Football NSW Chairman Anter Isaac’s Final Message to the Football Community
We make decisions in the best interests of football first; Clubs and Associations second; Individuals third. This, our decision-making promise, was the very first thing our board approved following my assuming the responsibility of Chair of Football NSW.
In the eight years that I have had the honour of supporting and helping lead Football NSW, our sport has faced challenges from national reforms to pandemics – and through it all our organisation has been central to how football has responded, taking a leadership role that has always intended to help protect and develop football.
Our boards’ ability to always hold the mantra of “football first” at the centre of our thinking has, I humbly believe, allowed us to weather various forms of turbulence, but also build upon our collective strengths.
Football in NSW is the natural leader of football in Australia – with the most participants, clubs, referees, and officials and volunteers. This is a heavy burden and responsibility, but one that we must continue to accept and embrace positively, for the game to prosper, including nationally – from the grassroots to the elite level.
Five years ago, I was elected chairman of the board of Football NSW by my fellow directors and said at the time that holding the role was an honour, but more importantly, an incredible responsibility. It was not something I ever desired or aspired to but accepted quietly with a view to do my level best for the organisation and all its stakeholders.
At that time, I wrote down six words representing the important attributes that we would set course as a board and management towards achieving – given the recent history of the organisation at that time.
Those words were Formidable, Stable, Dependable, Confident, Compassionate, and Bold – and largely, I believe we have helped enshrine these attributes into the character of our organisation.
We have become a formidable organisation that has taken positions of selfless leadership, notably during the lengthy debate over reforms to Football Australia’s Congress; leagues unbundling; in establishing the expected standards of governance long required in Australian football; and as we continue to navigate football through the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is important to mention that our selfless position in helping to lead resolution to significant football and societal matters has attracted commendation and brought greater value to the brand “Football NSW”, including from federal and state government who seek and value our contributions on important matters, and from commercial partners – and there is no better indicator of the growing value and reputation of our organisation than the calibre of people that are assuming positions on our board.
We have shown, especially in the recent times of uncertainty, that we are a stable organisation. Our stability has been tested through our ability to endure and navigate the recent challenges of the pandemic and demonstrated through the organisation not having contested elections in more than four years; a sound financial position; and always working towards a long view that seeks to help our clubs and associations continue to grow and become stronger.
Being stable has also required us to cast a critical eye on our own management systems, which were lacking significantly, and some outcomes of these internal reviews have included the establishment of a Future Fund for investment that strengthens management’s capability and capacity; the re-establishment of a Commercial department; the impending establishment of a Marketing department and a Corporate Affairs department; investment into a new finance management system and development of 2-year rolling budgets; and the updating of many management policies and systems.
We are dependable and have demonstrated during times where we have experienced and been challenged by drought, bushfires and above all a coronavirus pandemic – where Football NSW led all sports in developing the necessary protocols and regulations to meet public health requirements – an ability to help protect, support, and shepherd our communities to continue delivering football and in doing so help sustain the wellbeing of our communities.
In recent years, we have also helped lead the advocacy for, and then delivery of, the Active Kids Voucher to our participants and clubs; established facilities funds to help support our clubs and associations with upgrades to infrastructure and lighting; helped deliver cars to our associations; establish the Future Matildas programme to assist our national teams; and establish the Talent Support Program for talented girls and boys – including in regional NSW.
I have also been immensely proud to be part of a board that have selflessly shown incredible support and leadership to our management and one another during difficult times. Good people, thinking of others and helping and supporting one another to get better. In my experience, this is what great organisations are built on.
We have continued to show confidence, especially at a time when others may have felt vulnerable. We have always attacked significant and sensitive issues apolitically, proactively, and consultatively – including governance and constitutional review and reform; the future of SAP; football pathways; NPL improvement; and reviews into private academies and their licensing, to name but a few.
We also have the confidence to be critical of and towards investing into our organisation, through decisions that seek to improve our capabilities and capacity so that we deliver greater value to our participants, clubs, associations, and partners.
Another key to our confidence, is our respect for our history and heritage and the incredible work of those custodians that came before us and for whose work we have been entrusted to help build on. To this end, we recently established the History and Heroes working committee, which will see the most revered contributors to football in NSW be recognised with the highest honours we can bestow.
We have and continue to work towards being compassionate and empathetic, after a long period of being policing and compliance focussed, and almost apathetic to clubs and associations. Whilst this continues to be a work in progress, we have made significant strides and the continued addition of ‘Football people’ to the board and management of Football NSW will help us progress towards embedding this important virtue into our organisation’s character.
In the coming weeks, we will be launching our guidelines and handbook for clubs and associations for improving fan behaviour at football matches, and following this, the delivery of related programmes that will continue to educate all parts of our game towards being more welcoming and kinder to one another.
We continue to be bold and forward-thinking when others have been hesitant, uncertain, and retreating from long-term plans. In the last few years, Football NSW has set about, and executed, Australia’s first digital streaming platform through NPL.TV; established an organisational Future Fund; led the establishment and delivery of walking football, summer soccer, and inclusive football; helped lead the continued growth of women’s football and played an integral role in helping Football Australia succeed in its bid to host the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup; established and delivered many capability-building programmes including the widely acclaimed national football coaches conference; and recently re-established the State of Origin concept.
Additionally, in the coming months, Football NSW will have completed and published its Club Management Handbook – the first of its kind in Australian football – for all clubs in NSW, from grassroots to NPL; its governance research project, in partnership with the University of Technology Sydney, that seeks to help build the governance of our clubs and associations – and be the leading sport for governance standards in NSW; and a partnership with Football Australia in an additional and new football facility in Sydney.
Each of the above milestones, including those to come very shortly, are without exception an example of what we can achieve when we each, and collectively, make decisions in the best interests of football first.
Whilst all of the aforementioned milestones can bring us pride, it is always our next decision that will define the kind of future we will all have – and it is more important now, than ever, that we continue to make decisions in the best interests of football first.
To that end, last year we all accepted the significant challenge to review our own governance frameworks with the intention of making them clearer, stronger, and more relevant. Since then, almost every stakeholder has provided feedback that has helped continue shaping this discussion. This project alone can create a future where we all work cohesively together, collaborating on projects, sharing successes, and communicating with one another in the interests of the game. To discharge our responsibilities to this project genuinely, we must think of the collective and make decisions in the interests of football.
Eventually, when we continue to put football first, we observe an impact on the field as demonstrated by more players from NSW being selected for girls and women’s, and boys and men’s national teams; the head coaches for both the Socceroos and the Matildas, and a majority of the A-League clubs, having come through the NSW football system; an ever increasing number of match officials from NSW involved on the international stage, and more NSW A-League and W-League referees than ever before; NSW clubs progressing late into the FFA Cup competition; and the continued development of football facilities, including Valentine Sports Park complex which now regularly hosts youth national teams, A-League clubs and many of our own NSW football family.
I want to acknowledge the directors who I have been blessed to sit alongside this last eight years, including James Chetcuti who like me will stand aside after serving on the board for football and Football NSW, for two terms.
I want to acknowledge all staff and management for your valuable work and efforts in serving and supporting our participants, clubs, associations, and partners.
I want to acknowledge and recognise every one of the thousands of volunteers who drive, develop, and deliver football, selflessly and tirelessly, in our state.
Ultimately, these volunteers put football first. And whilst we are quick to always mention the role and importance of volunteers, we sometimes fail to genuinely appreciate what they are doing – giving up their own precious and scarce time and energy for our game, so that others can enjoy it. This should humble us all and be a continuous reminder that when good people work together, when we each want the best for one another and each other, great things will happen naturally.
Finally, and most importantly, thank you all for your support, constructive and positive provocations, and in continuing to lead your organisations in delivering football – rain, hail, wind, and shine – fire, flood and now pandemic. You are all the custodians, protectors, and shepherds for football – and its future. It is an exceptional responsibility you have all accepted, and it is with distinction that you continue to carry out your selfless service.
Honoured to have served you and with best wishes
Anter Isaac
Chairman
