Assistant doubts Stajcic surveys

A former Matildas assistant coach has revealed he was not asked to take part in the two surveys that brought down Alen Stajcic.

Former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic has remained silent since his sacking

A former assistant coach of the Matildas has revealed he was not asked to take part in either of the two surveys that helped to bring down coach Alen Stajcic and send Australian soccer into one of its worst crises in years.

As the drama and speculation surrounding Stajcic’s shock dumping continued to swirl yesterday, Nahuel Arrarte told The Australian of the devastating effect it has had on Stajcic and his family.

Football Federation Australia took the drastic action of dumping Stajcic, who had been in charge of the Matildas since 2014, on Saturday on the basis of an investigation following revelations in two surveys of players and staff — one conducted by Professional Footballers Australia and the other by Our Watch, an organisation that tackles abuse and violence against women.

Questions have since been raised about the validity of both surveys, especially the one conducted by Our Watch, following suggestions it was not password protected and could have been accessed by any number of people. However, Our Watch assured The Australian last night that their research was conducted by the strictest standards.

“All Our Watch research abides by the NHMRC National Statement on Ethical Conduct, under the guidance of Human Research and Ethics committees. Our Watch surveys are housed on a highly reputable platform utilised by hospitals, government and researchers and all data is password-protected and accessible only to authorised staff,” they said in a statement.

While jumping to Stajcic’s defence, Arrarte, who was involved with the Matildas for 18 months, said he was not part of the survey and was surprised to learn of the findings.

“Staj is a gentleman and has been a huge advocate for women’s football for 20 years,” Arrarte said. “Without him, the support for women’s football would not be what it is now.

“He has always fought for the girls and helped them out immensely.

“I have been involved in the camps, training, matches and tours and I have never seen or heard of any issues.

“That’s why this whole thing doesn’t make sense. It makes me think that some of these things have been fabricated.

“As for the surveys, you would think as an integral part of the set-up I would have been asked to do it, but I was never asked.”

It has been revealed that the Our Watch survey received 142 replies, but only three were from the Matildas and the suggestion is that most responses came from parents of some of the players, and staff and partners.

The FTBL.com.au website said some of the responses from the three replies included “trigger words” such as “toxic”, “misogynistic” and “bullying” and “were later cited by the FFA”.

Meanwhile, Arrarte said he had been in regular touch with Stajcic.

“This has devastated him and really had an effect on his wife and kids. It’s shocking,” Arrarte said.”

There was so much innuendo flying around but no one was coming out and telling the truth.

“That’s the part that is difficult to take. His character is being assassinated.”

At least one Matilda has said she doesn’t even remember seeing the survey.

Stajcic, who has remained silent since his dismissal on the advice of his legal team, took the Matildas to a record high world ranking of four in 2017. They are currently ranked six.

Under his reign they qualified for the finals of the Asian Cup in 2014 and 2018 and reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2015 and also got to the quarter-finals at the Rio Olympics in 2016. They were on track to be one of the leading contenders at this year’s World Cup in France.