FFA: Ben Buckley. Do you want $340,000 from Canberra for football? or not?
Yes Canberra A-League Bid is about to hand $340,000 back to their community members. As early as next week I'm hearing. We know this amount of money won't give us a team, but we also know that no other team in the A-League had such Community funds before getting a licence, some didn't even get it in their annual season ticket revenues. Bid Leader Ivan Slavich has asked Ben Buckley from the FFA if we could use the money to fund a Youth team. A stepping stone as we aspire to the full licence one day. (Dreamin I guess) And further a great platform for our 14,000 plus young talent aspiring to follow Tom Rogic, Kofi Danninf, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Matt Kemp to name a few making a mark at other cities, other teams in the National League. Ben's response - he simply didn't reply! And there goes the great grassroots dream. And of course the expansion plan. 2013 Canberra gets a Youth Team. 2015 Asia Cup comes to Canberra for a few games. 2015 Canberra enters the A-League fully resourced and financed. Got a better plan for grassroots football connection in this region FFA? Me? Don't worry I'm getting my $800 back - the only investor to get a return from the A-League.
2 comments:
I'm disgusted too Eamonn. Bidding for an A-League license appears to be a bit like bidding for a World Cup. The decision on the winner has been made before the bids are looked at.
Ben Buckley and Frank Lowy are as corrupt as Blatter. I for one am certain of this. The main difference is that the Australian scene does not have the fat to burn, and is made extremely vulnerable by the waste.
As I've argued in more detail before, corruption is not bad merely because it is immoral, but mostly because it is inefficient and results in worse outcomes.
We could have a team in Canberra if it was important. It's obviously not because there's too much infighting and no cooperation between clubs.
Everybody's out for themselves and the ACTFF doesn't help by having a isolationist agenda. The association is constantly working against the clubs rather than for them.
An A-League team in a regional centre like Canberra takes leadership and innovation and a plan to create an underlying business before the team arrives.
I've got a plan but nobody's interested because it's not that important.
People would rather whinge and seek sympathy than do something concrete.
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