Engaging with supporters and treating them as stakeholders should be a priority of the FFA working group when it convenes to map out the revised governance model for Australian football. Fans deserve a say in this vital conversation.
Supporters should always be viewed as active participants in football, not passive onlookers or exploitable consumers. A vociferous home crowd can spur its team to victory, influence the referee and cow the opposition. In Australia’s crowded marketplace the sound and movement in the stands is what differentiates football as a sporting experience, be it live or on TV. Fans are significant contributors to a delicate ecosystem and their perspectives are valid.
Football Supporters Australia was formed recently to provide fans with an umbrella organisation to advocate on their behalf. “With the current uncertainty around the future of football governance nationally, we think it’s time to make our voice not only heard but to be counted as an integral part of football governance,” said interim chairman Pablo Bateson when FSA launched late last year.
Bateson is one of three co-founders working towards a mandate to represent supporter interests. They are under no illusions that aligning the agendas of the many and various strong willed groups at all tiers within the game will be a diplomatic cakewalk but they are in no rush, aiming first for credibility before targeting loftier ambitions. “We want to make sure that the organisation we create is part of the solution and not contributing to further fracturing across the football supporters’ spectrum,” Bateson told Guardian Australia.
No date has been set for the first annual general meeting but it will be in the coming months. Before that a survey will be distributed to canvas opinion and encourage participation. “We still have work to do to set up our organisation’s constitution, rules, roles and responsibilities and those sorts of foundation tasks,” Bateson said. “Embracing inclusive and democratic processes will give everyone the best opportunity to voice their opinion on the things that matter the most to them.”
Positive initial discussions have already been held with FFA and it is a relationship that will crystallise once FSA can demonstrate it has the support and involvement of a significant cross-section of fans across the country. While they acknowledge they are some way from exhibiting the organisational maturity required for a seat on the governing congress, they see no reason an intermediary step could not help pave the way; an FFA-FSA advisory council, for example.
This dynamic sits within the framework set by Fifa to make the governance of Australian football more inclusive and representative. Fifa’s letter explaining the formation of the Congress Review Working Group outlines the governing body’s intention to meet with stakeholders early in 2018, stakeholders categorised specifically as the member federations, A-League clubs, the players’ union, “and any other relevant interlocutors ... that have been established in the meantime”. Such relevant interlocutors already includes the National Premier Leagues’ lobby group the AAFC, and unions furthering the interests of both coaches and referees. A body representing fans sits neatly in this space.
Supporter interests are represented at the highest level in other football associations around the world. FSA is taking many of its cues from England’s Football Supporters Federation which has a prominent advocacy role in the English game. The FSF chairman sits on the FA Council (England’s governing congress), one of two votes given to fans in the 127 member body.
While there is obvious focus on the A-League, FSA is setting out to advocate on behalf of all supporters, regardless of where they engage with the game. For example, Bateson wants to give voice to fans of clubs in the NPL who can see “no opportunity or little momentum toward their teams having the potential to achieve full professional status,” and engage with FFA over the application of the controversial National Club Identity Policy.
Improving the A-League match day experience is an obvious area the game would benefit from FSA involvement. “There are heavy-handed and inflexible restrictions on active and broader support that can sanitise match day experiences,” argues Bateson.
“The constant over-policing and security treatment which lacks consistency across stadiums has meant that many have turned their back on the league. The police, FFA, stadium security and management have so far collectively failed to engage properly with fans groups to reach agreement on a policing of football strategy. There is evidence based research and successful policy we can learn from in Europe, such as the ENABLE project. This is probably the biggest area for focus for the FSA in the short term,” he said.
To that list you can add standing concerns such as pricing and scheduling and then drop in the discrete issues that emerge periodically such as VAR, the implementation and communication of which could not fail to be improved with the input of supporters.
Congress expansion was a yearlong dumpster fire in 2017. Following the summer break and in anticipation of Fifa’s facilitation, 2018 offers an opportunity to reframe the debacle and move away from an unsatisfying short-term fix towards a consensus-building solution that serves the game’s best long-term interests. It is a process fans should be at the heart of.