Sourced from http://futsal4all.com/2010/12/vikings-futsal-nsw-in-turmoil/
Vikings Futsal have done astonishing things in Futsal for a long time. Some say that Futsal would have been a lot less than it is in parts of Australia had Vikings not appeared and made things work. I have heard some say that Vikings are "only in it for the money". This has always struck me as ill informed and often disguising other agenda.
The Vikings Futsal business model seems to me to be first rate - they try to keep every dollar in the game - and they plough a lot back into the game. I stress - the sporting business model. Go back into archive on the NPL and have a listen to the Vikings CEO explain how they do it and why they do it. Hard to argue against it.
When we last spoke to the CEO Vikings, we spoke at some length of the "conflict" between the FFA / FFA Federation members and Vikings Futsal. The FFA has only recently (in terms of the time the game has been played) taken over Futsal through its member Federations. Of course, that does mean the FFA is the sole proprietor of Futsal, bu that's the way they would like it. Plenty would suggest that precious little funding is put to Futsal by the FFA. We don't exactly spend a lot on it here in the ACT - parents and players do that. We don't own a dedicated Futsal facility in the ACT to underpin the game, preferring instead to pay others for the facilites they build to accommodate our needs. As a result, we don;t have enough availbel facilities to train. Not good.
Both the FFA / Federation members and Vikings seem to be contesting the same sport for the same pool of players around the nation, with varying degrees of success. Its a bit hard to know the full story. Vikings are not in the ACT, never have been. In one respect that's a pity - we need their business model in this game.
As we know, Football NSW's Futsal teams (Thunder and Lightning as they call them) are almost completely dominat at the FFA Nationals these days. Its been heading that way for a few years. Changes to Futsal Nationals preparations for ACT teams may have slowed the decline, but 2011 saw us barely stay close to last years Nationals performance.
To this add the FFA's woeful record in relation to Futsal Coach Education in the ACT. There was just nothing availabe for the FFA that anyone at Capital Football could call upon. In the last two years their has been a modest attempt to run Coach education and a good thing it was, but it has barely scratched the surface. Mostly, we are Football coaches coaching Futsal. Vikings have always been strong in the conduct of Futsal coach education, as they have with support for referees. Point of difference.
The Football NSW Futsal competitions (Premier and Super Leagues) are incredibly strong local competitions, which probably eclispe all other State Federation competitions under the FFA banner (if I can put it that way). Not sure how this proposition holds up where Vikings are dominant or have a substantial competitive / participation precence. Again, hard to know for sure.
In the ACT, our domestic competition doesn't come close to the Football NSW Premier League or Supa League. We have only one Club that competes in the Football NSW Futsal Supa League - the Boomerangs. This was a priate intitiative by two committed Futsal Coaches from the ACt - they just got off the backsides and made it happen. And boy has it happened. They are going gangbusters and very close to being promoted to the Premier League for 2011/ 2012 season. They get precious little support to do this important Futsal development work for our young players. Vikings Futsal would in all probability take a different view and push their success - but that's just speculation on my part.
But back to the point of this Blog.
Futsal in NSW is dominated by the Football NSW Futsal organisation / competitions. They are strong and very competitive, week in week out. The proof is in their superior performance at the FFA Nationals.
Vikings appears to have had a very difficult time breaking into NSW to the degree it has in other States.
Vikings held their "Nationals" at the same time as the FFA Nationals. It did not go unremarked upon by some Futsal officials from various places during the FFA Nationals.
However, I did notice that Vikings televised (streamed) their Futsal Nationals competition, produced short video summaries of the finals for publication on the web and made video copies of each final (full game) available at a reasonable cost to anyone who is interested. The FFA did none of this for the patrons / players / parents for the finals. Makes you think.
The article below makes some intersting points. Time the NPL spoke to the CEO Vikings to get his point of view (and some ideas). Futsal in intersting times!
Vikings Futsal NSW in turmoil - Vikings struggling to increase their presence in NSW
By Kay EmmayPublished 8/12/2010
Vikings Futsal NSW is again in turmoil after the sudden departure of its NSW Manager, Phil Dolton, after only 5 months in the role.
Despite their formidable presence in QLD and NNSW, Vikings have struggled to establish clubs and build playing numbers in NSW. The appointment of Dolton, one of the most experienced Futsal administrators in this state, was seen by many as a strategic move to either gain a stronger foot hold in NSW or unify the sport & integrate the Vikings club into the FNSW structure.
When contacted, Dolton declined to comment on the reasons behind the split except to say that “it was a mutual decision and I wish Vikings all the best in their future endeavours to grow the sport.” He went on to say that he “hoped to continue his involvement with the sport at both state and local level”.
It would appear the continuing decline in registrations, the cancellation of the NSW State titles, and the inability to attract new clubs was primarily the reason behind the decision.
The PCYC’s decision to terminate its contract with Vikings at the end of the 2009/10 season and move all its Futsal operations across to FNSW has had the biggest impact on registration numbers in NSW, virtually halving the 2009/10 figures.
Despite numerous attempts, Vikings have been unable to establish elite competitions in Sydney due to the strength of the FNSW Futsal Premier League. Now in its 5th season this competition has gone from strength to strength and is now considered the best Futsal league in Australia for both males & females.
Having failed in its bid to establish elite competitions, Vikings then turned their attentions to establishing a presence at the grassroots level. Unfortunately with limited facilities and an abundance of established Futsal clubs in and around Sydney, many of whom have direct links to outdoor clubs and associations, this has also been a near impossible task.
As in QLD, Vikings are now turning their attentions to modified forms of the sport, attempting to utilize outdoors pitches (grass or synthetic) in an effort to get some form of foothold in the region. Unfortunately, again this is proving difficult.
Few clubs, Futsal or outdoor, have been willing to risk their link with the “official” form of the sport (FFA /FIFA) and affiliate with what is essentially an independent operator of the sport in direct opposition to FNSW.
The PCYC’s (Police Citizens Youth Club) decision to terminate its contract with Vikings may have been, in part, due to this conflict of interests between its futsal and outdoor operations.
With 2010/11 registrations expected to be down around 2,500, a far cry from the 5,000+ registrations of only a couple of seasons ago, the long term viability of Vikings NSW operations must be a major concern for the Vikings Futsal National CEO, Alistair Miller.
It is hoped that Vikings can turn this slump around as healthy competition, both on and off the court, is essential if the sport is to continue moving forward.
The former Vikings NSW Manager, Phil Dolton made the following posts to this article, which are also interesting:
".... Kay’s article is about NSW not Vikings in general. There’s no argument that Vikings appear to be doing a good job in other states. But the facts & figures in NSW speak for themselves.
Vikings NSW don’t have an elite league. I tried to get one running and got one (1) expression of interest and that came from a FNSW club that wanted to play both sides of the fence. Nothing from any of the so called “Vikings people”.
There are no Vikings NSW State Titles this year and the majority of teams that are entering the Nationals under “NSW” are not “select” teams (with the exception of some Illawarra teams). They are local club teams or FNSW players who put together a group of mates that either weren’t picked or don’t want to travel to Canberra for the FFA Nationals. Some players are actually planning to play in both National titles.
Most “NSW Vikings” players will register with Vikings just for the Nationals. They don’t play for Vikings except at the Nationals. Almost half the Vikings Aust Womens team that contested the recent “Vikings World Cup” came from NSW and yet none of them play locally for Vikings, they all play in the FNSW Futsal Premier Leagues.
Lets be honest, elite players will skim the cream of whenever & where ever they can, and good luck to them, but at a grass roots level Vikings has 3-4 clubs/venues in Sydney (St Clair, Homebush, Miller?, Illawarra) compared to how many FNSW venues 30-40?
There are local FNSW “Clubs” that have more registered players than all of Vikings NSW put together....."
Phil Dolton on December 17th, 2010 11:03 am
and ...
".....I have said before & i will say it again, I think Vikings do some things very well and some things very poorly (as with all companies) & I think they are an important part of futsal in Aust.
Your comment that “futsal is not for the elite, it is for everyone” is exactly what my former manager used to say however …. actions don’t seem to balance with this. The recent focus for the organisation seems to be on the elite players. For example
- get in as many “state” teams as possible for the nationals regardless of where they come from. ( I was advised by my manager that I could enter local teams from NSW & call them ? Nthn Territory? whatever I wanted)
- World Club Titles, Vikings World Cup, World School Tiles
- Projects in Wales, NZ, Asia
None of these projects are aimed at grassroots. At a local level we struggled to get approval for local advertising for comps. Advertising, tournaments etc we were advised to use family, friends, volunteers etc.
“.. Vikings employees in NSW are not doing their job well enough..”
Basically your right to say that, I didn’t get the results and paid the price ?? No different to any other company or industry but…
I am not going to go into specifics in an open forum but my only other comment to that is, that the current structure at Vikings means that responsibility & accountability in the states far exceeds the authority and power that those employees are given.
To say that individual employees are entirely the problem would be a bit niaive though. The numbers have been steadily sliding over a lot longer period than what I, or the remaining employee, were in the roles so I think the cause is deeper than the individual in the role...."
Phil Dolton on January 11th, 2011 11:29 am
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