“The wellbeing audit was a culmination of many years of hard work the PFA had undertaken in partnership with the Matildas program. Coaches were acutely involved with this and the work was undertaken in absolute good faith and a spirit of deep partnership,” Chief Executive John Didulica said.
“The PFA is incredibly disappointed that a wellbeing audit, which is the cornerstone of our responsibility to players, has been used for a purpose for which it simply wasn’t intended.
“The preamble to the survey makes it clear that the objective of the audit was to “monitor longitudinally the mental health of members, improving support services and enhancing the environment”.”
To ensure the record appropriately reflects the approval process for, and the integrity of, the wellbeing audit, the following detail is provided:
- As conceded at today’s media conference, and in line with our ongoing dialogue through the process, Alen Stajcic endorsed the conduct of the wellbeing audit and the questions within the survey;
- Alen invited the PFA to attend the training camp where the majority of players completed the wellbeing audit;
- The survey was issued in November and completed within a week. Thirty-two players completed the survey and all 32 player participants confirmed with the PFA directly upon having done so. This was immediately cross-checked within the platform and deemed to be in line with the parameters of the survey;
- No issues were raised with the PFA on the integrity and outcomes of the audit, other than to discuss and confirm the activation of January’s leadership session that was the direct outcome of the wellbeing audit. The leadership session included inviting the PFA to present the findings of the wellbeing audit to all players, coaches and support staff;
- An iteration of the survey link remained open as we continue to work with critical stakeholders on developing surveys. For it to make its way into the public domain months after the extraction of all data is disappointing but of little relevance to the final outcome of the audit.
For completeness, and subject to FFA approval, the PFA has written to Football Coaches Australia today inviting it to inspect the platform and information gathering process in relation to the Wellbeing Audit, which we have every confidence will resolve any outstanding questions it has relating to the integrity and veracity of the data.
As previously communicated, the agreed outcome of the wellbeing audit from the team working on the project was the activation of the leadership session. The PFA has no information as to the extent to which, if any, the wellbeing audit was subsequently used by FFA to shape any investigation and to inform the Board’s final decision.