Mining magnate Clive Palmer has stepped up his fight with Australian soccer authorities by creating a new organization with the stated aim of replacing the sport’s current national governing body.
The Football Federation Australia (FFA) this week terminated the license for Palmer’s A-League team, Gold Coast United, after he had made comments heavily critical of the FFA, the national league and even the sport itself.
Palmer’s new organization, Football Australia, is headed by former A-League chief Archie Fraser, and Palmer said yesterday it would act as a watchdog and forum for ideas in the sport.
Photo: AFP
“What does Football Australia plan to do? It plans to publish papers, hold press conferences, seek opinions, lobby the government, lobby the FFA for a better outcome for Australians and the game in Australia,” Palmer said.
Palmer had issued a statement minutes prior to the media conference, which said: “Mr Palmer said Football Australia aimed to replace Football Federation Australia [FFA], which he said was incompetent at both a domestic and international level.”
“The FFA has lurched from one disaster to another and needs to be replaced,” the statement quoted Palmer as saying. “They staged a hugely embarrassing World Cup bid which blew A$46 million [US$49.5 million] of taxpayers’ money for one vote and they are running an A-League competition which is bleeding money from club owners.”
FFA chairman Frank Lowy on Wednesday said the Australian governing body had been “left with no alternative” than to cancel Gold Coast’s license because of Palmer’s “flagrant disregard” for the A-League regulations.
“We can’t let anybody thumb their noses at us, saying: ‘We’re going to do what we want to do, but I want to stay,’” Lowy said.
Palmer, a lawyer and regular litigant, had in recent weeks virtually dared the FFA to make a move against him by threatening legal action.
A loud and strident critic of the administration of the 10-team domestic league, Palmer responded predictably by challenging the league termination in court.
Palmer was quoted in a Brisbane newspaper earlier this month as describing the team as insignificant, the competition as a joke and rating rugby league as a better game, drawing the ire of soccer fans across the country.
The billionaire businessman later said his comments on soccer were taken out of context, but didn’t back away from his criticism of the A-League and its administration. He added to that on Wednesday by claiming that “the sport should not be run by dictators like [Lowy],” even as he called the FFA chairman an “institution” in Australian soccer.
At last weekend’s game, Gold Coast United refused to remove unsanctioned “Freedom of Speech” logos on its stadium and jerseys — placed over sponsor signage — despite warnings from the A-League that it contravened regulations. The club announced after the match that it would continue to use the logos.
Palmer caused a stir in 2009 when he capped the crowd attendance at matches to 5,000 fans to save stadium costs. He later withdrew the cap, but United has struggled to attract large crowds despite finishing third and fourth in the two seasons since joining the league in 2009.
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