Football in Australia is facing a complete overhaul, with the resignation of Stephen Lowy and the changes by the Congress Review Working Group mandating that a new chairman and new members be introduced to the Board of Directors of the FFA. Eleven people have already stepped up and made their appeal for the four available positions, with the elections that will decide the outcome being held on Monday 19 November. Among those candidates are former SBS sports analyst, Craig Foster, former chairman of Soccer Australia, Remo Nogarotto, AFL club Western Sydney Giants chairman Joseph Carrozzi, former member of Parliament, Stephen Conroy, current board members Daniel Moulis and Chris Nikou, and also Mark Shield, Heather Reid, Morry Bailes, Mark Rendell and Linda Norquay.

Most of the candidates had the opportunity to address the members of the press and the public during a community forum held by the Association of Australian Football Clubs last Monday 12 November at the Library at The Dock, with Morry Bailes sending a video message and Heather Reid being represented by an assistant who read a short statement on her behalf. Mark Rendell and Linda Norquay were entirely absent from this event. In his opening speech, Mr Carrozzi pointed out that he is willing to resign from all his other positions that are in conflict with the position of the FFA in order to completely focus on football, while Mr Moulis stated that moving forward, there needs to be transparency between all stakeholders that are involved in the sport in Australia. However, the man who won over the audience was without doubt former Socceroo Craig Foster, who showed confidence in his replies and a willingness to break down the boundaries that seem to be holding the sport back. In his statement, Mr Foster said that football needs to go to the hands of people who are more intertwined with the sport itself, rather than with the business side of things. Foster was also applauded for addressing multiculturalism in football: “Multiculturalism in football is not a weakness but a strength,” he said. “We need to move together with it and take advantage of this favourable factor. It is sad and offensive to hide the ethnic identity (of the teams).”

Remo Nogarotto also proved to be a solid contender for a position on the board as he appeared quite knowledgeable, having worked Italy and England. However, he claimed that football in Australia doesn’t need outside help, it just needs to bring its own people back home. Nogarotto also pointed out that there’s no difference between the old ‘soccer’ and new ‘football’, as it is all one and the same. The event was broadcast online through the AAFC’s website and social media pages, with an audience of over 10,000 people, while there was a crowd of near 70 people in attendance. Among those were chairman of Football Victoria, Kimon Taliadoros, former chairman of South Melbourne FC, Leo Athanasakis, and many more. The elections that will be held on Monday will also decide who will replace Stephen Lowy as chairman of the FFA, with four candidates having put their name in for consideration: Craig Foster, Joseph Carrozzi, Chris Nikou and Mark Rendell. Given the result of the forum, it would be easy to predict the outcome of the election, however considering the fact that it will be the newly formed board that will decide, with representatives of the A-League teams, the LFP and the women footballers in the vote, it’s still anyone’s game.