Capital Football reject ‘Lowy’s lackey’ tag in congress battle

Chairman of Capital Football rejects allegations that he is acting in league with FFA to kill off congress reforms.

FFA chairman Steven Lowy. Pictured: Hollie Adams

Member federations at the centre of accusations they will try to derail recommended changes to the governance structure of Australian soccer have warned critics not to jump the gun and deny they are a lackey for Football Federation Australia chairman Steven Lowy.

Speaking to The Australian, Capital Football chairman Mark O’Neill hit out at the critics yesterday following reports Capital Football, Football Federation Northern Territory, Football Federation Tasmania and Northern NSW Football could band together to ensure the changes are sunk at an FFA extra­ordinary general meeting on September 7.

The EGM will vote on recommendations made by a Congress Review Working Group that was empowered by world governing body FIFA to make changes to FFA’s voting congress.

Lowy has denied trying to influence some of the states to go against the recommendations, due for release this month, but it is no secret FFA is concerned it could lose control of the congress under the expected changes.

It will require a 75 per cent vote (there are 10 votes) to push through the changes. If the four dissident states continue their ­alliance, then they will have the numbers to prevent the recommendations going through.

But, O’Neill, speaking on behalf of Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Northern NSW, said no decision had been made.

“People are jumping the gun and should cut out the politics,” O’Neill said. “The four of us … we have issues with the report.

“We see the report and our submission as informing ongoing discussions. Obviously FIFA will make recommendations where the associations committee considers it on August 21, but none of us have made any final decision or rejected anything in this report.

“Yes, we are open to dialogue and have preferences but none of our boards have made a decision regarding the EGM because we have not seen what those propositions are. All we have is the recommendations in the working group. We will await the response of FIFA and then look at it.”

O’Neill has been under the gun personally from the pro-change side and has been accused of being a lackey for Lowy.

It has been suggested he was acting as an FFA insider and texting them with updates and critical information during a number of meetings with stakeholders, FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation in Sydney in August 2017. The meetings were designed to break the impasse over the make-up of FFA’s congress but later failed despite twice reaching agreement for change.

Those agreements, reached by the member federations and the A-League clubs, were overturned after alleged intervention from Lowy.

“That whole situation was unfair,” O’Neill said. “I represent the interests of a member federation and what we believe to be the best interests of football.

“There is no alignment (with FFA and Lowy). (The four member federations) are certainly not a lackey for Steven Lowy or FFA.

“I am not doing his bidding.”

O’Neill provided The Australian with a submission that was presented to the CRWG on behalf of the four states.

The two major points to emerge are concerns over the structure of the A-League and the possibility that the players union, Professional Football Australia, could be given as many as two votes in a new congress.

“The major point for us is the need to clarify the operating model for professional football first. We define professional football not just including the A-League, but a second tier competitions, promotion and relegation and the W-League,” he said. “The clarification of the relationship between the clubs and member federations is fundamental to any reconciliation of the governance of FFA.

“We want to create a co-dependency between the professional game and the grassroots so we don’t have this bottom up funding approach we have got at the moment.”