Pundit Foster calls for State football reform

SBS Football analyst Craig Foster has slammed the workings of State football administrations in a hard-hitting blog on SBS's The World Game website.

Focussing on Football NSW and Northern NSW Football, the former Socceroo calls for a comprehensive review of State football administration, lamenting that "the 'old guard' of administrators, who led the game into its darkest period, continue to infest the management and boards of these bodies."

The blog, Greed poisons the game, questions "lack of support to (local) associations" and "the hundreds of thousands of dollars paid in levies with little in return" to local associations and grassroots players.

Foster's blog also suggests that at Football NSW "the culture is, in my view, poisoned and in need of complete overhaul, because this organisation has a history of putting profit before the development of the game," going on to question standards and costs in junior football development . He then asks why a coaching development resource website is run as a private venture, questioning why "the sole shareholder and managing director of the company behind the site is a Football NSW employee, in partnership with the State body, and thus is remunerated by the parent's levies to support the growth and improvement of the game, then charging them for basic information."

Foster calls for Football Federation Australia (FFA) "to initiate a very close inspection of the conduct of two bodies who are poisoning our game at many levels, and grass roots associations should immediately organise themselves to collectively question whether they are receiving the service the game requires, and deserves."

A review of the operations of state football administration was one of the key recommendations of the 2003 Crawford report (the Independent Soccer Review Committee on the governance of Association Football in Australia). However, while Crawford's reforms of national football administration and elite competition have been carried out, little, other than their logos, has changed within state football administration.

To read Foster's full report go to http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blogs/craigfoster/greed-poisons-the-game-138801/