Winds Of Change Begin To Blow at the Capital Football AGM

Capital Football held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) last night.

Three Board members positions had been declared vacant (their time had expired and they had to be relected in order to remain on the Board). There were two new people who had nominated for election to the Board. A ballot would therefore, have to be held to establish who would fill the three vacant positions. As they say "game on'!

The voting is done by the current Board members and elected Zone Representatives. A small group. Clubs do not get a vote in this process. That's teh way the consitution is written.

The public can attend. You would expect some of the Football commnity to attend - few do. You would think Clubs would send a representative to attend - few do. I guess some Clubs woould feel that if they can't vote why turn up. I'll get back to Clubs.

All the Capital Football staff attended, indeed, they were the majority in the audience. Curious that, but then, they too are part of the football public, they certainly are at an AGM. From where I sat, a roll call for attendance at the AGM looked like this:

• All Board members attended (probably the best result they have had in a while given the attendance record of a couple listed in the Annual report.)
• Not all Zone reps attended (majority did)
• Only two Clubs (Tuggeranong United and Monaro Panthers) had representatives in the audience.
• The audience numbered 12 persons, 7 of whom were CF staff. One fellow left early, he was sitting next to me, there was a quiet but audible groan and he got up - the combination of the financial report and the CEO's report seemed to do him in, which is a pity because some fo the dicsussion that followed was well worth listening too. The Football public can be so fickle!

I thought the lack of represntation by the Clubs was simply very disappointing.  Now some Clubs were represented by the Zone representatives, who are themselves are office bearrers at thier club (eg Belconnen United, Western Creek, Woden Valley juniors). But the rest were conspicious by their absence. Where were the Premier League clubs and the Junior Clubs? Not good enough. Not when you have legitmate concerns in Football and express them elsewhere. This was Clubland's chance to put these matters on the table, recorded in the minutes. Make the Board, Zone reps and CEO sit and listen till you had talked yourself to a stnadstill. The role of the Zone rep is not entirely clear, Evolving" was teh word used by one Zone rep, which is true. Much more could and should be done by Capital Football to make this process work for Clubs. At the moment, it keeps the Clubs at arms distance form the orgainsation and Board. That's not good for the development of the game.

The thing that gets me is that the complaints you hear at Clubs are signficant (from their perspective) - for example -  "Capital Football" doesn't consult, they don't communicate, they are only interested in the talented players, they atek too much money and what do we get in return, never seen techncial development at our Club, the Womens' game gets too much, they don;t know what it costs to run Premier League football at Club level, they don;t listen to concerns at Club level, they keep too much secret, we they don't get much from Captial Football from one year to the next, when did you last see a Board member at  Premier League game and so on and so on..". Too many to list here. The dialogue is vibrant at CLub level. There is a remarkable pool of talent across all the disciplines / professions among players and parents at Clubs and with that, a lot of good ideas. But you ahev to have a dialogue - both ways - for things to work. AT the present time its seems to be broken both ways.

What message does your Club send to the Capital Football Board, the CEO and staff if your Club makes no effort at all to enagage in forums like the AGM? Without your input CF will definately get things wrong more often, because with the best will in the world, your lack of engagement means they get isolated. Their conversations about the things that impact on your Club are discussed among themsleves. You risk placing them in the position of having themsleves for the Football client. In these circumstances we all risk sub optimal outcomes, things stay the same, group think predominates. We get what we deserve sometimes, and sometimes we get more than we deserve - both are true around Capital Football and your Club(s). But have a good look at yourself and your Club before you hurl the next brickbat. Not bloody good enough, not by half!

But I digress, back to the AGM -  there was a wind of change in the air before the AGM opened. There was every reason to think change was afoot.

Well, this is a wind that seems to have been blowing gently since the last AGM.

The twitter around the grounds and among club officials seemed to be predominantly  one of dissatisfaction with "Capital Football", that easy phrase which captures, often unfairly for some, all Board members, CEO and staff. There are lots of opinions in Football, lots of passion, Clubs have their own view of the world and Football is currently in a process of fundamental reform through the FFA, particularly now in the areas of the National Curriculum and National Development plan. We have some hard problems to resolve here in the ACT, particularly around the provision of good playing facitlties for ever increasing participation rates in the ACT region and the development of players. The challenege is to create a meaningful dialogue with the Clubs,  as President Belconnen United and Zone Rep, Mark O'Niell, ever the forward thinker, pointed out during the meeting. A view that was clearly shared by several of his Member colleagues.

The Capital Football Annual report was tabled and it tells a tale of progress and limitation, and if you look closely, the imposing scope of the task to build our game in the ACT.  Dots points, graphs, good news aplenty, how many times did the Board members attend Board meeting that year (hmmmm!), everyone thanking everyone for all the work, and always, a financial report that is definately worth discussion for the insights and understandings it brings when words elsewhere in the report just don't seem to bring enough clarity. The Treasurer answered questions in an energetic, candid and informative fashion and that helped a great deal.

Then came the election.

Three Board member positions were declared vacant and candidates nominated for election /re-election. The outgoing members all re-nominated and importantly, two new candidates made themselves available for election to the Board.

The nominees for the Board were

• Alan Bradbury (former Director)
• John Logue (former President)
• Racheal Harrigan (former Director)
• James Selby (new nominee)
• Eddie Senatore (new nominee)

 The nominees were asked to speak to the Members at the table. To give their pitch for a position on the Board. Bradbury and Logue spoke of the past and they obviouisly had a lot to be proud of in their work over many years in Football and with CF. John Logue has a massive history in Football in the ACT, a voice of reasonableness in difficult times, and he could certainly claim to have seen much of the worst of some of Football adminstration. Harrigan spoke passionately of the future, work with the Kanga Cup and of her strategic interest going forward. Senatore and Selby were a breathe of fresh air, different, but clearly seemed to bring something new to the table. Selby was an impressive speaker and has considerble experience in sports adminstration, which seemed highly relevant to the needs of the CF Board.  Senatore seemed to capture the audience with his no nonesense catalogue of professional achievements, depth of exeperience immediately transferrable to the CF Board, strategic business and sports experience and his focuss on communication with Clubs. A formidable skill set that seemed highly desirable to the CF Board.

The wind had turned into a gust!

There were some good options on the table. The members appeared to go with an eye for the future change over the next four years. The successful candidates for the CF Board are;

• Racheal Harrigan
• James Selby
• Eddie Senatore

The position of President of the CF Board is resolved by a separate ballot among the Board members, time not yet known. Three people appear to have something to recommend for this important role. Maybury looks to be too good a treasurer to loose. Harrigan's passion is highly commendable and so necessary. But for me, they could do no better than the newly elected Eddie Senatore, who has considerable experience in this role in other important community organisations (eg St Edmunds College).

My one thought as I walked to the car. If you have a broom, might as well use it!

I suspect this is only the start of a new era at Capital Football. An opportunity for Captial Football to reinvent itself to meet new challenges. I expect it to be a very productive one in the years ahead and a lively tweleve months in front of us.. More power to them I say.