FFA chairman Frank Lowy has all but ruled out a separate body running the Hyundai A-League under his watch, saying that the game had not developed enough to sustain that level of governance.
FFA chairman Frank Lowy has all but ruled out a separate body running the Hyundai A-League under his watch, saying that the game had not developed enough to sustain that level of governance.
Lowy has extended a considerable olive branch to club owners and chairmen over recent weeks as he seeks to redress the gap that opened up between those who fund the Hyundai A-League clubs and those who run the sport.
But one of the strongest demands from club owners, that FFA look to implement a separate Hyundai A-League body, was scuppered by Lowy in his interview on Fox Footy’s EMT.
“I don’t believe there is a good future for the A-League to be a separate body, we are not big enough for that. I don’t believe that it is a good model,” he said.
“I hope and think and believe that this model we are working on will evolve over time and be successful.”
It was the strongest statement by football powerbroker Lowy since the formation of the JALSC, a body set-up to advise the FFA board on major A-League issues, involving both members of the FFA board and A-League club representatives.
While the Fox Footy producers didn’t see the significance of the statement, effectively leaving it on the cutting room floor by putting that part of the 45-minute interview only on its website, it is an indication of Lowy’s determination to stick to his path to the future of the game.
Lowy also said he had led the process towards improving relationships between the clubs and FFA, and he felt things were heading in a better direction after the tumultuous end to the season, which saw Gold Coast United fold and Newcastle Jets owner Nathan Tinkler threaten to pull his support from the foundation club.
“I saw the issue before the kerfuffle with Palmer, it was in January or early February, when I decided to interview, on my own, each club. I was in the process of doing that when things began to come undone with Palmer and Tinkler,” he said.
“We are all working for the game. I appealed to the owners and chairmen and we’ve agreed that we need to make changes to the game and have the clubs participate more than they have before.
“That got them in, and we got ourselves in and we are going together.”
Lowy said the JALSC was a huge step forward for the future of the competition.
“It needs good will and understanding of each other’s problems,” he said.
In other aspects of the interview considered not notable enough for TV broadcast, Lowy denied that Australia simply wanted to copy the style of European play, saying the Qantas Socceroos had already developed their own distinctive style.
He also said current coach Holger Osieck was not chosen for his European coaching background, but for his ability to teach, not only the current crop of players but also the next generation of Australian coaches.
