FFA is Five years old - Statement by Frank Lowy

[midfielder]

Its been a great five years ....... consider where we were ........ Long live Frank

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/InsideFFA/default.aspx?s=insideffa_newsfeatures_newsitem&id=25108

Football builds its future
Thursday, 27 November 2008


FFA Chairman Frank Lowy
FFA The past five years have seen a sea change in football in Australia but theres more to come according to Football Federation Australia (FFA) Chairman, Frank Lowy AC.

Speaking to the annual general meeting of FFA in Sydney today, Mr Lowy nominated a number of significant areas of achievement in the five years since the national sporting organisation was restructured.

These included:

* establishing new national league competitions for men, women and youth
* joining the Asian Football Confederation
* participating in the 2006 FIFA World Cup
* participating in the Asian Football Confederation Champions League, and
* hosting the FIFA Congress earlier this year.

Importantly, everything we do is now within a national strategic framework to advance the game in a uniform way across Australia, he said.

I have said before that my vision is to see us host, and play in the final of, the 2018 FIFA World Cup here in Australia.

To achieve this, it is vital that we get the structure of football right to build for the future.

A new national charter of football development is to be introduced between FFA and the State and Territory football federations which takes account of the entire football community that also includes A-League clubs, the estimated 1,000,000 people who play the game and supporters.

"The Charter involves all of us in partnership," Mr Lowy said.

"It will help us deliver the important strategic and evolutionary reforms of the National Football Development Plan.

More than anything, it is important that we provide a consistent approach to football development throughout Australia.

So regardless of whether a young player lives in Broome, Bamaga, Byron Bay or Beaconsfield, they can develop their skills and have the opportunity to become a Socceroo or a Matilda.

FFA also announced a modest operating surplus for the financial year of almost $1 million, prior to receipt of the Special Purpose Grant provided by the Federal Government.

The grant supports the implementation of FFAs national football development plan and participation of the nine national teams in Asian Football Confederation competition.

In the past five years, Australias nine national teams have played 377 international games in 144 cities around the world.

Mr Lowy added that the Qantas Socceroos qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup continues to be an important priority of FFA.

We will leave no stone unturned in achieving this goal, he said.

Australia currently sits top of its group with five games to go.

While we are quietly confident of qualifying from this point, as football fans, we take nothing for granted.

Mr Lowy said that while the five years of achievement have been a remarkable journey so far, FFA's focus is building for the future through initiatives such as:

* expansion of the Hyundai A-League
* further implementation of the national football development plan
* hosting the 2015 Asian Cup, and
* bidding to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.


http://www.a-league.com.au/site/_content/document/00000975-source.pdf

This is a pdf file and I cannot copy  it but its part of Frank's speech great reading... if anyone knows how to copy this would make a good post as well

 

[pjennings]

Done


Extract from
Chairmans Address
to the Annual General Meeting of Football Federation Australia Limited
27 November 2008, Sydney

Welcome to this, the fifth annual general meeting of Football Federation Australia Limited.

Todays meeting marks the fifth year of FFA, and I think it is worthwhile reflecting on where we have come from in that time and where we are heading.

In the five years since the Federal Government initiated Crawford Report was completed, everyone in this room has contributed significantly to a sea change in the sport.

This started with a reformed constitutional framework resulting in FFA.
But the achievements we have shared since then have been many, as well as significant.

In the five years since 2003, we have:
o established a new national league competition, the Hyundai A-League
o joined the Asian football confederation
o participated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup
o performed above expectations in the 2007 FIFA womens World Cup
o played in the AFC champions league for the first time in 2007 - with Adelaide United doing so well in reaching the final just recently
o participated in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup
o played in the 2008 AFC Womens Asian Cup
o released the National Football Development Plan a little over one year ago
o hosted the AFC Gala Awards this time last year
o hosted the 58th FIFA congress in May this year with over 2,000 international delegates
o established a national youth league
o recognised the growth and development of women's football as an important strategic priority in its own right
o established a national womens league
o expressed interest in hosting the 2015 Asian Cup. We are the single nominee to host this event and we are confident that we will do so, and
o announced our intention to bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

In terms of qualification for the next World Cup in 2010, we have had 6 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses since Pim Verbeek took charge.

We currently sit at the top of our group with five games to go.
While we are quietly confident of qualifying from this point, we are not taking it for granted.

And I can assure you that we are leaving no stone unturned in achieving this goal. 2
Getting to the World Cup is important for many reasons.

As well as setting the foundation for the next four year cycle, the more significant impact is in other areas such as:
o growth of the a-league
o participation
o encouraging talented young players to stay in the sport, and
o our World Cup bid for 2018.

This time last year we released the national football development plan, our first national strategic framework to advance the game in a uniform way across Australia.
Football development has two distinct, but related, areas:
o game development which is focussed on the grassroots that underpins all football, and
o talented player development which is focussed on a nationally coordinated talent identification system involving FFA, the AIS, the State institutes of sport, member federations and the Hyundai A-League clubs working together.

It is very important that all of us are united in our approach to developing talented young players.

I am sure you all know that I have said before my vision is to see us host, and play in the final, of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Australia. So it is vital that we get the structures right now to build for the future.

Key to the success of our shared football future is the entire football family of which you are the foundation.

This is why the proposed national football development charter is a very welcome initiative. The charter involves all of us FFA, member federations and a-league clubs in partnership. It will give us a shared understanding of our respective roles and responsibilities, and help us deliver the important strategic and evolutionary reforms of the national football development plan. More than anything, it will provide a consistent approach to football development throughout Australia.

So regardless of whether a young player lives in Broome, Bamaga, Byron Bay or Beaconsfield, they will develop the skills, and have the opportunity, to become a Socceroo or a Matilda.

Before putting the financial report to 30 June 2008 to the meeting I will just take the opportunity to make some observations on the financial position of the company.
Who would have thought five years ago that we would be in this position today? 3
This time five years ago, we had revenue under $14 million and an operating deficit of $4 million.

This compares with topline figures this year of $85 million in revenue, and a modest surplus without the special purpose government funding of just under $1 million. In the same period:
o broadcast revenues have increased from practically nothing to $20 million a year
o sponsorship continues to increase with new or renewed partnerships announced with Hyundai, Qantas, Zurich, Westfield and Optus. In the past year, we received over $17 million in sponsorship support, and
o gate receipts from Socceroos and other matches such as the LA Galaxy game last November total $16.5 million.

The financial health of the company and, therefore, the sport at national level is a very encouraging achievement if we think back to where we were five years ago, or even further than that.

As we noted at last years AGM, it is important to recognise that we operate on a four year cycle in line with the World Cup cycle.

I should also add that receipt of the special purpose funding from the Federal Government has allowed us to make some important investments in key areas of our strategic plan.

In closing todays meeting, I would like to say congratulations and thank you to all who are here today.

My personal thanks go to my fellow directors for their assistance and support throughout the year.

Thank you to Ben Buckley and the management team at FFA.

And may I once again reiterate, on behalf of the Board and the management of FFA, our recognition and appreciation of the tireless work of each of the member federations, their boards and their staff.

We cannot do this alone.
The partnerships we build and grow with one another in the football family will be a barometer for the long term success and sustainability of this game we all love.

Thank you all for your commitment to football and your contribution not just for the past year, but the past five years.

It has been a remarkable journey so far but there is still a way to go.

We look forward to taking that journey together.

 

[Part_Timer]

cut and paste threads ftw

 

[Paolo]

cut and paste threads ftw

lol, how about now you snip it from now on midfielder and just post the jist of the article and have a link if people want to read the novel

 

[Bex]

[/ignore keensy]

Good post Midfielder. Interesting article.

 

[fedelta]

[/ignore keensy]

Good post Midfielder. Interesting article.

no point trying to console him, he's already sad

 

[Bex]

Lots of sad ppl on this forum hehe

 

[fedelta]

 

[midfielder]

Bex feel sorry  Kennsy more than 3 words and she gets confused ...

 

[fedelta]

 

[serious14]

 

[midfielder]

 

[Part_Timer]

back on topic plz ppl....

 

[Redline]

THats a massive increase in revenue....and it's good to hear they've got a 'small' surplus of a million bucks...I'd like to have a 'small' surplus of that size too.

If it is true that Japan will be laucnhing a bid for the 2018 WC as well, what does that do to our chances?