Whatever happended to the revolution?

by LES EVERETT Fremantle Herald

THE talk around town last week was that the long awaited Crawford "constitutional review of the West Australian Football Commission" was going to hit the local footy world hard.

Some thought WAFC boss Jeff Ovens would lose his job, or at least a couple of fingers. But tough talk doesn't appear to be Crawford's style.

Football in WA has been, he said, "administered pretty well." He also put an end to thoughts of revolutionary change by stating: "It is important to recognise at the outset that the major stakeholders were unanimous in their view that there is a need for the continuation of an independent and strong commission that is capable of acting in the interests of football in Western Australia and not be, or be seen to be, responsible to or aligned with any factional group or groups."

However there was a sting in the tail.

Crawford raised issues of accountability and the need for greater democracy. His suggested a house of representatives system for election of commissioners with the current commissioners having 20% of the votes; Fremantle 20%; West Coast 20%; the WAFL 30%; the Metropolitan Football League 5% and the WA Country Football League 5%.

While the recognition of grassroots football has great appeal there are sure to sticking points. The WAFL clubs have gone from having a 100% say in the running of the game not so long ago to 50% under the current structure to 30% under Crawford's recommendation. There will be some interesting discussions on this point in the weeks to come with questions as to whether the current commissioners should be getting a vote sure to be raised.

Another interesting statement from Crawford concerns the relationship between the WAFC and the AFL clubs: "Whilst it cannot be denied that the Commission is the legal owner of those AFL clubs, the support that enables those clubs to survive comes from the membership who turn up and pay to watch and support their teams..."

Crawford suggests the board of the Dockers should have 10 members, eight to be elected by the current board and two by the members. The member elected board members would increase to four over the next four years.

Although supporting the WAFC ownership of the AFL clubs Crawford has recommended more independence for them and an end to "any day to day interference from the Commission". The WAFC would only step in if the Eagles or Dockers were not operating within their budgets or business plans.

Under the present arrangements, Crawford said the AFL clubs had little or no incentive to maximise their profits. To address this he's suggested the AFL clubs pay a fixed amount annually to the WAFC rather than the present royalty and facility fee.

Also of interest to Dockers supporters is the recommendation that the FFC board of directors be abolished. You'll recall it was the presence of this board that caused the trouble during the Damian Drum dismissal.

The message for the WAFC from Crawford's investigations is that it did a job that was needed but now the time has come for change. The ball is now in its court and its maturity is about to be tested.

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