President Capital Football and Head Coach of the AIS Talk to the NPL

This program was broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz) across the Australian Community Radio Network, on Tuesday, 12 July 2011 at 7:00pm.

"Goals Soccer Center Chooses California Ultimate Turf to Install 80,000 Sq Feet of TigerTurf for 11 Fields at First U.S. Facility. Goals Soccer Centres is the United Kingdom’s largest five-a-side soccer program. The Los Angeles facility will be accessible to people of all skill levels and ages who want to play five-a-side soccer. The new U.S. Goals Soccer Center complex is situated on 3.5 acres and also includes a player-guest lounge, locker rooms, batting cages, and parking lot."

How do we get some of this for our game in the ACT? It was pointed out to me by a very astute person in Football that the O'Connor Playing Fields (including O'Connor Enclosed) is an excellent spot to set up a Football / Futsal hub for the game. Move Capital Football there too. Great idea. Maybe something like that picture above.

We need more than Hawker Enclosed right now! Our grounds are falling apart. Here is a before and after shot from Epping, Victoria. Multiple field developments are they way ahead, no more one field builds - that's the lesson from Hawker Enclosed!

President of Capital Football, Rachel Harrigan, speaks on two critical resource issues that are plaguing our game in the ACT - Grounds Facilities (playing surfaces) and Referees (recruitment and retention). Progress is slow on grounds facilities, funding required is signficant and apparently dependent on ACT Government involvement. Makes that $26m to the AFL look very exspensive for Football in the ACT in the years going forward. Is there another way ahead? President Capital Football is looking for ideas.

The Head Coach of the AIS, Jan Versleijen talks the NPL on player development, following a tour last year by a sensational Japanese High School team (12th ranked in Japan). Versleijen has come under some harsh criticism since the the Joeys were eliminated from the U17 World Cup, much of which fails to take sufficient account of the points Jan makes int his interview. We are on a change in Football (via the national curriculum and development plans) that will take generation to take effect and require some "cultural" adjustment in the game in our society. For those that have taken the trouble to observe the AIS training sessions or indeed, played the AIS (and my Club has done exactly that), there can be no doubt that these young men are as well prepared as can be done at this point in the evolution of Football in Australia. What Versleeijen can't do much about is the lost time in the many years before he gets the best we have at age. A lot has to change before the AIS gets hold of our best at age. It takes patience, time and persistence to get to the top of the Football tree at this age group. Our progress thus far is commensurate with our progress in reforming Football according to the national curriculum and development plans. Versliejen provides the answers in this interview. Patience and persistence is required. Play the possession game on the field and the long game off the park!
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President Capital Football Talks About Some Big Issues

Captial Football has a new President - Rachel Harrigan.

Rachel is not new to Football in the ACt and certainly not new to the Capital Football Board. She has served on the Board for eight years, the last four years as Vice President. So we may reasonably conclude that Rachel Harrigan is sufficiently informed to have a good sense for where Football needs to be headed in the next few years.

The President of the Capital Football Board is an important person in Football in the ACT. That person is the real face of Football in our region. Together with the other Board members, Rachel Harrigan must drive this game forward.

Three things (among others) stood out in Rachel's address to the AGM as part of her pitch for re-election:

1. The need for a first class Strategic Plan to be prepared and implemented for the years ahead, and
2. Communication (a much higher standard of communication with Clubs and others in the Football constituency than we have experienced in recent times)
3. Governance - implementing all aspects of the current CF policy in a fashion that enhances the devlopment of the game and effective communication, and the transition to a different business entity (company limited by guarantee). The latter element is a huge step forward and depends on so much else being done well.

Three very good objectives -  that will occupy Harrigan's time as President and demand a lot more of all the Board members. The Capital Football Board can't carry people. If re-election had been based on attendance records in the preceeding year, perhaps  there would be a couple more members who would have been replaced or stood down. As it is, that is not the criteria - but there is no reason for the new President to accept the presence of "passengers". There is too much work to be done. I wonder how the current attendance records are looking?

A further observation made by Rachel Harrigan is a very good one - Rachel links "strategy and structure". Absolutely correct. There is a good deal of work to be done on the organistional structure of Capital Football, for there is evidence aplenty that it is not well place to handle what is happening today, let alone the future implict in a new strategic plan.

Its a time of change for Capital Football, like it or not. Rachel quiet rightly points out that the FFA are running a strategic direction which is heavily biased to fortifying and securing the A League, and connecting with the FFA strategic intentions will not be easy. The development plight of our Mens Under17 to 20 years is a blight on our game in the ACT and required some serious effort to resolve.

The A League  is in a parlace state, thanks largely to the FFA's serial mismanagement.  Football in the ACT region has been damaged by the lies, misdirection and obfuscation by the FFA that surrounded efforts to raise an A League team in Canberra. A lot of goodwill has been lost and with it, sponsors. The lack of an A League Youth team which would ordinarily accompany an A league Licence Club in the ACT, has shut the door on critical development pathways for our Under 17 to 20 men. We have little to thank the FFA for in recent times, but working with the FFA as a member federation is mandatory, as is solving the development opportunities for the 17-20 Men and in a coherent fashion..

Getting productive outcomes from the FFA and Football NSW is very much the sort of strategic boundary riding that a Board President and capable Board members must be tasked to do. This goes way past "operational" interpretations within the current CF governance policy. The Board leads, the CEO and staff follow on this matter. There is some good expereicne on the Board now to make it happen.

Rachel Harrigan is well placed to take Capital Football forward. The President and Board must be the face of Football in the ACT.

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A First For Football In Australia - Rachel Harrigan Elected President and Chair of Capital Football Board

Source http://www.capitalfootball.com.au/site/news.php?id=1350

The Nearpost Local wishes Rachel Harrigan the all best in this very important leadership position in Football in the ACT Region.

Rachel Harrigan is well placed to know what is important to attend to going forward and it is heartening to note that the new President and Chair of the Board has made very specific reference to the most critical issue going forward - "...I see it as a time of engagement with the community and our member clubs. .."

The following is an extract from the Capital Football announcement:

"Capital Football is pleased to announce that Rachel Harrigan has been elected unopposed as the new President of the Federation, and Chair of the Board, after a board meeting held yesterday (Thursday 31st March 2011).
Ms. Harrigan has served on the board at Capital Football for eight years, the last four of which have been as Vice-President. Prior to that Ms. Harrigan also served on the board of Women’s Soccer Canberra.
At the same meeting Peter Maybury was elected unopposed to serve in the position of Deputy Chair. Mr. Maybury will also head up a new Finance Audit and Risk Management committee.
“After serving as vice-president for the past four years I feel I am ready to step up to the challenge with the full support of my colleagues,” Ms. Harrigan said.
“This is an opportunity to move forward. I see it as a time of engagement with the community and our member clubs. We will be having more consultation with our stakeholders and in particular our 43 clubs as we embark on a new era and a new strategic plan for 2012 to 2015......”