midfielder
Well-Known Member
From FFA yesterday...
A strategy for our future Wednesday, 30 November 2011
This week Football Federation Australia formally published a new Strategic Plan for the period of 2011 to 2015 with a vision for Australia to become a Top 10 football nation.
The ambitious target goes way beyond our FIFA Ranking.
This is our vision:
- Development of a football culture ingrained with unique Australian characteristics.
- Producing technically-gifted Australian players from an elite player pathway that’s the equal of the world’s best.
- Building a Hyundai A-League that rivals the best in Asia.
- Making football a sporting and social powerhouse in Australia.
To see our vision become a reality, FFA has a mission that will drive everything we do in the next four years.
The mission is to create value for the football community and to convert mass participation and interest into active support for the National Teams and the A-League.
Our mission is all about conversion – turning passion into engagement.
We have 1.7 million participants in Australian football, as measured by the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Since 2001, participation in outdoor football has roughly doubled and indoor football numbers have trebled.
These numbers are our greatest strength and our biggest opportunity.
When we say "We Are Football" we are talking about a huge football family that spans social class, demographics, gender, ethnicity, language and state borders.
We are cosmopolitan with a truly national footprint. The faces of football are the faces of Australia.
With our vision stated and our mission set, the Strategic Plan includes four pillars:
1. National Teams excellence.
2. A sustainable and vibrant Hyundai A-League.
3. Greater connection with football’s grassroots.
4. Delivering a successful 2015 AFC Asian Cup that leaves a legacy benefit for our game.
Click here to view the Strategic Plan 2011-2015 framework
This is a Strategic Plan that that reaches every one of our 1.7 million participants – from the Qantas Socceroos to a 5-year old boy or girl playing for the first time.
It engages with our A-League clubs and fans, drives the relationship with our commercial partners and cements the national unity achieved with our Member Federations.
It’s a plan that will take the focus of Australian football from building foundations to creating growth. And it’s a plan that has a strong emphasis on the domestic agenda.
The Strategic Plan is the product of long deliberations by the FFA Board and management and, importantly, consultations with key stakeholders throughout this year.
In short, we listened – to our Member Federations, our Hyundai A-League clubs, our broadcaster partner Fox Sports, the media and the most crucial stakeholders of all – the fans and participants of Australian football.
Some of you might recall my appearance at a fan forum with 200 fans in May this year – it was broadcast by SBS TV.
There was some fairly robust feedback that night, but rather than shy away from what was being said by those on the terraces, we listened and took note.
As a part of our evolution in this digital age, we have a consistent presence in social media.
No, I’m not about to start a Twitter account, but I get regular reports on what our fans are talking about in various online forums. We use it as a listening post.
This season in the A-League, video screens at our stadia have shown replays of incidents that in past would have been blacked out. We made the change in part because of feedback from fans.
Let me now outline some of the major projects and performance targets that are part of our Strategic Plan – and share with you the results that have already started to flow.
The first pillar is National Teams excellence and elite player development.
Our targets include:
- Qantas Socceroos qualifying for Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup andreaching the round of 16 as a minimum.
- Winning the 2015 AFC Asian Cup on home soil
- The Socceroos contesting for a Top 10 spot on the FIFA Rankings by 2015 and averaging a Top 20 spot across the period.
- In the women’s national team program, we aim to see the Westfield Matildas successfully defend the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, once again qualify for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in and hold a Top 10 ranking, which we have currently achieved at no.10
The production line below our national teams is equally important.
We have plans to develop a top-class advanced coach education pathway.
This will start with a redesign of coaching course materials, more accessibility via digital channels and an expansion of the program.
We’ll consolidate the first phase implementation of skill acquisition program and then expand into all states and territories.
Integration of a National Elite Player pathway is underway, but will be supercharged by greater alignment between Member Federations, A-League clubs and the National Training Centre programs.
And our National Competitions Review will ensure the second-tier, semi-professional clubs will have a greater role in the broader plan.
The success at the pinnacle of international football with the Socceroos and Matildas is directly attributable to the sustained and targeted investment by FFA in coach education, elite player development, sports science, logistics and player welfare.
We need to continue to make efficient investment in this area if we are to realise our vision of becoming a Top 10 nation.
Our second strategic pillar is the Hyundai A-League and the sustainability of the competition.
We can sum up the approach with a very simple line – it’s about bums on seats.
In turn, that means giving the fans what they want – a high-quality, exciting competition, with an active engagement with their clubs.
We set out in May with the very clear insight of what had to be done, based on our strategic review and consultations:
- Improve A-League club community engagement to increase fan base - focus on increasing attendances.
- Improve A-League reputation and brand image through better marketing and media relations.
- Ensure season timing and structure maximises attendances.
- Improve club business results through a central services unit - our plans are taking shape and will be a focus of the 2nd year of the strategic plan in 2012.
- Ensure A-League clubs are integrated into the elite player pathway system.
- Deliver better financial arrangements in stadia and more efficient event management.
Our goal in the initial years of the Strategic Plan timeframe is to have 10 stable clubs and sustainable economic model for the A-League.
There is a natural public debate around expansion, usually around Greater Western Sydney, which is the heartland of the game.
However, in the Strategic Plan period to 2015 expansion will only occur when those economic pre-conditions of stability and sustainability exist.
Season Seven shows how we successfully implemented the specific plans.
- The schedule change - October to April – to launch the season in “clear air”
- Opening the season with marquee matches.
- Rivalry Round, which produced the all-time high aggregate attendance for an A-League round.
- Regular kick off times – for fans in stadiums and at home TV, tailored for specific markets.
- Fewer mid-week rounds, but when we do they are strategically placed in the festive season.
- Still to come – Community Rounds which will take our competition to new markets – Morwell, Dunedin, Campbelltown, Launceston and Bathurst.
- The world-first Hyundai A-League Marathon on 4 January.
The success story after Week Eight of the competition is very satisfying;
- Attendances average – up 48 per cent
- TV audiences average – up 62 per cent
- Club membership – up 17 per cent
In the past 12 months, the significant new investment for Newcastle Jets, Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix shows that our competition is vibrant, credible and viable – and attractive to new investors.
The third pillar of our strategic plan is all about connecting with the grassroots. As I stated earlier – it’s all about conversion.
Our Strategic Plan includes the biggest online registration roll out ever seen in Australian sport.
MyFootballClub.com.au is a national database that will for the first time in the game’s history bring everyone together and create value for all stakeholders. It’s provided free of charge to clubs and associations.
We will deliver benefits to all tiers:
- For players – being part of a virtual community with the benefits of our numbers: Socceroo ticket offers, discounts on playing equipment, information on coaching and healthy lifestyles.
- For clubs and associations – lower IT costs and greater ability to organise and service players.
- For the professional tier (National Teams and A-League clubs) – a real connection to the grassroots and an efficient and sophisticated way to communicate in this digital age.
The strategic plan target for the MyFootballClub.com.au database is to have half a million registrations by June 2012.
In the Strategic Plan period to 2015, the target is one million – once we achieve this target Australian football would be in an unprecedented position to connect and convert our numbers.
This project is the "game changer" for Australian football.
Of course, at the end of the Strategic Plan period, Australia will host the 2015 AFC Asian Cup – and that’s the fourth pillar of our plan.
It’s the biggest sporting event in Asia. On the field, we want to Socceroos to win the tournament, but the off-field opportunities are just as important.
- A financial legacy for Australian football via a Tournament Budget surplus.
- Sold out Socceroos matches.
- Sold out Final match.
- Leverage business and commercial connection of Australian football with Asia.
- Leverage and convert awareness and support for football into increased participation and A-League attendances.
As a first step, we will develop the 2015 AFC Asian Cup Strategic Plan and establish a Local Organising Committee supported by highly skilled and experienced people.
We’ll develop engagement plans with A-League clubs, public, private sector, Australian governments, the Australian football community and the media.
Our Strategic Plan will not only ensure we run a world-class event, but that Australian football accrues a legacy benefit.
To achieve all the ambitious targets in our Strategic Plan we need capital to invest. Our next TV rights agreement is the opportunity to secure the financial footings of the game.
We are saying to the free-to-air, Pay TV and digital networks that football has the biggest reach of any sport in Australia – across social class, gender, ethnicity and age demographics – and it’s a truly national footprint.
Football has more participants than all the other codes combined and is the fastest-growing sport among women and girls.
Importantly, our demographic skew towards youth means we are a growth story, particularly in this digital age.
We have a new network of 12 websites and affiliated social media channels covering national teams, national competitions and member clubs.
In the first 30 days following the launch we substantially increased our presence in the digital community.
- Page impressions and unique browsers – up 30 per cent
- New mobile apps for Socceroos and a-league - 80,000 downloads
In social media, we have over 270,000 fans on our Facebook pages for national teams and the A-League. We increased our Facebook followers for the A-League by 30 per cent in the past two months.
These digital numbers, aligned with our growing TV audience figures, show that Australians have a huge appetite for football content.
Our task is to build a compelling case for media companies to invest in this content as a core ingredient in their offerings.
We are confident of securing a TV rights deal that recognises football’s popularity, reach and potential. We are confident we’ll achieve the capital injection required to bring our plans into reality.
In summing up, I point to our brand campaign for the Hyundai A-League, which featured a very simple, yet powerful message: "WE ARE FOOTBALL".
The campaign has resonated throughout the football community because it truly captures the feelings and aspirations we have as a game in Australia.
We are proud, we are passionate and we are on the move.
"We Are Football" – and we have a plan for our future.
