By Vince Rugari
Football Federation Australia chief executive James Johnson has called for a government rethink of high-performance funding, saying teams like the Matildas aren't getting enough money to prepare adequately for major tournaments.
Johnson said the current funding model "doesn't work" for football and undervalued the impact of what a medal at Tokyo 2021 or victory at the 2023 Women's World Cup could do for the country in comparison with success in more minor Olympic sports.
James Johnson believes Australia's national football teams deserve more high-performance funding from the government.Credit: Getty
Speaking at the Football Writers' Festival in Manly on Sunday, Johnson revealed FFA had received $2.3 million from the government through Sport Australia recently - most of which will be used to pay for Matildas training camps, friendlies and other activity.
But that's less than half of what was given to basketball and paddle ($5.5 million) and barely a quarter of the funding sent to sailing ($8 million) and rowing ($8.3 million).
"The high performance funding model for our code doesn't work," Johnson said.
"The reason why other sports are getting more money than our code gets is because the funding model revolves around Olympic gold medals. In our code you have the Olympics - that's important - but you also have this thing called the World Cup.
Sam Kerr will be in the peak of her career come the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.Credit: Getty
"If the Matildas even got a medal in the Olympics or Women's World Cup, we know how much impact that would have on this whole country.
"Think about that versus a gold medal in one of these other sports - and my personal view is that whole model needs to change."
Johnson said he firmly believed the Matildas could win the World Cup in 2023, which will be co-hosted by both Australia and New Zealand, while the team also looms as a strong medal chance in Tokyo under incoming coach Tony Gustavsson.
"The core of the team will be 27, 28 - these are key football years. They're on home soil and they're already No.7 in the world," he said.
"If we're able to prepare for these tournaments like the United States, who are playing three or four times the amount of matches we are presently in the lead-up to the Olympics and then to the World Cup, I think that puts us in a very good position to be able to do something this country's never done before."
In more positive financial news, Johnson said FFA will announce a new major sponsor within the next fortnight and that corporate interest in the code - particularly the Matildas and the grassroots - was so strong the federation is struggling to keep up with the demand.
FFA has lost several high-profile partners in recent years amid a lean spell for the sport - including NAB, Caltex, Aldi and former A-League naming rights sponsors Hyundai - but has brought in only one, Cadbury, during Johnson's near 12-month reign.
"There's another two or three [sponsors] that are in the pipeline, and they're not small companies," Johnson said.
"The market's outstanding. There is so much interest in being involved ... the Women's World Cup and the strength of the Matildas brand is really driving this and so is our [participation] base, which is multicultural, young and has got a good balance between boys and girls."
Meanwhile, Johnson said he believed the introduction of a domestic transfer system could help clean up the game's "messy" development pathways by incentivising grassroots and NPL clubs to think and act differently.
The Sun-Herald aired a series of grievances from parents and football insiders who claim the recruitment processes at some clubs for skills acquisition programs (SAPs) and National Premier League teams are unethical, unfair, unpleasant and divisive.
FFA does not have direct responsibility for those programs, which fall under the oversight of Football NSW and the other eight state federations.
Currently, state-level clubs can lose talented players to rival teams or A-League academies for nothing. Johnson believes a proper transfer system, which would see those clubs financially rewarded for developing talented players, has the potential to change the complexion of the grassroots game and make clubs see players as an investment.
"There are challenges, it's messy," Johnson said.
"If I'm a club today in grassroots in the NPL, what am I doing? I can't go up the pyramid [and be promoted to the A-League] and my players can be taken away from me, I don't get any revenues through a transfer system.
"You put in a transfer system, the first thing it does is changes the club's mentality, because all of a sudden, the club's thinking 'if I pay an extra $20,000 for a [better] technical director, over three or four years, they're going to develop better players. I need better scouts to bring players to my club.'