What's the Smith Review fishing for?

As we await the Federal Government's Smith Review of the Game, the scope of the reform is becoming increasingly clearer: '...structure, governance and administration...positioning for the Asian Cup...financial viability and sustainability...' - this is a huge net to cast, with some potentially big fish to catch!
Let's start with the small fry...the release that announced the Review quotes some interesting figures of our hosting of the 2015 Asian Cup: tv audience of one billion, 45,000 international guests, 6,200 media personnel, 1,000 jobs created. This is going to be big!
Can the FFA really be trusted to run this show?
It is a certainty that there will be a huge Government stamp on the organisation of this event. The trade and tourism potential alone would suggest that it would be foolish to think otherwise. This will not only include staff numbers employed, but will no doubt involve some heavy hitters overseeing it all. It will be a time when Frank Lowy will have to share the big stage...if he lasts that long! More about that later...
But there'll be bigger fish in the other elements of the Review. Any corner shop bookkeeper will tell you where the current financial wounds of the FFA bleed profusely. Taking all expenses into account, the A-League has become a burden for Club owners and the Federation. All indications are that Smith will pursue the recommendation by Crawford about the independence required to run the league through a commission or similar body. This has been the consistent line emanating from Government for the major sports and the NRL will also fall into line soon.
If this were to happen, the Tinklers and the Palmers of our Football world would have some justification to make a big play for control. It may not happen immediately but Smith will surely deal with this and a timetable for implementation may well be in place soon after.
This has the potential to change the whole power dynamic of the sport in this country. Currently the A-League rightly sits behind the National Team in FFA priorities and in many ways has ridden on the coat-tails of our recent World Cup appearances. But it will clearly be the 'Commission's' only priority and any arrangement will need to be carefully crafted to ensure that the finite Football dollar is spent for the benefit of the Game and not any other profit-making purpose. This transition will be a big test of Buckley's leadership and he may well pay for it with his own blood. Lowy will no doubt look at manufacturing a process to ensure that his legacy to the sport will be noted...there will be a lot of huge egos wrestling for this catch!
Finally, the Review is dealing with the issue of Governance...and this looks like coming down to one single whaling expedition! What will Smith say about the position of Chairman, especially in light of the  Galahs' Galati/Galanos' impotent play for power? The issues of unchallenged leadership and lack of democratic process will not please Smith one bit...and nor should it. Yes, we know Lowy and Co. pulled the Game out of the fire but that doesn't give him a job for life.
It would be something to see: Smith finalising the report, knowing that Lowy will be in that room, a big presence in any gathering. Whatever is released in public, it will include Frank Lowy looking after number one and coming out smelling like roses. But Smith again must pursue Crawford's line of having a largely ceremonial head for the Federation, and this may well be Lowy's role till death us do part. Booted upstairs with no real authority and looking down benevolently on us all!
There are interesting times ahead and even though this won't be a Crawford-like revolution, there'll be some shaking of the foundations once again!

The A-League Clubs' Ownership Game!

When we read that A-League players receive 48% of Club revenue, compared to 20-22% for the other codes in Australia, we can't but welcome any reliable sources of funding into the competition.
But are we in a position to reject the interests of foreign investors entering into Club ownership?
Craig Foster and David Zdrilic, commenting during SBS's The World Game show, clearly stated that the FFA should not allow this, questioning the Indonesians' 'motives' and preferring to see 'membership-based ownership' or at most a '49% share'.
What seems to have been proven in the short life of the A-League is that current circumstances conspire against Clubs making a profit - in fact it is almost certain that losses will continue to be recorded until there is some change in the economic and sporting landscape. In this sort of setting how can the FFA reject overseas wealth whilst also hopefully continuing to work to improve the A-League's income streams and its ownership practices?  A damn difficult job in a competitive Australian sports market for a sport affected by world-wide trends.
The other recent ownership transfer at Wellington Phoenix highlights the danger of relying on the 'benefactor' model as a whole. This rings many more alarm bells than any foreign investment. In the current economic climate individual wealth becomes more precarious. Terry Serepisos was only doing in Wellington what Greek Governments have been doing for decades! The A-League Club owners' financial criteria certainly needs tightening up and it is hoped that the Roar's new Indonesian group are soundly funded.
Nathan Tinkler is another benefactor who has demonstrated different dangers: the sudden sacking of Branko Culina (and potentially son Jason) has the smell of the cowboy's six-shooter...riding into town like he owns the place (which he does!) nailing anyone in his sights. I wonder what democratic process Mr Tinkler followed?! But money talks and the financial threat that the loss of Jason entailed was enough to act. I wonder what the whole A-League would look like now if the FFA had accepted his offer of 25 mill. to bail it out!
And don't get me started on Clive Palmer's 'crowd cap'...
With such glowing role-models, surely Dali Tahir is worth a go as Roar's new Chairman. Interestingly he is a member of the FIFA Ethics Committee, the very same committee that SBS's Les Murray sits on. Have Foster and Zdrilic been chatting to Les about this?!
In any case, we are certainly living in interesting times when cash is king and there will no doubt be more uncertainties to come. One potential outcome from a positive analysis of the current economic woes suggests that Australia's stronger economy could become a haven for players looking to escape the austerity of European Clubs in countries that are struggling under huge debts.
The other promising, if somewhat amazing, sign is that the A-League still manages to attract wealth in the first place. You would think that there must be some potential in the Game if 'new money' continues to be interested and you just have to wonder if that potential is seen in Asia. It would be difficult to justify that we are seeking to build wealth through our involvement in our neighbouring continent but not allowing their investment to have a stake in our Clubs.
The complexity in all this is bound to continue, particularly as UEFA, through it's relatively new Financial Fair Play rules, seeks to diminish their Clubs' reliance on benefactors so that they could become more self-sufficient. Wonder if a rich Russian billionaire would be rejected by any financially astute SBS Football Commentators?!

Is Australian Football still a victim?

'Football continues to emerge; globalisation, the internet age and the increasing numbers of Aussies abroad, continue to erode Australia’s myopia and there’s more to come.' Andy Harper's conclusion, from his piece relating to Football's inroads into Rugby Union through the elite Schools system, has a beautiful sense of fate.
Surely the significance of this is much greater than a critique of the game on an ABC Four Corners episode that rated with 687,000 viewers! As a matter of fact, Channel 9's The (AFL) Footy Show invited Harry Kewell to appear to an audience of 790,000 - and to my pleasant surprise, their welcome and his ability to manoeuvre the usual code-war issues, probably won over more Football fans than might've been lost through a largely re-hashed look at the World Cup bid.
But have the long struggles of the game in this country resulted in a victim mentality that is preventing Football making even more rapid progress?
The tightrope the game's Commentators need to walk was highlighted by Mark Bosnich's response to the ABC. There's nothing wrong if this generates headlines in our defence, but at the same time the substance of these attempts cannot be flimsy...just another Football warrior crying poor.
If you read Bosnich's article through a neutral lens you can dismiss his claim of bias by referring to both AFL and NRL getting a similar, if not worse, caning from Four Corners in their episodes on head injuries and sex allegations.
FFA's retort was predictably more measured but bordered on an act of propaganda, listing the various examples of progress the game has made under the current administration. Many of us will recall even more significant achievements if you view Australia's Football history over a longer period of time.
And the 'Kewell factor', without him kicking a ball in anger, already shows all the great positive potential many were hoping for. Managed well, and that is easier said than done, the game could be on a real goldmine. Here we have an Australian who has tasted world sports' dizzying heights...there aren't many Kewells parading any of our sporting arenas on a regular basis.
I'll never forget the thrill and respect expressed by AFL footballer Anthony Rocca upon meeting Mark Viduka before the 2006 World Cup...it takes a big fish in a small pond to recognise what it must be like to swim in an ocean! Kewell arguably demands even greater admiration.
Sometimes we just have to survey the landscape and see how much there is to like. A victim mentality is not going to help us at all.

Australia’s 2014 World Cup nightmare?

Can you imagine what Australia’s dream first-choice eleven will be at the World Cup in 2014 (if we get there)?

Holger Osieck, overseeing the re-generation of the team, has been sleeping on the job! Before the Thailand game he remarked, ‘we need to be strong...I think it’s already a pretty difficult start.’  Hang on...if we don’t try a few of the younger boys against teams like this at home, in which World Cup Qualifier will it ever happen?!

Pim Verbeek’s last starting line-up against Serbia had an average age of 29.5. More than a year later, Australia’s 11 v. Saudi Arabia had an average of...uncanny really...29.5!! Have Verbeek's conservative tactics been replaced by Osieck's conservative selections? 

He may quip that we got a wake-up call from the Thais but he has allowed such a culture of entitlement with some of our veterans that we may need a louder alarm!

Spiranovic and Kilkenny was the best he could come up with in that first Qualifier. And then dropped them both for the Saudi game, putting them in their place and stalling the transition even further! Can he really argue that an ageing line-up is the only answer?

When will he start breaking the bad news to the stalwarts...or is he hoping for the easy outs of long-term injury and retirement? For starters, how will players like Neill, Ognenovski and Kewell, playing another 3 years in the sort of leagues they’re now involved in, be in better shape than a Williams, Rukavytsya or an Oar? They won’t be, and the time to address this pending nightmare is overdue.

Instead of making public statements about Bresciano’s and Harry’s return, Osieck should be talking Leckie’s World Cup prospects or dealing with the Scottish attempts on Herd.

I’m not denying the value of experience, exactly the opposite – those younger players, of at least equal ability, now need to be getting serious game-time, so that come Brazil they have a few caps behind them.

The Thailand performance may well have indicated that, both physically and psychologically, too many old legs don't work. 

Osieck has probably had the longest media honeymoon of an Australian Coach in living memory. Many Journalists are more than willing to excuse him and laud him at every opportunity (or is that some sort of Editorial Policy at work?!).

We gave him leeway to go for the Asian Cup with an experienced squad...but he's not been much different since. A token effort to blood a few players, then revert to the old guard – not good enough! Not good enough for us to cling to the aura of World Cup 2006...as we saw in 2010, those days are gone.

Let’s hope that Osieck is the one who's woken up and builds that dream eleven... and spares us the nightmare!

A Football 'Keeper's' blog

I am interested in being a Football 'Keeper'...no, not a Goalkeeper, but someone like a Zoo Keeper or a Game Keeper: looking after the interests of the Game and all who inhabit the great Football Zoo!
I have played, coached and been addicted to the game for most of my life. I have also written about it as a young budding journalist, driven by the desire to progress the cause of Football in society.
I regard those involved in Australian Football like family, an important group in a country that has other sports holding traditional advantages.
My purpose in this blog is to address those irritating issues and problems that hold the game back: the incompetence of Administrators, the usual attacks from anti-Football campaigners, the harm done by the pro-Football media, errant Coaches and Players, anyone or anything that prevents me from seeing the game continue to rise in prominence. In other words, to 'keep' Football strong, safe, healthy and alive!
My focus on the game will always be to critique in a constructive manner, but my focus on other sports will be to match any of their tactics, destructive or otherwise, if they seek to damage the game that I love.
I want to promote a community of readers that are involved in commenting and participating. I welcome both agreement and disagreement. Any criticism, in any way you choose to give it, with a proviso: that it is not abusive, or incites abuse, in any way.
I believe the 'pen is mightier than the sword'.