PFA Chief Executive John Didulica talks about the Governance of Australian football following Football Federation Australia’s Annual General Meeting on the 30th of November:
“Effectively, the sport hasn’t been able to resolve two threshold issues. The first of those is the balance of the Congress, which currently gives the state federations a majority of voting power. What that means is that they control who sits on the board at any given time. The second issue is embedding gender equality within the FFA membership.”
“FIFA has made it clear to FFA over a long period of time that these two issues need to be resolved to their satisfaction.”
“All things being equal, we are absolutely confident that this should not prevent the Socceroos from participating in the 2018 World Cup and nor should it stop the Matildas continuing to build their momentum as a preeminent national team.”
“Even in the event of FIFA normalisation, there is no reason why Australia can’t continue to compete at the international level, the same way the likes of Greece have in recent times.”
“What this process has exposed is the current limitations of the existing governance structure, both in terms of reaching consensus, and in driving key policy matters that the game requires. Some of the most powerful stakeholders within football have recognised that the current structure just does not work. As a consequence of that we need to now shift our focus into reaching consensus, and ensuring that should FIFA become involved in Australian football, we work within the footballing structures to resolve the challenges that we are facing.”
“I think everybody would recognise the amazing feats of the Socceroos and the Matildas in recent times, it is critical the game doesn’t do anything that prejudices or undermines those significant sacrifices and achievements.”
