Help Build the Pararoo Community Log into the websites below and help build the Pararoo community After a meeting with the Australian Sports Commission who reportedly agreed to re-fund the Pararoos in the short term, the FFA continues to turn a blind eye to the Pararoos. 21st November 2014 – This year at the Football Federation Australia (FFA) Annual General Meeting we celebrate 10 years of real hard work. It has not been easy and it has not been smooth sailing, but the fruits of our labour can be seen every day. Football in this country has never been in a better position. Frank Lowy presents 2014 FFA Chairman’s Address This was Frank Lowy’s opening paragraph from his 2014 Chairman’s Address and the figures are quite different to his rhetoric. Furthermore, as a country that prides itself on being a ‘sporting nation’ we should not accept this flowery attempt at covering up the details. This may have been a more appropriate statement: Football in this country has never been in a better position, relatively speaking. The national football body would not be in a better position without the assistance of the federal government assistance and the tax paying public. Football, is in better shape now than it was in the 2010-2011 financial year when it had to receive $8.39 million ‘special assistance’ funding from the federal government and a further $7.5 million for supporting football up to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, over and above the normal grant from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC). The Smith Report – a federal government inspired inquiry in to the running of Australian football identified a further $12 million ‘special assistance’ for the 2010-2011 financial year and a further $1.25 million grant to the FFA from the ASC for development programs in the Pacific and India. A further federal government grant of $45.6 million was also allocated to the FFA for the failed 2022 World Cup bid. The failed World Cup bid has affected many people’s view about how the public and government should engage with the game into the future and is yet another challenge for the FFA to contend with. Despite Chairman Frank Lowy and CEO David Gallop’s reported turn around in the FFA’s finances due to the Foxtel television rights, the owners of 10 A-League clubs are forecast to lose a combined $15 million in 2013-14. In comparison to other sports like AFL, Rugby and Rugby league, The Hyundai A-League’s match attendance is still a less popular product, especially up against AFL. The number of Australians playing football has continued to grow with an increase of approximately 45% in the number of people playing outdoor football, but Australian youth national sides continually miss out on qualification for major international tournaments and the Socceroos have attained their worst FIFA world ranking in history. Football Federation Australia is also still in talks with prospective sponsors for the Socceroos, having suffered a blow when Qantas ended its sponsorship deal in June, and the inaugural FFA Cup in 2014. Allegations of fraud and mismanagement were levelled at the FFA by elements within the Australian Press including the ABC. Their attempts at transparency should be questioned after Minister for sport, Peter Dutton, in August 2014, reported ASC ‘allocations of funding had not been fully utilised’ by the FFA for the program they were intended for. Football Federation Australia will have to explain its controversial national club identity policy to the Human Rights Commission following two complaints about the banning of a Melbourne Knights’ ethnic linked sponsorship deal with a community club for an FFA Cup match. Football in this country has never been in a better position, relatively speaking, but only with the enormous contribution and patience of the tax paying public. By Paul Brown Do you have football news? Contact Paul Brown paul@burwoodscene.com.au Follow Paul and the Pararoos on these websites and help build the Pararoo community. https://plus.google.com/communities/105754746571291446754 https://twitter.com/Brown9Paul?lang=en http://www.burwoodscene.com.au/?p=216624 https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=283982544&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile_pic https://plus.google.com/103218048213069694571/posts http://theworldoffootballbrowniesperspective.blogspot.com.au/ http://thetruthaboutpararooaxing.blogspot.com.au/