| It was ever thus with the FAW |
| Monday 18 May 2009 | ||
by Jez Hemming
Keeping tabs on the Welsh Premier through regular updates from welsh-premier.com and conversing with figures within the game, I have been less than surprised by the latest developments. The perennial debate on summer football, the lack of investment in the game by its national governing body and the FAW’s outright disregard for the wishes of the majority of clubs is a tired old record but one that keeps playing. Who cannot have sympathy with Gerallt Owen, secretary of Porthmadog, when he talks of clubs being thrown to the wolves. It was ever thus with the FAW. The failure of the Welsh Premier League, for that is the truth of the matter, has been due to the inactivity and inefficiency of those in Cardiff. They have routinely blamed the clubs for poor administration. They have blamed the Welsh Assembly for interfering and the press for being pessimistic. The real truth of the matter is that, when the league needed impetus and proper investment, it has received pittances. The national team continues to benefit from the lion’s share of the cash at the national league’s expense. FAW councillors routinely hobnob with Europe’s elite and they sit in plush new offices in Cardiff Bay, whilst most clubs struggle to attract enough fans to sustain a part-time budget. One can blame the clubs but that is harsh in the extreme in most cases. Non-professionals, working mostly for love and local pride, try to grapple with the ever increasing demands of licensing, FAW standing orders and bureaucracy, whilst the ‘suits’ do nothing. I spoke to David Collins over two years ago on the subject of finances and the lack of investment in Welsh Premier football. He told me how the FAW had helped fund 22 multi-use games areas (MUGAs) around Wales. I’m sure Gerallt Owen and a host of other club secretaries jumped for joy when they heard that one. Practical help, such as investment in playing surfaces for clubs, sealing deals as a collective for ground improvements at a discount and effective marketing of the competition would probably have helped, but would have taken some effort on the FAW’s part. This appears a step too far for the former incumbents at Westgate Street. To look at the marketing side of the Welsh Premier, had it not been for enthusiasts like welsh-premier.com and Soccerfile, the public of Wales might not know there’s a Premier League at all. I also struggle to see what positive impact was engendered by recruiting a PR company to help publicise the league. The paltry contribution by the Principality Building Society has benefited clubs to an insignificant degree. Where has the ground-breaking new deal disappeared to? Where is the financial impetus? Where did the minimum of €7.2m from Uefa in 2007 go? Where are the accounts? The serious practical and financial assistance one could expect from a national association has, if you canvas the clubs, been missing since its inception. The FAW, in the context of supporting a viable and entertaining league, has completely failed. It is time the FAW Council bowed out gracefully and allowed some progressive and innovative minds to take control. They even managed to upset the Welsh Assembly by withholding information and stonewalling their review of Welsh Football. Who knows, they might even have got a bit of practical government assistance. Yet that would have benefited only the clubs, not the FAW. League secretary John Deakin has tried in vain to fight the corner of Welsh Premier clubs from within the system but seemingly, at least with the FAW’s latest announcement on the league’s structure, he’s failed. To just toss away eight clubs in 2010, to not address the subject of summer football properly, to continue to ignore the needs of famous old clubs with long traditions and to bury its head in the sand is an unforgivable but not entirely surprising reaction from the FAW. There will be no second league, which could have acted as a training ground for the Premier League. There will be no extra investment in the Premier, no major sponsors lined up, no prospect of clubs faring any better in European competition. Rugby, faced with similar problems of declining crowds, poor facilities and infrastructure, went regional and made an investment in the game’s future. It helped. Football, ever the poor relations, will have to do with a smaller league. Not a league based on ability - but one based on who can sort the paperwork out and cobble together their stadium to achieve the licensing criteria. If I were a chairman, I would be contacting my colleagues and organising a breakaway from the FAW, in much the way the Premier League in England did. The FAW needs a viable national league as much if not more than the other way around, so it’s time to push back at the faceless bureaucrats who run the Welsh game. In typical fashion the proposals agreed last summer were tossed away with the bath water by the FAW this time around. Perhaps those clubs who qualify for this new ‘league’ should resign on the eve of the 2010/11 season, in much the same fashion as the FAW seems to have dropped the clubs' wishes. It’s so sad to see all the machinations from afar, as I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many talented and totally committed people within Welsh Football. Unfortunately, they have never resided in FAW headquarters. It seems to me the best way forward is to cut off the head and save the body. |
