By Vince Rugari and Dominic Bossi
Two former National Soccer League clubs have been ordered by FIFA to pay tens of thousands of dollars to coaches they were ruled to have wrongfully dismissed.
Gorka Etxeberria and Chris Taylor took their former employers - Sydney Olympic and South Melbourne respectively - to the game's global governing body after they were both sacked just before the 2018 NPL season was due to commence.
Gorka Exteberria was sacked as Sydney Olympic coach just before the 2018 NPL season.
Spaniard Exteberria had one year left on his contract, English-born Taylor had two. Neither of them saw the axe coming but with the assistance of Football Coaches Australia (FCA), they have been awarded roughly $80,000 each after FIFA heard their cases before Christmas and instructed their ex-clubs to pay them outstanding amounts.
Taylor coached South Melbourne for four-and-a-half years, won the NPL title twice and took the club to an FFA Cup semi-final against Sydney FC. He still doesn't understand why he was sacked.
"I achieved every KPI in my contract," Taylor told this column.
"They never got back to me, to be honest - they rang me and told me in the morning and that was the only contact I've had with them for two years. I'd really enjoyed my time at South, I've got nothing but praise for the supporters, it's a fantastic club.
"My gripe is with the people that run the club. They continually let themselves down with some of their actions at board level. When we played Sydney FC, I was 14 months behind in wages."
Chris Taylor was coach of South Melbourne for nearly five years and took them to an FFA Cup semi-final against Sydney FC just months before he was axed.
A spokesperson for Sydney Olympic said its board made the decision to remove Exteberria in the "best interests" of the club, saying his position was untenable and pointing out they went on to win the NPL double in 2018 under his replacement, Abbas Saad.
"We had disputed that the termination was in line with this contract and are disappointed a FIFA tribunal did not rule this way," the spokesperson said.
"We are currently working through the outcome of the FIFA determination and will make no further comment."
South Melbourne chairman Bill Papastergiadis would not comment, but the club is believed to have requested grounds for the decision from FIFA and are considering an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Both clubs are positioning themselves as leading contenders for a proposed national second division.
FCA, meanwhile, are advocating for stronger regulatory protection for coaches. Exteberria and Taylor, as foreign coaches in Australia, could use FIFA's players' status committee to seek redress. Local coaches have to go through the courts or the Fair Work Commission as things stand, but FCA is campaigning for standardised contracts for coaches and the establishment of an internal football dispute resolution process.
"We're pleased that we're now in a position to sit down collaboratively with FFA and member federations to do that," said FCA chief executive Glenn Warry.
Jets' jersey taking off
A lack of front-of-shirt sponsor for Newcastle may have hit the club's bottom line this season but it's given the Jets an opportunity to lend its jersey to a noble cause.
Newcastle's front-of-shirt vacancy looks set to be filled by the upcoming Football For Fires charity match.Credit: Getty Images
The Jets will help raise support and funds for the Australian football bushfire appeal by advertising the #footballforfires charity legends match to be played at ANZ Stadium in May.
A Jets source confirmed they were in talks with FFA about gaining approval to have the charity on the front of their jersey.
If the governing body agrees, the Jets could begin promoting the bushfire appeal as early as Saturday's match against the Wanderers at Bankwest Stadium. As for the match, The Hairdryer hears there are much, much bigger names to come that will soon be announced.
Aussie couldn't slay the dragon
A dream cup run for an Australian player has come to an end after Anthony Carter’s Academico Viseu side lost their Portuguese cup semi-final to FC Porto on Thursday.
The 25-year-old striker put the second tier Viseu to their first ever cup semi final, scoring the winner in the quarter final but couldn’t produce the same magic to cause a shock against the Portuguese giants.
After holding Porto to a 1-1 draw in their first leg at home, Viseu lost 3-0 at the infamous Dragao Stadium in Porto on Thursday with Carter featuring in both games.