New Zealand Soccer
New Zealand Soccer
from http://www.nzsoccer.com/
Challenging situation recoverable with game's help - Morris
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NZF/January 20, 2008 AUCKLAND - New Zealand Football chairman John Morris is confident the code’s challenging financial position is recoverable – but only with the concerted support of the entire football fraternity.
Morris confirmed the national body faced a loss of $834,000 for 2007 – $511,000 of which is directly attributable to the cancelled All Whites-Fiji World Cup qualifier in October and a poor gate at the following month’s qualifier against Vanuatu in Wellington.
He said NZ Football were “extremely disappointed and concerned” that a confidential discussion document circulated to each of its seven regional Federations – designed to ensure the on-going growth of a game the Federations are charged with serving - had been leaked.
Morris said the document - proposing four options to reverse the sport’s on-going financial challenges - was a work in progress and its premature public release had “inflamed the situation with a number of emotionally and politically driven inaccuracies”.
An example of this was a Sunday newspaper report suggesting NZ Football had already introduced a nationwide $10 player levy and that the National Women’s League had been canned, neither of which was the case.
“This was an attempt by NZ Football to work with the Federations, to take them into our trust, and at least one of them has reacted in a very disappointing manner,” Morris said.
“We have attempted to grow the game, expecting revenue streams such as sponsorship to strengthen as our activity and credibility built. The revenue has not grown as anticipated so we need to find a different way to move forward which is what we are attempting to do in conjunction with the Federations.”
The most radical of the proposals included the moth-balling of the All Whites, something NZ Football’s board agreed was “not feasible” given the massive impact this would have on the profile of the game and the severe financial ramifications, including FIFA sanctions.
Instead, NZ Football’s board advocates an increase in user-pays activity, particularly at age-group international level (U-20s down), the re-direction of Trust funding that is currently used for the direct benefit of the Federations, a nationwide $10 player levy and the reduction of administration overheads.
Morris said NZ Football had already begun ‘cutting its cloth’ accordingly, an example of which is the recently abandoned proposal to fund a U-16 New Zealand development squad in the up-coming National Youth League.
“We will only undertake activity, both internationally and domestically, if it is break even proposition as we work to move forward.”
NZ Football found itself caught between a “rock and a hard place” when Australia defected to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in January 2006 – leaving NZ as the biggest player in the small Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).
The board of NZ Football agreed that the long-term profile and development opportunities this unique situation presented - including increased opportunities to participate at FIFA World Cups – could not be missed.
However, the four major revenue sources most national football associations rely on around the world - broadcast rights, apparel sponsorship, gate takings and government funding – are not available to NZ Football to any significant degree because of their geographical isolation and relatively weak World Cup Qualifying opponents.
That has meant NZ Football, despite the sport’s best profile since the All Whites participated at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, has been forced to look at new ways of ensuring critical player, coach and referee pathways are consolidated in a financially “measured and managed way”.
Last year’s All Whites programme cost NZ Football $695,000. Home internationals - including mandatory World Cup qualifiers - costs approximately 15 times more than playing matches offshore where most of the All Whites costs are met by the host association.
Morris agreed the All Whites were a catch 22 proposition – costly qualifiers were a prerequisite if NZ Football desired a greater profile and the economic benefits of qualifying for tournaments such as the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup which guarantees a minimum $US1 million payday. A place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup would generate a minimum $US4.5 million.
In addition to the $311,000 cost associated with the cancelled Fiji game, NZ Football faces a bill of up to $200,000 to fund the rescheduled game to be held in Apia, Samoa on June 23 this year without any hope of generating any significant income through a home gate.
Morris said NZ Football Chief Executive Graham Seatter had the board’s backing.
“Graham still has his job and still wants his job and the board is committed to working with him and senior management to turn this around.”
Morris also conceded the fragmented football community was holding the sport back, as evidence by the leaking of the options document.
“You have to question the motives of these shadowy figures and ask what they’re trying to achieve. Is it a cheap points scoring opportunity at Graham Seatter’s expense?
“It’s hard to argue with shadowy figures. We invite this person, or people, to reveal themselves so we can get around a table to discuss their concerns.”
Morris said the game had to ask itself whether it was happy to remain a major sport with a ‘minor’ tag in New Zealand or whether it was prepared to forge ahead together and grasp the significant growth opportunities presented by being the No 1 association in OFC.
“Very few new businesses turn a profit in the short-term. But with careful management we’re confident we can deliver all our stakeholders an attractive and prosperous game on and off the pitch,” Morris said.
Federations have until Friday, January 25 to make submissions on the options document which will be voted on at a special January 31 meeting of the Federations.
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Points of clarification:
Nationwide levy: The proposed $10 levy per player would be the first NZ Football affiliation increase since 2004. NZF current receives approximately $640,000 from affiliation fees – roughly $6 per player per year if all players are counted – which equates to less than 10 percent of total NZF revenue.
Small Whites: NZ Football currently receives no affiliation fees from players under the age of 12, a group estimated to be more than 100,000-strong. These stakeholders pay their local Federation an affiliation fee despite much of NZ Football’s work being dedicated to support this age-group.
NZ Football activity since February, 2005: NZ Football has hugely increased domestic and international activity – and thus profile – in the last three years. This has been supported by revenue that has nearly doubled in that period.
Domestic initiatives include coach development through the CoachForce programme, referee development and the growth of national leagues including improved stakeholder communications.
NZ Football’s international programme has grown from 6 games in 2005, to 68 in 2006 and 73 last year. These activities have included participation at four profile-boosting World Cups and are more than 80% self-funded.
NZ Football also brokered the deal that led to the establishment of the Wellington Phoenix and currently hold NZ’s sole Hyundai A-League participation licence.
Federation Funding: NZ Football re-directed $1.3 million in Trust funding to projects run in its seven regional Federations in 2007. This does not include indirect benefits such as referee development which is funded by NZ Football.
In the seven years since the Federations structure was established, NZ Football (and NZ Soccer before it) granted each Federation $50,000 annually which equates to more to $2 million in that period. In addition to this figure, extra funding was provided to two Federations to drag them out of financial difficulties.
The 2007 funding included $560 from the New Zealand Community Trust - $80,000 to each Federation - for the Federation’s “Football for Life” programmes and administration.
The Lion Foundation contributed $100,000 towards the National Women’s League to pay for travel and some related expenses of Federation teams.
The Perry Foundation contributed $165,000 and the Infinity Foundation $65,000 towards the National Age-Group Tournament to pay for travel and coaching development of Federation teams.
The Southern Trust contributed $371,000 towards the national development officers working in six of the federations.
NZ Football also paid for referee development ($163,000), Small Whites programmes, and coach development ($447,000).
NZF staffing levels: NZ Football currently employs 14.5 head office staff (an increase of 1 staff member since February 2005) plus six partially-funded CoachForce development officers working in each of the Federations. During this time NZF has administered a significant increase in domestic activity and an international programme that has grown from six matches in 2005 to 73 in 2007.
A large number of NZF Staff are partially funded by external sources, such that NZ Football only bears approximately half of its total staff costs.
These figures do not include FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup staff which is financed separate of NZ Football (FIFA and local funding initiatives).
National Women’s League: NZ Football has no intention of ‘canning’ the National Women’s League; indeed it is NZ Football’s intention to eventually expand this to a double round-robin competition. However, NZF does propose the deferment of the league until early 2009 due to up-coming Olympic (China) and U-17 (NZ) and U-20 (Chile) World Cup campaigns which will have a significant drain on player resources in the current November-December time-slot.
Referees: NZ Football will not cut funding of referee programmes. However, NZ Football proposes Referees operate on a cost neutral basis and recommend a user-pays model including contributions by end users including Federations.
from http://www.nzsoccer.com/
Challenging situation recoverable with game's help - Morris
-->
NZF/January 20, 2008 AUCKLAND - New Zealand Football chairman John Morris is confident the code’s challenging financial position is recoverable – but only with the concerted support of the entire football fraternity.
Morris confirmed the national body faced a loss of $834,000 for 2007 – $511,000 of which is directly attributable to the cancelled All Whites-Fiji World Cup qualifier in October and a poor gate at the following month’s qualifier against Vanuatu in Wellington.
He said NZ Football were “extremely disappointed and concerned” that a confidential discussion document circulated to each of its seven regional Federations – designed to ensure the on-going growth of a game the Federations are charged with serving - had been leaked.
Morris said the document - proposing four options to reverse the sport’s on-going financial challenges - was a work in progress and its premature public release had “inflamed the situation with a number of emotionally and politically driven inaccuracies”.
An example of this was a Sunday newspaper report suggesting NZ Football had already introduced a nationwide $10 player levy and that the National Women’s League had been canned, neither of which was the case.
“This was an attempt by NZ Football to work with the Federations, to take them into our trust, and at least one of them has reacted in a very disappointing manner,” Morris said.
“We have attempted to grow the game, expecting revenue streams such as sponsorship to strengthen as our activity and credibility built. The revenue has not grown as anticipated so we need to find a different way to move forward which is what we are attempting to do in conjunction with the Federations.”
The most radical of the proposals included the moth-balling of the All Whites, something NZ Football’s board agreed was “not feasible” given the massive impact this would have on the profile of the game and the severe financial ramifications, including FIFA sanctions.
Instead, NZ Football’s board advocates an increase in user-pays activity, particularly at age-group international level (U-20s down), the re-direction of Trust funding that is currently used for the direct benefit of the Federations, a nationwide $10 player levy and the reduction of administration overheads.
Morris said NZ Football had already begun ‘cutting its cloth’ accordingly, an example of which is the recently abandoned proposal to fund a U-16 New Zealand development squad in the up-coming National Youth League.
“We will only undertake activity, both internationally and domestically, if it is break even proposition as we work to move forward.”
NZ Football found itself caught between a “rock and a hard place” when Australia defected to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in January 2006 – leaving NZ as the biggest player in the small Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).
The board of NZ Football agreed that the long-term profile and development opportunities this unique situation presented - including increased opportunities to participate at FIFA World Cups – could not be missed.
However, the four major revenue sources most national football associations rely on around the world - broadcast rights, apparel sponsorship, gate takings and government funding – are not available to NZ Football to any significant degree because of their geographical isolation and relatively weak World Cup Qualifying opponents.
That has meant NZ Football, despite the sport’s best profile since the All Whites participated at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, has been forced to look at new ways of ensuring critical player, coach and referee pathways are consolidated in a financially “measured and managed way”.
Last year’s All Whites programme cost NZ Football $695,000. Home internationals - including mandatory World Cup qualifiers - costs approximately 15 times more than playing matches offshore where most of the All Whites costs are met by the host association.
Morris agreed the All Whites were a catch 22 proposition – costly qualifiers were a prerequisite if NZ Football desired a greater profile and the economic benefits of qualifying for tournaments such as the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup which guarantees a minimum $US1 million payday. A place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup would generate a minimum $US4.5 million.
In addition to the $311,000 cost associated with the cancelled Fiji game, NZ Football faces a bill of up to $200,000 to fund the rescheduled game to be held in Apia, Samoa on June 23 this year without any hope of generating any significant income through a home gate.
Morris said NZ Football Chief Executive Graham Seatter had the board’s backing.
“Graham still has his job and still wants his job and the board is committed to working with him and senior management to turn this around.”
Morris also conceded the fragmented football community was holding the sport back, as evidence by the leaking of the options document.
“You have to question the motives of these shadowy figures and ask what they’re trying to achieve. Is it a cheap points scoring opportunity at Graham Seatter’s expense?
“It’s hard to argue with shadowy figures. We invite this person, or people, to reveal themselves so we can get around a table to discuss their concerns.”
Morris said the game had to ask itself whether it was happy to remain a major sport with a ‘minor’ tag in New Zealand or whether it was prepared to forge ahead together and grasp the significant growth opportunities presented by being the No 1 association in OFC.
“Very few new businesses turn a profit in the short-term. But with careful management we’re confident we can deliver all our stakeholders an attractive and prosperous game on and off the pitch,” Morris said.
Federations have until Friday, January 25 to make submissions on the options document which will be voted on at a special January 31 meeting of the Federations.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Points of clarification:
Nationwide levy: The proposed $10 levy per player would be the first NZ Football affiliation increase since 2004. NZF current receives approximately $640,000 from affiliation fees – roughly $6 per player per year if all players are counted – which equates to less than 10 percent of total NZF revenue.
Small Whites: NZ Football currently receives no affiliation fees from players under the age of 12, a group estimated to be more than 100,000-strong. These stakeholders pay their local Federation an affiliation fee despite much of NZ Football’s work being dedicated to support this age-group.
NZ Football activity since February, 2005: NZ Football has hugely increased domestic and international activity – and thus profile – in the last three years. This has been supported by revenue that has nearly doubled in that period.
Domestic initiatives include coach development through the CoachForce programme, referee development and the growth of national leagues including improved stakeholder communications.
NZ Football’s international programme has grown from 6 games in 2005, to 68 in 2006 and 73 last year. These activities have included participation at four profile-boosting World Cups and are more than 80% self-funded.
NZ Football also brokered the deal that led to the establishment of the Wellington Phoenix and currently hold NZ’s sole Hyundai A-League participation licence.
Federation Funding: NZ Football re-directed $1.3 million in Trust funding to projects run in its seven regional Federations in 2007. This does not include indirect benefits such as referee development which is funded by NZ Football.
In the seven years since the Federations structure was established, NZ Football (and NZ Soccer before it) granted each Federation $50,000 annually which equates to more to $2 million in that period. In addition to this figure, extra funding was provided to two Federations to drag them out of financial difficulties.
The 2007 funding included $560 from the New Zealand Community Trust - $80,000 to each Federation - for the Federation’s “Football for Life” programmes and administration.
The Lion Foundation contributed $100,000 towards the National Women’s League to pay for travel and some related expenses of Federation teams.
The Perry Foundation contributed $165,000 and the Infinity Foundation $65,000 towards the National Age-Group Tournament to pay for travel and coaching development of Federation teams.
The Southern Trust contributed $371,000 towards the national development officers working in six of the federations.
NZ Football also paid for referee development ($163,000), Small Whites programmes, and coach development ($447,000).
NZF staffing levels: NZ Football currently employs 14.5 head office staff (an increase of 1 staff member since February 2005) plus six partially-funded CoachForce development officers working in each of the Federations. During this time NZF has administered a significant increase in domestic activity and an international programme that has grown from six matches in 2005 to 73 in 2007.
A large number of NZF Staff are partially funded by external sources, such that NZ Football only bears approximately half of its total staff costs.
These figures do not include FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup staff which is financed separate of NZ Football (FIFA and local funding initiatives).
National Women’s League: NZ Football has no intention of ‘canning’ the National Women’s League; indeed it is NZ Football’s intention to eventually expand this to a double round-robin competition. However, NZF does propose the deferment of the league until early 2009 due to up-coming Olympic (China) and U-17 (NZ) and U-20 (Chile) World Cup campaigns which will have a significant drain on player resources in the current November-December time-slot.
Referees: NZ Football will not cut funding of referee programmes. However, NZ Football proposes Referees operate on a cost neutral basis and recommend a user-pays model including contributions by end users including Federations.
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