The Australian Professional Football Clubs Association (APFCA) is the representative organisation of the ten Hyundai A-League clubs and has issued this statement following their meeting held with Football Federation Australia CEO, David Gallop.
On Tuesday May 2, APFCA member Chairmen and CEOs met with the FFA CEO David Gallop and members of the FFA Administration. At the meeting the FFA proposed a cash distribution of A$3.25 million per club for the 2017/18 season.
This amount was unanimously rejected as wholly inadequate by all ten APFCA members.
On leaving the meeting APFCA Chairman, Greg Griffin said: “We have worked in good faith for the last eighteen months to achieve a distribution that will deliver a sustainable future for the League.
With this proposal the FFA has shown its disregard for the A-League and those who have invested in it. The Clubs are no longer prepared to fund the FFA through their annual club losses.”
He added: “This is yet another example of the need for reform of the governance and management of our game and things must change now.”
APFCA’s position is based on the following facts:
- The A$32.5 million cash distribution being offered to the ten clubs of the Hyundai A-League represents less than 50% of the FFA’s own calculations of direct revenues produced by the Hyundai A-League.
- The FFA additionally receives many millions of dollars of indirect revenue as a result of the provision by clubs of A-League commercial inventory and ticketing; the bundling of other assets and rights with A-League rights and assets; and the overall halo effect for the game at large of the Hyundai A-League.
- Under this proposal nearly every dollar would be pre-committed to cover the A$3.2 million of player obligations made up of A-League, W-League, NPL and NYL player payments.
- It leaves Scholarship Players, Homegrown Players, Marquee Players, Guest Players, Season Long Guest Players, Relocation and other salary cap exempt items unaccounted for. This is before any consideration is given to any other Club expenditures such as payroll tax, insurance, mandated junior academy investments, coaching and medical staff, administration and commercial staff, community outreach, marketing and stadium training and administration facility costs.
Further information:
The Australian Professional Football Clubs Association (APFCA) was founded in November 2016. The Association is made up of the ten Hyundai A-League clubs and is governed by legal constitution.
The specific purpose of the APFCA is to promote and advance the interests of the member A-League Clubs; to provide the forum for discussion between the FFA and the A-League Clubs; and to facilitate engagement between the A-League Clubs and other relevant bodies such as FIFA and the AFC.
The Association was created as a constructive and collaborative initiative that will benefit the ongoing work of members of the Australian football family to grow the game of football at all levels in Australia.
