Sky Blue home strip were blocked because Sydney FC also wears sky blue. Wasn’t that why away strips were introduced? Lazio and Napoli wear light blue in Italy and in England Liverpool and Manchester United wear red, while Aston Villa, West Ham and Burnley have almost identical strips.

3 FRANK LAMPARD? NO THANKS

Rather than encouraging the arrival of global stars, FFA blocked City’s attempts to sign Frank Lampard. The Chelsea legend was set to join David Villa at Melbourne City before the rules were changed — Lampard was then loaned from New York City to Manchester City.

4 DID YOU READ ABOUT THE SALARY CAP RORT?

What checks and balances are in place if the Perth Glory salary cap rort only came to light initially after it was revealed in the press? FFA was alerted to the issue after it was broken by a Sydney newspaper.

5 BOTCHED FINALS FIXTURING

There were 33,500 empty seats at Adelaide Oval for the first final of last season when Adelaide United hosted Brisbane Roar. Big venues are fine, but read the market. A packed Coopers Stadium would have been an epic start. Meanwhile the A-League fixturing is full of inconsistencies.

6 DOWNSIZED GRAND FINAL

The AFL played hard ball and held onto its Etihad Stadium booking for May 17, leaving FFA with egg on its face with the most suitable venue unavailable for its showcase. The bungle denied as many as 25,000 Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC fans the chance to attend the grand final.

7 FRANK LOWY’S TUMBLE

Thank heavens he was OK, but Frank Lowy’s fall from the high, sloped dais was replayed all over the world. The embarrassing gaffe just wouldn’t happen around the world or in the AFL.

8 CRISIS CLUB I — NEWCASTLE JETS

Much of FFA’s resources have been tied up by looking after Newcastle Jets after Nathan Tinkler threw his toys out of the pram. They gambled on selling to Dundee United owner Stephen Thompson but they’re back on the market after talks broke down.

9 CRISIS CLUB II — BRISBANE ROAR

The Brisbane Roar mess, underlined by unpaid wages and Super, got much of the pre-season attention. Question marks have surrounded the Bakrie Group’s commitment for years.

10 THE NEVER-ENDING PAY DISPUTE

The woefully-handled negotiations with the PFA hogged the headlines and, while FFA isn’t exclusively to blame, it was a PR disaster. The public trading of barbs was unprofessional and how the Collective Bargaining Agreement took so long to sign remains a mystery.

The pay dispute that saw the Matildas strike was handled terribly.

11 MATILDAS STRIKE

While FFA claimed that the Matildas were used as pawns by the PFA, the women clearly felt aggrieved enough to pull out of their US tour — their first games after the World Cup success.

12 AUSTRALIAN YOUTH FIXTURE CLASHES

Tension is simmering between the clubs and FFA with the regular scheduling of Young Socceroos and Olyroos overseas camps. Teams such as Melbourne Victory are losing up to four players due to friendlies, which is hurting the clubs and players.

13 SAY “SORRY” ANGE. NOW!

David Gallop threw perhaps his biggest ally in Ange Postecoglou under a bus for echoing Australia’s sentiments in voicing his frustration at protracted CBA negotiations. Postecoglou was forced to issue a public retraction the next day.

14 NO DECENT FTA FOR A-LEAGUE

SBS doesn’t want the A-League and at least one other free-to-air network does. So why didn’t the switch happen? Whatever the reason, SBS have returned it to the secondary channel where ratings have halved.

15 HAS THE SEASON JUST STARTED?

Starting the season four-five days post AFL and NRL grand finals, without any genuine marquee stars to speak of, is hard enough without then jumping in with a low budget, no sizzle season launch. The lack of marketing was believed to be down to the FFA’s resources being tipped into the Jets.

16 BOTCHED MELBOURNE CITY W-LEAGUE ENTRANCE

Melbourne City comes in to the W-League with all guns blazing and there’s a men’s A-League derby at Etihad Stadium on the W-League’s opening weekend. So why not play a double header? It would’ve generated huge publicity, but not only that, they scheduled the first W-League derby a week later when City were missing six of their stars because of Matildas games.

17 SUSPENDED FOR BEING INJURED

Corey Gameiro missed his side’s first three Cup games through injury, but, when available for the semi, found out he was suspended for one game because he picked up too many yellow cards while at Sydney in 2014. Why wasn’t his suspension served in the Round of 32? It should be irrelevant that he was injured.

18 FORCING HUME TO A ‘BIGGER’ VENUE

Small-time club Hume City was robbed of an epic payday when FFA first blocked its attempts to host Victory at home and then Etihad Stadium, even though the Docklands venue offering a guaranteed six-figure sum. Instead a poor crowd attended AAMI Park.

19 PHOENIX-GATE

Wellington Phoenix’s 10-year licence application was rejected. The handling of negotiations and lack of strategy is concerning, as the news was met with widespread condemnation. While Wellington doesn’t offer a lot to the A-League in a monetary sense, FFA does the TV deals and stability surely counts for something.

20 BY THE WAY, WE’LL HAVE A THIRD TEAM IN SYDNEY SOON

Speaking of a lack of strategy, FFA has also managed to disenfranchise many and created uncertainty in a fragile market as news of talks with a third (south) Sydney team slowly crept out in the media.

Melbourne Victory fans walk out in protest.

21 FRANK LOWY SLAMS HIS OWN CLUB

The former FFA chairman’s bizarre condemnation of Sydney FC — where he remains a minority shareholder — and Graham Arnold was unnecessary. Contrary to Lowy’s quotes in a press release, Arnold is entitled to enter the expansion debate.

22 FFA CUP FINAL SCANDAL I — TICKET PRICES

A half-empty stadium for the FFA Cup final was woeful as FFA stuffed up their pricing and didn’t consult with Victory, who have a great gauge. The cheapest ticket was $40 for a fledgling competition.

23 FFA CUP FINAL SCANDAL II — DROPPING PRICES ON EVE OF GAME

As desperation set in, FFA offered a 25 per cent discount to some Victory members on the morning of the game. It was an insult to those fans who already shelled out cash at the full rate.

24 FFA CUP FINAL SCANDAL III — THE VALERI BAN

Barring Melbourne Victory captain Carl Valeri from receiving a medal and holding the trophy aloft for his two bookings was unnecessary. FFA then lied by claiming it was a FIFA rule and done in most leagues around the world.

25 THE LEAKED DOCUMENT

The FFA distributed the list of 198 banned fans to A-League venues each week and is ultimately responsible for its confidentiality.

Why would FFA turn down the chance of a marquee like Frnak Lampard?

26 GALLOP’S BUMBLING REACTION

Not only was David Gallop’s response eight days too late but it was patronising to the A-League fans looking for their leader to defend the sport. It triggered unparalleled backlash which has led to bigger fan protests and boycotts across the country.

27 INCONSISTENT APPEALS MESSAGES

Tensions were already simmering among fans with the mixed messaging coming from FFA HQ regarding an appeals process before Gallop’s gaffe. The review will be telling.

28 THE FOOTAGE WE WEREN’T MEANT TO SEE

Releasing the cringe-worthy footage of the final days leading up to the ill-fated 2022 World Cup bid from Zurich was ill-advised. With questions still being asked of the $45m taxpayers’ money spent, the video highlighted how naive we were.

29 THE LACK OF MARQUEES, HALF-HEARTED ATTEMPT TO LAND TIM CAHILL

The lack of marquees has contributed to the drop in crowds/TV ratings, yet the attempts to lure Tim Cahill back have been half-hearted at best. Another league would’ve gone hammer and tongs to sign their local pin-up boy, yet FFA are just thwarting clubs as evidenced by the Lampard rule.

30. 11TH HOUR MARQUEE CHANGE

Literally weeks before this season was due to start, with most rosters almost done, the FFA changed the marquee player rule allowing the second one to be a foreigner. Previously one marquee had to be an Aussie.

31. POOR REFEREEING

The standard of officiating continues to dip and whistle-happy referees are affecting the flow and quality of the game. Players and coaches are becoming frustrated.

32. STRIP CLASH

Colour clashes are excusable at grassroots level, but not in professional sport where clubs have two and sometimes three strips to choose from. It happened on Saturday in New Zealand with Wellington Phoenix donning a new grey strip, which obviously forgot to be communicated to Melbourne Victory who wore white.

Originally published as How FFA scored 32 own goals in 18 months and CEO David Gallop still kept his job