The membership of Soccer Australia is currently comprised of 12 state and territory-based associations, the Australian Soccer Referees Association and the 12 Australian clubs participating in the NSL.

The total number of votes available to be cast at general meetings is 61. Sixteen of these votes are allocated to the NSL clubs, to be distributed equally across them. However, as only whole number votes can be cast and there are 12 Australian clubs in the NSL, the total number of votes presently exercised by the NSL is 12 and the total able to be cast at a general meeting is 57 votes.

The number of votes allocated to each state and territory varies. The Committee has struggled to ascertain any clear basis for this variation, which appears to have been arbitrarily determined. For example, Soccer Canberra has more registered players than Soccer Tasmania, but exercises three votes against Tasmania’s five votes. A number of junior or amateur associations, with large registration numbers, exercise one vote compared with other state bodies with fewer registration numbers or financial contributions that might exercise four or more votes.

The voting structures employed within state federations and associations lack consistency. For example, some adopt a district basis to their voting structure; some give preference to premier and state league clubs; while others exclude, or heavily weight against, amateurs, women, futsal, schools, etc. There is no consistent treatment of individual registrants within these voting structures. It is reasonable to conclude that, in terms of governance and management structures, there is no genuine commonality, or attempt at same, between any two states and territories.

Appendix E represents the Committee’s understanding of the current voting structures of Soccer Australia and each state constituent body.

Submissions received by the Committee raised a number of concerns relevant to the Committee’s terms of reference, with those predominant being:

• poor governance and management practices within the sport

• inappropriate conduct by directors including micro-managing day-to-day business at the expense of their broader strategic and compliance responsibilities

• in-fighting between Soccer Australia and state federations resulting in an attitude of each protecting their own ‘turf’ at the expense of the broader interests of the sport as a whole

• a lack of integration and mutual trust between Soccer Australia and its constituent bodies

• malaise, lack of decision-making, poor financial management and lack of accountability within the sport

• state and territory-based associations competing against one another

• failure to translate the enthusiasm for junior soccer to senior soccer

• slow response by Soccer Australia in addressing the interests of referees, women and indoor soccer

• need for separate responsibility for the NSL.

A sample of excerpts from submissions that refer to these and other concerns appear at Appendix D.

The recommendations of this report address these concerns.

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