The FFA wants to change football in Australia in the course of the upcoming Women’s World Cup

In 1973, Collingwood VFL striker Peter McKenna published his glossy biography cum coffee table book My World of Football.

In the book, the boy from West Heidelberg in Melbourne talked about how he played soccer until he was 13 – or soccer, as was well known in Australia at the time – and how his first love had the potential to explode in that country .

It has always been like this.

For 50 years or more, the Australian football community has more or less assumed that it was a matter of time before the world game magically took its rightful place at the top of the sports tree.

But this view has always missed the Australians’ deep love for the dominant and largely indigenous football codes, the Australian rules and the rugby league.

While football is undoubtedly the most popular grassroots game in Australia, its enormous junior numbers have never led to an overwhelming fan base or the mega-TV deals that are attracted to AFL, NRL and cricket.

Instead, and despite many people’s best intentions, the game has been plagued by struggles, selfishness, political games, parochialism, and arrogance for decades, which has held it back.

James Johnson, managing director of the Australian Football Association (FFA), knows it.

He has worked at FIFA, knows the world of football politics and has returned to Australian football with fresh eyes and the perspective of someone who is not immersed in the local game.

Now the FFA has released a discussion paper that critically examines all aspects of Australian football and, according to Johnson, “is trying to address some of the greatest challenges it faces today”.

It is a largely positive document that highlights the strengths of Australian football.

The very fact that the FFA felt the need to critically review the game points to fundamental problems.

“Australian football has had a massive success with COVID-19 and there is no doubt that the game will have an impact for years to come.”

“So, anyone who doesn’t talk about changes in the sports industry, [or] I think you will just be left behind in the football industry to be honest. “

The FFA focused on all levels of football

Johnson is pleased with the recent decision to award Australia and New Zealand the 2023 Women’s World Cup, as well as the FFA’s new TV contract with Foxtel, which includes drastically reduced conditions.

The discussion paper is based on eleven principles that Johnson said are “the next step not only in rebuilding, but also in transforming Australian football.”

The principles include:

• Build a strong and consistent identity for Australian football
• Development of a narrative for football that distinguishes it from the other football codes
• Establishment of a domestic transfer system
• Increasing opportunities for young players in terms of development and minutes on the field
• Improve coaching
• Improve governance
• Lower costs for players
• Continued growth of the game for women and girls
• Creation of a better operating model for the professional leagues
• Positioning of the national teams, matildas and socceroos as uniform symbols of the game

Australian football has never before produced such a comprehensive vision that addresses all aspects of the game, even the way it is played.

The discussion paper calls for the identification of “characteristics of a style of play that are authentic and resonate with Australian society”.

The FFA wants Australia to become financially more aggressive by establishing an adequate transfer system.

For example, Australia received transfer fees of $ 1.9 million in 2019 compared to Belgium, the world’s number 1 that was almost $ 300 million.

Johnson withdraws

Johnson knows that the paper will encounter resistance from state associations striving to maintain their power base, but he takes it directly by stating that “football needs to think about what the various governing bodies in Australian football do.” “.

The paper said: “COVID-19 has exposed the underlying fragility of Australia’s current governance framework.”

Attention is drawn to the duplication and confusion of many management levels in the 10 different legal entities, 10 chairpersons, 10 executives and around 70 directors of the FFA and the states.

This has led to parochialism and inequalities such as football’s bottom-up funding model, which means that players will end up paying $ 164 million in registration fees to keep the game going.

It’s a huge bugbear for anyone who has had to spend up to $ 500 a season on themselves or their children to play the game.

There will be struggles – football in Australia has too many interests not to exist – but Johnson seems to be up to the challenge.

“Change is good for us,” he said.

If the key words are “listening”, “challenges” and “change”, the paper is also an existential document that signals that football in Australia has to find its own identity and does not have to compare with the other codes.

“We just have to see what’s great about this sport and what’s great about the Australian game,” said Johnson.

“Sure, when we compare our professional league to the AFL, the AFL is certainly a bigger sport in all metrics, but I think we’re bigger than a league.”

“I think our great opportunity is our base. We not only have a large number, but also such a diverse group of people who play football – men, women, people of different colors, people of different ethnicities.

Publishing a document that questions every aspect of Australian football is a bold move.

But 50 years of expectation that football will naturally come out on top have proven to be a false dream.

Now there is hope that football can find its own level.