In the first of our series of current Futsalroo interviews, we are pleased to be talking with Peter Spathis, the current Futsalroos Keeper.

Peter has been a regular Futsalroos squad member for the past 5 years, representing Australia and our sport at the highest levels.

As an outstanding Keeper at the national level, and a surprisingly skilled on-field player at the local level, Peter is an excellent example for any up and coming players on how far they can go in the sport if they are committed and dedicated.

Peter’s list of Futsal Achievements can be found here.

F4A : Hi Peter. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. When did you start playing Futsal and why?

PS : I began playing Futsal at the age of 12 when I was lucky to be invited to join a local competition with a team named Sydney Allstars.

The Sydney Allstars were one of the best ever junior teams. In that team we had current Futsalroos Lachlan Wright and Adrian Vizzari and former Futsalroos Dario Torrisi and Paul Lombardo. We had a lot of success winning 5 National Club titles in a row, and the same number of state titles.

F4A : Where did you go from there?

PS : At around 17 I decided to Join Sydney Magic Men’s and play in the Thursday night State league, I guess I wanted a different challenge. That team featured current NSW Premier League MVP Yavuz Ekinci and again was a brilliant squad. We took out the league beating the Sydney Falcons that year in the Final.

That Magic Team was only around for one year and I moved to join the Sydney Falcons where I hooked back up with Lachlan Wright and Adrian Vizzari who also made the move over. The team featured a number of Futsalroos including Brett Hewit, Adam Confoy, Andrew Nolan and Jamie Amendolia. That team went on to win just about every competion, and it also saw me break into the state Men’s team at 18 years of age and few years later be called into the Australian Squad. The Falcons were around for 4 years before the players went their own way. I rejoined Sydney Magic and have been there for the past 4 years.

F4A : What has kept you involved in the sport this long?

PS : As a goalkeeper you get to touch the ball a lot more with quicker speed and game play. You also get the chance to attack as a goal keeper…and maybe even score.

F4A : Are you still involved much in outdoor?

PS : I was involved in outdoor till the age of 18 playing state league. I decided to put my full efforts into futsal and focusing in making the Futsalroos.

F4A : Was making that decision difficult? Do you regret stepping back from Football?

PS : To be honest it was easy because I knew if I wanted to break into the Aussie team, I had to be 100% committed to the sport.

F4A : Why play keeper? Have you always enjoyed being in goal, or were your aspirations initially as an on-field player.

PS : I started my career in goals and have always enjoyed playing there. I guess I like the thrill of being the last line of defense and the first line of attack.

[F4A note : Proof of the Keeper being the first line of attack can be seen in the video footage here on the Sydney Magic Website. Peter features in the +1 goal at the end. And from the 2007/08 season, Peter comes away with top goal of the season for his length of the field run to score and win the Semi Final match for Magic. That can be viewed on Vimeo here.]

F4A : What is the key to a being good keeper in Futsal. Reflexes? Communication? Positioning?

PS : You need to be good in a number of Areas which you have touched on the key ones. Also distribution is key as there is always the chance of counter attacking in Futsal.

F4A : You most recent standout performance was your incredible FOUR penalty saves in the 2008/09 NSW Premier League Grand Final. Any special knack to saving penalties, or is it just a natural talent of yours?

PS : As a kid you dream of being that Hero saving the penalties and I was really focused in doing that. Of course there are a couple of tricks but you also need a little luck.

Video Footage of Peters four saves in the Penalty shootout can be found here courtesy of Sydney Magic : http://www.sydneymagic.com.au/Sydney_Magic/Keeper_Corner/Pages/Mens_Penalty_Shootout.html

It shows the full penalty shootout, and is well worth your time taking a look.

F4A : How did you feel when you first found out you were selected for the Futsalroos?

PS : I remember the day I got my call up. I was at the gym and just finished my session when I received the call telling me I had just made the squad for the 2004 Fifa World Cup. I was in shock and shed a few tears. It was a great reward for the hard work I put in.

Originally I missed out on the 12 man Oceania Qualifiers squad. After the tournament we had a couple of camps and trial games and there were a number of changes to the final squad. Luckily for me I booked a spot to go to the Fifa World Cup.

F4A : How did you go in your first International match?

PS : I remember my first match very well. It was against Brazil, in Brazil in front of 20 000 people. We lost 11-1. I remember going back to my hotel and watching the goals on the news that night. Although the result was disappointing it was a great experience.

It was an overwhelming experience really couldn’t believe how skilful and how hard the Brazilians could shoot. I guess I was naïve. Before that match I didn’t know who Falco, Shumacher etc where….I certainly did after. We recently played Brazil and lost 7-0 in the KL5s obviously you don’t like conceding these types of scores against you, but it showed the improvement as a squad and on a personal level.

F4A : You have been a member of the Futsalroos for a while now. Do you find yourself under pressure as there are only two Goalkeeper positions in the team and of course one starting keeper position?

PS : Being a goalkeeper there is always pressure but to be honest I don’t find myself under pressure but more motivated to stay at the top as there a number of quality keepers coming through.

F4A : For a while it was a battle between you and Gavin O’Brien as to who was #1 keeper for Australia. Is it a friendly rivalry and has it been going for a while?

PS : Yes it has been a friendly rivalry for years. Gavin has helped my game. He is the ultimate professional, he always gives 110%, his attitude and commitment has rubbed off on me and helped my game. He has always performed at the top level and hope we can continue to battle for the number one jersey for years to come.

F4A : It seems to be difficult for the keepers to break into the top level (rep/state level) due to the limited number of spots available, and keepers having a longer playing career at their disposal. Do you see that discouraging up and comings from playing that position?

PS : No not at all. GK’s are no different to targets, pivots or flankers. They all have limited positions. I guess this is what makes it even more challenging to make and keep the spot your own.

F4A : What’s your opinion on the new talents coming through the ranks? Does anyone stand out enough to give some of the old guard a run for their money?

PS : There’s always talent coming through. The problem we find is that we lose many good prospects to outdoor. In saying that I do think we should be getting an under 21 National Team together so that we try and keep these players in our sport from an early age.

The boys currently training with the NSW Thunder Men’s squad Robbie Maiorana, James Gullotta and Josh De Palma all have great talent, attitude and drive. Also young Quake Goalkeeper Ollie has great potential.

F4A : Are you involved in training any of the younger Keepers?

PS : This year I was goalkeeper coach for Sydney Magic and got to work with some brilliant young keepers. I also helped with a few junior state teams working with keepers in preparation for the nationals. I really enjoyed it and would love to continue doing in the future.

F4A : People in Futsal circles regularly make comments that we don’t blood enough young players into the National squad. You are there first-hand and have played against the very best in the world, is there any merit in comments like that, or is playing at the International level a whole new ballgame and fresh blood is not that easy to introduce?

PS : I believe that if you’re old enough you’re good enough. Over the years I have seen many quality youngsters which have been blooded, some excelling and some not. In saying this, the jump from state league and national titles to full internationals is a huge step and takes time to adapt to that level.

F4A : How long did it take before you found a relative level of comfort playing at that level?

PS : It probably took me a little longer as I was playing second fiddle to Gavin for a while but the second trip in 2006 after the world cup I felt right at home and comfortable with the speed and skill of the international game.

F4A : Do you still get nervous before games? Or is it just before the really big matches now (State and National Finals, Internationals etc).

PS : I still get nervous on occasions, sometimes in the big games and sometimes at the local comp. I think being nervous is a good thing as it shows you are focused.

F4A : Since you are on the National men’s team, you have regular tournaments to look forward too. Has that been a factor in keeping you interested in the sport?

PS : Yes definitely. Being part of Asia has helped the National team as we now play up to 20 international matches per year. We have tournaments like the ASEAN games Asian Futsal Cup, KL5’s etc. Back in Oceana we were lucky to play 10 international matches in 4 years.

F4A : What are your most memorable Futsal moments so far?

PS : There is a number of memorable moments but the three that stick out is firstly my international debut against Brazil in front of 20 000 Brazilians.

Secondly our recent 3-3 draw against Argentina in the KL5’s. Argentina were ranked number 3 in the world. Not many people gave us a shot but our result proved that we can match it with the world’s best teams.

And more recently, being the first team (NSW Thunder) to represent Australia in Iran in the Futsal Asian Club Championship.

F4A : What do you think was the key to getting the 3-3 draw against Argentina. Was it having the same core of players who have played together for a while, or was it coaching tactics?

PS : That team that went to the KL5s had only 1 session together, but was the most closely bonded Australian team I have been associated with. We were close both on and off the court. Before that result we had big wins against Malaysia, Indonesia and England so we knew that if we stuck to our plan we would give them a run for their money.

We were physical and smart and were only 30 seconds from victory.

F4A : Which person do you least like playing against?

PS : The Brazilian National team, especially Falcao and Lenisio.

F4A : The state of play of Futsal in NSW is very strong, how do you see it in terms of other states?

PS : NSW has been strong for many years and the state premier and suoer league has got a lot to do with it. Many NSW players get to play quality games each and every week which is a major factor of the results in the National Titles.

Qld has many quality players and teams and Vic look like they are closing the gap with many of their junior teams making finals at the recent National titles.

F4A : What about coaching, based on what you’ve seen, is the overall skill level in our coaches improving?

PS : I do believe our overall coaching level is gradually improving. I believe this is a result of the coaching courses that are available within our state and more advanced courses that are available through the FFA and AFC.

All this education was not available 5 years ago.

F4A : Which coach had the most impact on you?

PS : I guess being part of the National setup for a number of years now, both Scott Gilligan and my goal keeping coach Adam Confoy have really helped my game. Scott has helped me tactically whereas Adam has worked on improving my goal keeping. Also over the past few years, club coach Jamie Amendolia has helped my game and bought a few different ideas to the table.

F4A : What is your opinion on the FFA/Vikings situation? Do you think the Futsal review will make much of a difference on how things are now?

PS : Like everyone I do hope we are playing under the one banner very soon, as a player you want to be playing against the best and playing along side the best with the National team. I truly hope the review will make a difference.

F4A : Where would you like to see the game go from here?

PS : The game has great potential, being a faster more skillful version of soccer. We just have to look at what 20/20 cricket has done over the past couple of years. Futsal can duplicate that success starting with a televised National League.

F4A : What is your opinion of the state of the sport in Australia?

PS : Probably in the same state as soccer was back in the Soccer Australia days. It took the Crawford report to get soccer going. Hopefully the FFA review can trigger us into action and bring the game up to where it belongs.

F4A : What do you see the biggest thing holding back Futsal?

PS : Hopefully the FFA review can answer that :)

F4A : Which Futsal people do you most admire presently?

PS : The guys I admire are those that have helped my game. These guys include Scott Gilligan, Adam Confoy, Jamie Amendolia, Brett Hewitt, junior coaches Con Tsokos and Arthur Kazas, and also current players Simon Keith, Lachlan Wright and Adrian Vizzari.

F4A : Having played at the absolute top level, do you still enjoy playing in the local comps during the week? Or is that no longer a challenge for you?

PS : I’m very competitive. I do enjoy playing local comp, mostly on the field as a target with a few other mates.

F4A : How is your relationship with the referees? Do you find being a recognized Futsalroo that it makes it harder or easier for you with the refs?

PS : The referees have a job to do and being a Futsalroo doesn’t influence them either way. If there is a foul they blow it no matter who you are.

F4A : Do you find you are more of a target for rough play as players try to prove themselves against you?

PS : No not at all. Everyone is competitive but fair.

F4A : So whats next for you in Futsal. Are there any major goals you still want to achieve from a playing point of view in the sport? How many years can you see yourself playing a key role for the Futsalroos?

PS : There a still many goals I would like to achieve from a playing point of view. On the top of this list would be to qualify for the 2012 Futsal World Cup and hopefully even captain my country. That would be really special for me.

2009 will be a busy year for the National team with the ASEAN Championships in Vietnam in June, qualifications for the Asian Championships in Thailand in November and also the Asian Club Championship in Iran in July.

I will make the most of it and take it all one step at a time.

Thank you for your time Peter. Good luck this year with the NSW and Futsalroos squads.

Peters Spathis’s Futsal Achievements

Australian Mens Represenative 2004-Current

• 2004-Four Nation Tournament in Brazil
• 2004-Futsal FIFA World Cup
• 2006-Asian Cup Qualifcation in Malaysia
• 2006-Asian Cup in Uzbekistan
• 2007-Asean Championships in Thailand
• 2007-Asian Cup in Japan
• 2008-KL5s in Malaysia
• 2008-World Cup Qualification/ Asian Cup in Thailand

Mens State Represenative – 1999 – Current

Mens National Champion – 2004, 2007, 2009

Mens State League Champion -1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009

Recently Futsal4all took the opportunity to interview the Australian Mens Coach Scott Gilligan. Apart from being the present National Coach, Scott has an incredible list of accomplishments and history with the sport of Futsal here in Australia and also within the Oceania region.

Having first been exposed to the sport in its ‘Indoor Soccer’ incarnation back in 1971, Scott’s been involved with Futsal for over 35 years now and is still going strong. He gives a lot of his time and knowledge.

Before you read the interview its well worth checking out Scott’s impressive list of accomplishments, available here.

F4A : Hi Scott, you have an extensive background in Futsal in Oceania at the highest levels, what is your current position?

SG : Currently I am employed by Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) as their Futsal Development Officer. It is an exciting time in the Oceania Region as OFC realise that a great opportunity awaits the countries in this region due to Australia’s move to AFC. Oceania gets an automatic berth in the Futsal World Cup as well as the Beach Soccer World Cup and each country wants to embrace both sports in order to give them the best opportunity to be the qualifier from OFC.

F4A : What first got you interested in Futsal?

SG : Actually my mother, Dawn, coached my outdoor soccer team when I was 9 years old and we had a really wet season. She was working at South Bankstown YMCA in Revesby at the time and brought my team into play soccer in the gymnasium. I loved it. After that my mother and the manager of the YMCA, Mr Joe Brent, decided to write to England to obtain the rules of Indoor Soccer. This was the real birth of the sport. A few years later Joe instigated the formation of the Australian Indoor Soccer Association. In 1983 FIFUSA, the then governing body of Futsal, approached Joe about converting to Futsal. In 1984 the sport was trialled and I didn’t like it at first. However after 4 games I was hooked because I wasn’t getting hacked by the less skilful players when playing “rebound” and Futsal made it a much more skill oriented game. I think this was the first time I saw Radovan (Sisko) Filipovic play and he was fantastic. I never looked back after that although I occasionally played the “rebound” version every now and then for a few more years.

F4A : Was it one of your early goals to go on to coach Australia?

SG : When I first started playing at 9 years old I had no other thoughts but to enjoy myself because I realised I was good at the game. I suppose as time went on I had stepping stones however coaching Australia was not really something I entertained until I really felt my playing career at International level was over. That was in 1988. At that time I was just happy to coach younger players as there were no “experts” around then and I wanted to pass on the knowledge that I had gained from my overseas touring experiences. I actually started coaching kids when I was 15 at Kellyville when my mother started competitions there.

My first real thought about coaching the Men’s Australian Futsal team was probably in 1996 when I took the Reserve Men’s team to Brazil and we had a fairly successful tour. The Australian team had been to Brazil one month earlier enroute to the World Cup and we virtually played the same teams as they did. They lost every game but we managed to win 3, draw 2 and lose 5. The last game was against a team called the “Volkswagon Clubbe” and we drew 2-2 with them. The Australian team lost 2-8 and after the game their coach asked me why the First Australian team didn’t play like we did. That got me thinking that one day maybe…

F4A : When did you transition from playing to full time coaching?

SG : I only stopped playing in 2002 because I was the coach of the Australian team and I felt it was better to stop playing against players that I was looking at coaching. I thought there was a need to have some distance between the coach and the players. I still played at a few local centres where none of these players played until 2004. I had an operation on my ankle in August 2007 and I just recently had a run at Minto. I love the game and I want to play again just for fun.

F4A : Have you found coaching to be a more rewarding role for you compared with your playing days?

SG : I believe that both are equally rewarding however for different reasons. When I was playing I loved scoring goals and in all my years I scored over 2000 of them. There are some goals I still remember and there are some great games I played in that I still remember. For instance one game in the State Championships held at Minto in my Mad Alison days I scored 10 goals in a game that we won 12-2. I had 13 shots that day and quote “I was on fire”. Simo and Chuck still occasionally talk about that day.

Coaching is rewarding when the tactical moves you and your team practice in training work in a game and all benefit from the outcome. In 1991 I took a young team to Mexico and in the first game we were losing 0-1 at halftime. The boys had not used a single thing I had taught them and at halftime I asked them to trust me. At the beginning of the second half we scored a goal from a set move and every player, both on the field and on the bench, looked directly at me and I just smiled. It was very satisfying. They went on to win every game but one. The only problem with coaching is that you, the coach, can’t physically get out there and show them on game day when things don’t go right where if you are playing you can fix it.

F4A : Coaching at that top level, did you find you had support (politically and financially) to achieve the targets set for you? For example in the case of FIFA Referee Scott Kidson he had to sacrifice a fair bit of time and money to go as far as he has in refereeing. Was it similar for you in coaching?

SG : When I represented Australia as a player I had to pay my own way but as a coach some costs were subsidised. I was appointed the coach of the Australian Men’s Futsal team when the FFA took active control and since then I have had good support from them however I am sure that the team could use some more. Of course there are always people that believe they can do a better job and always find something to knock and that is typical of everyday society when you are at the top.

F4A : Have you found your coaching approach and technique has changed over the years, or have the fundamentals pretty much remained unchanged since you started?

SG : For me the key is to ensure you treat the players as individuals and ensure that you improve each player so that the team benefits. It is important to find the right trigger for each individual in order to get the best out of them. Some need praise while others need a good berating. The other key is to ensure you have patience and repetition is important. Over the years I have learnt that more hands on coaching is needed for the younger age groups where as the Aussie team is more 80% psychology.

F4A : Do you have a preferred age group and gender when it comes to coaching?

SG : I enjoy the challenge of coaching any team but if I had to choose it would definitely be the Women. I always find this the most rewarding because there are some very good players who only want to get better. They are always at training and are willing to try new things and this has been the case in all my years coaching Women.

F4A : The NSW Premier League and Super League has some impressive and talented coaches coming through. Have you noticed an overall improvement in coaching skills across the board, or is it the same few key individuals carrying more of the load when it comes to the advanced coaching?

SG : In general I don’t really think the improvement of the standard of the League’s has come from the coaching. The two League’s competitiveness has attracted a better calibre of junior player (just look at the female side of things). I truly believe the 16 year girl’s competition in the Premier League has been the best competition in the past two years out of all of them. I will probably put a few noses out of joint here but I believe the main problem, and I am sure Rob Varela will encounter this shortly, in his new position, is that most coaches believe they know Futsal. Unfortunately most don’t and most don’t wish to acknowledge this. I am not saying that there aren’t some very good coaches around because there are but certainly nowhere near enough.

F4A : Are you confident we have reasonable successors coming through the ranks to take over successfully from you as the Australian Coach?

SG : Once again I will put noses out of joint here but I don’t believe at this moment in time that there is. I know there are a lot of people who think they could do a better job but I don’t believe anyone is ready yet. Hopefully this will change but to be successful they need to realise that you never stop learning and there is always somebody who can teach you something, even if they have more or less experience. Steven Knight would be my choice at the moment but in the past I believe Andrew Lancaster would have been capable had he stuck with the sport. I think Paul McKarzel from QLD would have been a candidate in the future but he is still a little inexperienced at this stage too. I am sure that other people will have a few suggestions.

F4A : You have been involved in a number of World Cups with Australia. Do any of them stand out above the others?

SG : 1988 for sure. The Aussie team were fantastic! I remember the Socceroos had beaten Argentina 4-1 and the Futsalroos (who were known as the Indooroos then) had a point to prove. Australia made it through to the second round and had to face Argentina and they beat them 7-3. It was a great moment. In the end the Indooroos finished 6th overall. The team had some great players such as Radovan (Sisko) Filipovic, Steven Knight, Robbie Stuart, Richie Barnard, Glenn (Java) Jeffreys and probably the best GK the Aussie team has had yet, Bruce Thurlow, just to name a few. What a team!

F4A : How was the 2008 World Cup? You took on a Technical Advisor’s role with the Solomon Islands team, which is a credit to your experience in the region. Was it a much different feeling for you this time not having the buck stop with you?

SG : It’s funny how things fall into place and I think a little background should be laid first. I actually only got this position because of circumstances.

I was asked by FIFA to conduct a Coaching Course in Vietnam in January of this year. At the same time I was contacted by Patrick Jacquemet (FIFA Assistant Development Officer for OFC) to consider conducting a series of Coaching Courses in the OFC region. He realised that he was not capable of delivering the course as he was a Football man not a Futsal man and as we had met in Tahiti in 2005 (when I presented Futsal to the Presidents of the countries affiliated to OFC) he knew that I was. I knew he worked for FIFA and I suggested that he come to Vietnam with me as my assistant so that he could see what the course entailed.

After that he persuaded Reynald Temarii (FIFA Vice President, OFC President and Tahiti Football Federation President) to enlist me for Oceania. However Reynald wanted to be sure I was the right man for the job so he asked me to be the Technical Advisor for the Tahiti team for the Oceania Qualifiers. Tahiti had only just begun to play Futsal and the team chosen to represent Tahiti was actually the winner from a tournament that had been conducted a month earlier. I was lucky enough to have 2 months with them and they improved immensely.

Tahiti finished 2nd in the Qualifiers much to everyone’s surprise and before the tournament had finished both the Solomon’s and Vanuatu’s contingents had approached Reynald about obtaining my services if either country qualified for the World Cup. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to help the Solomon’s as much as I would have liked because I only had 2 weeks with them before the tournament. My job was to help the coach as well as the team so you are right in saying that the buck doesn’t stop with me. It was a difficult time for me because there are times where I would have done things differently during the games if I were the coach however this is not what a Technical Advisor’s role is. I am there to impart knowledge and allow the coach to make the decisions and to learn from the experience.

The other difficult thing was seeing that the lesser countries have really bridged the gap on the stronger countries so I was continually cursing that Australia didn’t have the opportunity to see how far we have come. I know that we have improved a lot since joining AFC but this would have been the perfect test for us to see how much we have really improved.

As for the other countries, Brazil has improved their discipline in defence and their attitude has changed for the better. Spain is still as formidable as ever and these two countries are still the leaders. I thought Italy had dropped off and Portugal was a little disappointing. I thought the two countries that impressed me the most in terms of AFC were Iran and Thailand. Both had exceptional tournaments and Iran was very unlucky not to make the semi finals. The other impressive team was Guatamala. What a turnaround in 8 years. Fantastic!

F4A : The World Cup got a small amount of TV exposure here in Australia. You have already experienced the days of a regularly televised National League, something that a lot of the current Futsal fans have had no exposure to. Was it disheartening to lose that, or was it expected given the politics in the game at that time?

SG : It was very disheartening. As I remember it – Mike Wreblewski who at the time owned the Sydney Kings (basketball) wanted to take control of the League. He believed that one day Futsal would be bigger than basketball and he intended to run Futsal as a curtain raiser to basketball. In his mind he felt that in 5 years time basketball would be the curtain raiser for Futsal. However the powers that be who controlled Futsal back then felt that they would lose control of the sport and declined the offer. After this Mike withdrew his sponsorship and other sponsors followed suit. Since then there have been attempts at a National League, the last in 1998 (I think), but none as good as those days. As I said that is how I remember it, I could be wrong of course.

F4A : Have you noticed any genuine change in how the game is handled in Australia, or has it been a lot of talk and very little action.

SG : Hmmmm! This is a difficult subject however I will try and be objective. Since Futsal lost it’s autonomy I believe it hasn’t had any real direction. The FFA focus on the Socceroos (and rightly so) because this is the team that produces income for them. Futsal does not so at the moment the sport is suffering. However the FFA does have a plan for Futsal and are trying to come to terms with a discipline of football that they really have no expertise in. They want to ensure that they do everything right before embarking on a full scale program for Futsal. I do know that a National League is on the horizon and they want to ensure it is as professional as possible because they want it to work. As far as the State’s go there are still some that do not entertain Futsal at all. I think again that the sport is entrusted to people who do not have the expertise and already have enough to do with Football and therefore don’t have the time or the inclination to worry about it. I do believe that this will change eventually but I have no idea how long we will need to wait.

F4A : Can you name a few of the stand-out moments the sport has provided you with over the years?

SG : There are so many but I will only mention a few here. Attending my first World Cup Final (1985) in Spain with 21,000 people watching was incredible.

Playing the first National League game in Perth against the Perth Cougars in 1987 was a fond memory. There were 3,500 people there to see the game and about 500 people stayed back a couple of hours to discuss all things Futsal. Back then I thought “This sport is going to be huge”. How times change.

Coaching that team in Mexico at that moment made me very proud and helped me to really believe in my ability as a coach.

Winning my first game against Japan as the National Men’s Coach was a great moment and got the monkey off my back.

Also coaching the Women’s team in Portugal was a great moment. We lost the first game 1-8 I think and I remember Zoi Gamble leaving the field and saying “How are we supposed to beat this team” or something to that effect. That night we went through everything that the Portuguese team threw at us and I showed them how we could nullify all their moves. The next day, with the help of the captain Merryl Geribo, I got a different player to implement a different move that we had discussed the previous night to ensure they had understood. The next day we played and we lost 3-6 however we had 2 lapses in defence that cost us goals and we scored an own goal. At the same time we hit the post 3 times and had 4 one on ones with their GK but missed them all. Zoi came off the court and she said “We should have won that game”. For me it was a defining moment that showed that I could make a difference. I loved coaching those women and I still love coaching women’s teams.

I also enjoyed coaching my eldest son, James, in the 15 Boys Lightning team in 2007 when we won the title against the Thunder team. It was the only time I have coached one of my sons at State level for the whole tournament and I must say he was fantastic for the team and he played the best I have seen him play. I was very proud of him that tournament. Unfortunately I won’t get the chance to coach my youngest son, Anson, in a NSW team and that is disappointing but that’s life I suppose.

My most memorable moment however would have to be coaching and playing with the little known Macarthur Knights team that shocked everybody by winning the National Club Championships in 1995. Sydney City had won the previous 4 or 5 Nationals and was expected to win it again. They had beaten us previously in the Regional final 6-2 two days earlier and I remember the captain of their team saying at the presentation “It was a privilege for Macarthur to be on the court with them today”. This naturally didn’t sit well with my players and they were determined to do better in the club section. Amazingly we beat every team except Bankstown Falcons along the way. We drew 2-2 with them in the semi final but knocked them out on penalties. We once again faced up to Sydney City and I knew that my team were up for the challenge. We raced to a 3-0 lead only to allow them to come back to 3-2. However we secured victory with a lucky deflection and the best thing for me was that I didn’t set foot on the court. They did it all themselves and I was so proud of them. At the presentation, Joe Brent could only say “I can’t believe you guys won it”! Glenn Williams, our captain, then repeated word for word exactly what the Sydney City captain said two days previously. We just laughed our heads off. Priceless! Of course back then being National Club Champions was the one title every team wanted. For memory there was about 45 Men’s teams competing that year. The party afterwards was awesome!

F4A : You mentioned at the start of the interview your Futsal Development role within the OFC. What does that entail for you?

SG : At the moment I have presented a strategic plan, along with Brian Codrington from Dural, to OFC. Brian is the Chairman of the OFC Futsal Committee and we have spent quite a few days together over the past two months. The plan is to develop Futsal in the Oceania Region to be a fully integrated component of the Football code and a sport within its own right. All of these items I would have loved to implement in Australia but at the moment this is not a consideration.

My role will be to:
• Conduct Coaching Courses in each country
• Ensure each National team has the correct coaching strategies
• Help establish Elite Premier League competitions in each country
• Help organise a annual National Championships in each country
• Help organise an annual OFC Championship for each country’s winning teams
• Help organise an annual OFC Championship for 15 years academies, men’s and women’s national teams
• Assist countries in developing a team to attend the Australian National Championships annually
• Help implement Futsal as a school sport
• Develop academies in each country

The academy will initially be for 15 year boys in each country. 20 players will form each Academy. At the end of the year each country will select their best two players and they will form the Oceania Futsal Academy. This Academy will travel to Brazil for a month of training and games with elite Futsal coaches. At the end of the month the Brazilian coaches will nominate two players for a 6 month scholarship. Very exciting!

Each player that is selected for the Oceania Futsal Academy will return to their country upon completion and assist in implementing Junior Futsal Academies. The idea obviously is to ensure the younger players receive correct coaching in techniques and tactics. This in turn will ensure that each country’s National team will definitely improve over time.

F4A : An often discussed topic at the moment on Futsal4all is the state of Women’s Futsal at the International level under the FFA’s leadership (or lack of) whilst Vikings are just getting on with it and giving some of the top female players at least the chance of playing International teams. What are your thoughts on this and do you think the FFA review will make a difference there?

SG : The FFA is affiliated to FIFA. FIFA at this point in time do not have any tournaments for Women’s Futsal. Therefore the FFA does not have a need for a Women’s National Futsal Team. Since moving into Asia the current National teams under the FFA have increased their attendance in tournaments by approx 8 times more each. While in OFC the Aussie National teams, besides the Socceroos and the Matilda’s, played once every 4 years. Now they play twice a year and this means that the costs are far greater. Adding another team for which there are no tournaments does not make sense to the FFA. Under those circumstances I see where they are coming from. However this doesn’t appease the female players in Futsal because naturally they feel aggrieved, frustrated and overlooked. Once FIFA decide to conduct a Futsal tournament for Women the FFA will select a team.

At the moment Vikings are affiliated to AMF (I wonder what happened to the other people that were affiliated?). Vikings are trying to establish Fustal everywhere around Australia and I applaud them for doing this. While there is nothing within FFA for female players then I don’t see why all female players cannot play both and fulfil their dreams of representing their country. I just hope that the FFA does not discriminate against those that choose to do so while they are not even considering selecting a Women’s National team. When the time comes I assume players will then need to choose.

F4A : With over 35 years already up your sleeve in the sport, can you see yourself still heavily involved in Futsal going forward?

SG : I love this sport and I feel I have a lot to offer so I hope so. There were a few times in the last 3 years where I felt like walking away because of the frustrations I experienced working for an organisation that clearly had no plans for the sport I loved but I just couldn’t do it. I have many ideas and would love to implement them and OFC is a good place to start. I still have a few goals that I want to achieve and in time I hope to realise these. I would love to be able to add my expertise to the FFA when the time comes but I am not real sure what their ultimate plans are at this stage.

F4A : So what are your short and long term goals now?

SG : Short term is to establish Futsal in OFC and hopefully help Australia to qualify for the next World Cup. Long term would be to eventually coach professionally overseas and when I retire I would love to open my own centre and establish my own Academy programs with my own club.

F4A : And finally the question we ask all of our interviewees, where do you see Futsal headed in the Aussie/NZ region? Are we travelling in the right direction?

SG : Well NZ are probably in a worse state than we are because I don’t think Football NZ even acknowledges Futsal at the moment. That will be a tough task getting all the different factions together to get them moving in the right direction.

In Australia I find it frustrating because as I said previously the sport is in the hands of the State Football Federations and they do not have the expertise and all have other agendas to worry about. I honestly believe things will probably get worse before they start to get better however once the FFA get their act together and know what direction they want to head I think the sport will realise its true potential.

F4A : Scott thank you for your time. We look forward to seeing your efforts and guidance within the OFC bear fruit in the coming years.

Scott Gilligan’s Futsal History

• Started playing Indoor Soccer in 1971
• First represented NSW in 1981 (U/19) playing in the Men’s “B” competition
• First represented Australia in 1983
• Started playing Futsal in 1984

Significant Details :

• Currently Australian Men’s Futsal Coach (2001 to present)
• Technical Advisor for the Solomon Islands National Men’s Futsal team whom participated in the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup
• Technical Advisor for the Tahiti National Men’s Futsal team for the 2008 Oceania Qualifying Tournament (Finished Runners-Up)
• Appointed FIFA Futsal Coaching Instructor 2005
• Previously coached the Australian Women’s Futsal team (1997 to 2000) and the Australian Reserve Men’s Futsal team (1996)
• Also coached Men’s (1997) and Women’s (1998) NSW teams for the National Futsal challenge as seen on SBS and Optus
• Past Club coach of the Campbelltown City Quake Futsal Club.

Accomplishments as a player :

• Australian Futsal Representative – U/23’s – 1983, Men’s – 1984 to 1988. Member of 2 World Championships Squads (1985 and 1988) plus 1 Pacific Cup Squad (1987). Reserve Men’s Player/Coach – 1996 and 1999, Masters Player/Coach 1998.
• NSW Futsal Representative – 1981 to 1983, 1985 to 1991, 1996 to 1998. Includes 9 winners medals and 2 runners-up medals
• Member of National Indoor Soccer League Champions “Sydney Tornadoes” – 1985 and 1986
• Member of National Club Championship winning teams 7 times – 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1995 and 2001 (retired in 2002)

Accomplishments as a coach :

• Australian Futsal Coach – 1988, 1991, 1993 to present. Includes Championship winning medals in Mexico (1991), Canada (1998), Italy (1999) and Holland (2001)
• Oceania Champions (2004) securing qualification to the 5th FIFA World Futsal Championship, Chinese Taipei (2004)
• NSW Futsal Coach – 1987 to 1993, 1996 to 2002, 2004 to 2007. Includes 20 winners medals (some years more than one – for eg: 2002 Women and 16 Girls + 2007 Men and 15 Boys) and 12 runners-up medals.
• NSW Schools Futsal Coach – 1996 and 1997, 2001 to 2005. Includes 4 winners medals and 3 runners-up medals
• National Futsal League Coach – 1987 (Lotto Allstars), 1989 (Kellyville “Amiga” Commodores), 1995 and 1996 (Southern Knights), 1997 (NSW Condors) and 1998 (NSW Women’s)
• National Club Championships Winners – 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001 and 2002
• In 1995 I received an Australia Day Medal for services to Futsal over 23 years and as one of the coach’s of the first successful tour of an Australian touring team of Brazil in 1994.

With the NSW Futsal Premier League season only a week away we though we would go and have a look at how all the Premier League clubs are shaping up and give a Futsal4all prediction for the new season.

Under 12s

In what will be another very close competition last seasons top two clubs are predicted to once again finish one two.

The Sydney City Eagles seem to be the stand-out side coming into the season. Signing from the Western Raiders is the very talented Paul Katsetis who is one of the real great up coming talents in the sport. Paul along with young star Robbie Perre and the current unknown Kevin Ly are a trio of fantastic young Futsal players. These names alone should guarantee the Eagles a top two finish.

Mascot Vipers are our tip for second position. The Vipers after a Grand final appearance last season should once again be strong and should be the side that pushes the Eagles the hardest.

To round out the top four, last seasons NSW coach Manny Duarte’s Hawkesbury Commodores should be right up there after making some very astute pre season signings. This includes a number of the all conquering PCYC u/10s outdoor side. In our opinion the Western Raiders should round out the semi finalists. Keanu Baccas is in great form and after his sensational showing in the 5 Star Pre Season tournament the youngest of the very talented Baccas brothers should steer the Raiders finish in the top 4. If the teams pre season form is anything to go by an even better finish isn’t out of the question.

F4A Grandfinal Prediction: Sydney City Eagles vs Mascot Vipers.

Under 14s

In what could be one of the hardest fought age groups in the entire league there are any of three separate clubs that have legitimate Championship aspirations. The Mascot Vipers are one of those.

Last seasons Premiers have managed to retain the majority of last seasons squad and have improved again. The retention of Giancarlo Callifouco and Dylan Vorster both NSW Thunder team members will hold the squad in good stead and should give the team some quality which could see the Vipers win something in this age group this season. Having already played three trial games the squad has amassed over 50 goals.

Like the u/12s the Sydney City Eagles will once again be battling the Vipers for end of season honours. Last seasons Champions coached by the enigmatic Roy Perre will again be right up there and with names such as Josh Da Silva in their line up there should be no reason why the Eagles cant go into the competition feeling very confident.

The third of the big three is Campelltown City Quake. Quake were the winners of the 5 Star Pre Season tournament and any side with star Patrick Antelmi is in with a chance to win any game.

Along with Antelmi, Quake have the current u/12s M.V.P Shannon Fielding in their line up and those two young lads should see the Quake pushing for a top 4 finish. How far Quake go into the competition will depend on how the squad will go once the teams star Antelmi heads over to England in the new year.

4th spot however is extremely open.

Inner West and Sydney Magic would be the next two teams in line to grab that coveted last semi final position. Inner West led by Futsalroo Captain Lachlan Wright have retained the majority of their semi final side from last season which should leave them in good stead whilst Magic with former M.V.P Alex Doyle and the signing from Sydney City of Andres Vais might just be enough to give them the edge in the race for the 4th position.

4FA Grandfinal Prediction: Mascot Vipers vs Sydney City Eagles.

13 Girls

The under 13 girls like last season should be another very close competition.

The Hawkesbury Commodores should once again be strong this season. Led by mainstay Zoran Pavlicic and daughter and star player Kristy Pavlicic once again donning a Commodores jersey, along with Lizzy Ralston player her 3rd season in the 13 Girls comp the team from Hawkesbury should be Grand finalists once again.

Sydney City Eagles only just missed the Grandfinal last season, losing in penalties to Campelltown City Quake but this year there shouldn’t be a repeat of that, as the Eagles on paper look to be a very very strong side and even the title wouldn’t be a shock come seasons end. Melissa Caceras one of the best young female players going around today will once again be in the black and white of the Eagles whilst Alana Kennedy has also flown into the Eagles den via Campelltown.

The Inner West Allstars should also have high aspirations with prize new recruit Sarah Yatim from the Western Raiders wearing the navy and gold of the Home Bush based club. Yatin alone won the Raiders many points last season and it shouldn’t be much different come the new season.

4th place should be a battle of Yatims old club the Western Raiders and Sydney Magic PCYC. The Raiders have also gone down Campbelltown way to find new players with young sister of Matilda Leena Khamis, Shamiran, last seasons Goalkeeper of the year joining the Westerners.

The Magic the 5 Star Pre Season champion side led by Alysse Tasevski and Georgia Klapos should be an improved side on last seasons second last position and could easily have a say in this years proceedings.

4FA Grandfinal Prediction: Hawkesbury Commodores vs Sydney City Eagles

16 Boys

The Under 16s should be one the most exciting age groups in the entire competition. The talent which will be on show almost every week is nothing short of sensational and so it makes this age group one of the hardest to pick a top 4 for.

The Sydney City Eagles will without doubt start the season as almost unbackable favourites. The brilliant Dimitri Petratos will once again reign supreme for the Eagles and will be supported by Bernie Ibini Isei who are a wonderful one two combination. Add to the Eagles new signings Daniel Castrogiovanni and last seasons u/16 goal keeper of the year in Andrew Mercuri from Inner West and the return of Joey Mitchell Mallia and you can see why the Eagles will be almost unbeatable.

Sydney Magic PCYC should be the Eagles biggest threat this season. Led again by coach Carmine Bortone the return of stars George Khoury and David Talevski and last seasons Golden Boot and M.V.P double winner Jake Mason should no doubt give Magic the firepower to compete with the Eagles.

The Inner West Allstars led by Futsalroo Adrian Vizzari is another side that has another big name in their ranks and that is of Shervin Adeli. At only 16 years of age Adeli has already played along side his Futsalroo team mates in the Allstar Mens side and has even broken into the NSW Mens Thunder side. Along side Adeli will be Emi Moustafa, another long term state representative.

F4A will take a punt and go with the West City Crusaders as our pick for the 4th and final semi finalist in the u/16s. The Crusaders under the guidance of ex New Zealand National team coach Erkin Osman won last seasons Premiership Championship double going undefeated along the way. That being the case and good player recruitment and a season under their belt, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this being the Crusaders best performing team, and the side from Penrith led my last seasons Golden Boot Klime Fekutkovski and Kerim Kumsuz should really pushing the more fancied sides in the age group potentially securing a Grand final birth.

F4A Grand Final Prediction: Sydney City Eagles vs Sydney Magic PCYC

16 Girls

Whilst you can never be certain of many things come futsal season, the Sydney Magic PCYC 16 Girls look certainties to take out this seasons u/16 girls.

Coach Matteo Maiorana has assembled what may be the best young female team to ever compete in the competition. Last seasons dual award winner Natasha Lo Giudice will once again be the focal point for the Magic and this season will have young Matilda and former Allstar Jenna Kingsley helping her score the goals this season which could the best young strike force in the land. With the signatures of former and now defunct Liverpool Fusion duo in Helen Petinos and Juliana Dundovic, its going to take something or a very special team to get one over the Magic this season.

The West City Crusaders are one the teams that will give the Magic their biggest challenge. Led by Doris Osman the daughter of Former Futsalroo Erkin Osman and Captain Rebecca Allen the Crusdaders are a squad on the rise and their early and good preseason form are a testament to that. Their superb victory over another competition heavyweight in the Western Raiders should have the Crusaders feeling confident.

Western Raiders will definitely have a say though and with the recruitment of former Magician Stephanie Haaring and Ivana Bojovanic from the Commodores along with Institute player Liz O Rielly the Raiders should also be fighting out for a top two position.

The Inner West Allstars have also made some astute signings in the offseason, none more so than the signing of Amanda Horafios. Formally of Vipers and Magic fame, Horafios should give the Allstars that extra bite in defence. After 2 brilliant seasons in goals a lot of the Allstar hopes will lay with the talented goalkeeper and that of Elanor Rug. Youngster Sarah Yatim will also be called upon to spearhead the Allstar Attack.

The always powerful Hawkesbury Commodores should also feature at the business end of the season.

F4A Grandfinal Prediction: Sydney Magic PCYC vs Western Raiders.

Youth Mens

Last season the Western Raiders bucked the trend and stopped the strange hold of Campelltown Quake, Sydney Magic, Inner West Allstars and Sydney City Eagles in their continual hogging of the top four positions in this age group. The Raiders went all the way to the big dance. Can they repeat and go as far again ?

Well anything is possible in this seasons Youth Mens Competition. The only assurances we here at F4A is that Campelltown Quake and Inner West Allstars will finish top two. Anything less than a top two finish for either club will be deemed a disappointment as they are the two standout squads.

Quake will go into the competition as unbackable favourites. They have won the competition the competition for the past two seasons and this year should make it the hat trick. The return of former Central Coast Mariner Ian Mc Andrew and the signings of Ediz Alpkaya from Magic and David Von Dinklage from Inner West should make this and even more formidable side then in previous seasons. The mercurial Mark Symmington will also be plying his trade in the purple and orange again this season but the side will have to make do without their leader for the first few weeks as Symmington is in England.

The Inner West Allstars have a new face at the helm with Damian Baker getting the lead role as coach for this season. Baker will have the majority of Plumpton players who made the semi finals in the Mens Winter Super League competition at his disposal including Kane Wright and the brilliant Daniel Fogarty. Fogarty who came of age last season will hope the form that has seen him rise to NSW Mens Thunder team calculations will continue and lead the Allstars to a minimum Grandfinal appearance. Along side these two talented boys will be youngster 16 year old Shervin Adeli who will command minutes in the youth team having already played minutes within the Mens set up as well as Allstar mainstays and senior team members Dario Espejel and Sebastian Petralito.

That clash between Inner West and Campbelltown is already one marked on our calendars as a “cant wait”. Anyone else in the competition will have legitimate thoughts they can take the bottom two semi final positions.

Our tip for 3rd are the Young Eagles from Sydney City. This team will be the youngest Youth side to compete this season but will be one of the most talented. The side will be made up of the all conquering u/16 boys side from last season. Aron Cimitile, Jamal Saliba and Harrick Sinapaespth will lead the side and the return “home” from Sydney Magic of the brilliant Kerryn Baccas should give the side enough continuity to make the semis. Full congratulations go to the Eagles for sticking true to their talented youngsters.

Like third, 4th position is also very open.

Magic are very much up there, led by FNSW goalkeeper of the year of the past 2 years Roberto Maiorana the return of Albert Crocco and the signing of Rizwan Bawani should see the Magic up there.

Our tip for 4th position are the Mascot Vipers. The Vipers will be the quiet achievers this season but this team can play. Having had 3 trial games so far the impressive side have played some delightful futsal and have amassed a small mountain of goals. Led by last seasons u/16 Player of the year Pat Disalvo and the classy Mitchell Stamatellis the Vipers will surprise many sides this season and are therefore our tip to take the 4th position.

The Magic, Raiders, Crusaders and Commodores could all make the top 4 such is the closeness of this years competition.

4FA Grandfinal Prediction: Campelltown City Quake vs Inner West Allstars.

Open Womens

This seasons Open Womens competition is going to be one of the closest and most competitive in history.

The inception of the new W League hasn’t made it any easier to select a potential winner in fact it has actually made it harder.

Pre W League our thoughts on the top four would’ve gone something like this : The Western Raiders like last season were the outright favourites for the Winners trophy once again but the loss of names such as Ledbrook, Gilbert, Brogan and Khamis would decimate any team. The squad will rely on young guns Britt Simmons a former young Matilda and Chanel Turner previously from last seasons finalists Liverpool Fusion and Alicia Cavangnah to lead them to the semis.

Sydney Magic PCYC would’ve liked their chances to take out the competition with Matildas Servet Uzunlar and Teresa Polias in their squad.

Sydney City will be without their main player maker in Jodie Bain while Campelltown Quake have lost Stephanie Haim to the same competition and Caitlin Jarvie to injury.

Post W league announcement the Mascot Vipers are now installed as competition favourites along with the Inner West Allstars. Both sides have recruited extremely well in the offseason with the Vipers managing to snare the signatures of last seasons Goal Keeper of the year Antonella Oliva and also that of Hayley Buckingham. Another name to watch out for this season for the Vipers is that of former Young Matilda Catherine Cannulli. Cannulli will be relied upon along with Elycce Goss to score the goals for the Vipers while the Allstars are another side that have been extremely busy in the off season sealing the signatures of four members of last seasons Grandfinalists Liverpool Fusion with two of those, Nichole Laws and Renee Tomkins returning to their former club.
A third member of that squad Tani Rosekelly, will replace Oliva in goals.

In our opinion this is the hardest competition to call in regard to naming a top four as any of the 8 clubs could feature.

Magic the Winter League Champions, have the most influential player in the game in last seasons MVP Natalie Spirovski and with new signings Clare Tyson and Nina Blundell and an already fantastic young cast should be in contention come seasons end.

The same can be said about the experienced Sydney City Eagles. The loss of Jodie Bain however will be a major blow as will the long term injury to Fabiana Perfillio. The side has brought back club stalwart Amanda Bowering and with the dangerous Effie Radopolous wearing the black and white this season the Eagles might just be able to take that last top 4 spot.

The West City Crusaders, last seasons Super League Premiers and Champions will also turn a few heads with star player Laura Elliot and goal keeper Melissa Khoury forming a great partnership which should allow the Crusaders to win more games then they lose.

Campelltown City Quake were another side that was expected to go close to winning the competition such was their form in the Winter Super league but the loss of the experienced Amanda Bowering and that of two of the best young attackers in the game in Stephanie Haim and Caitin Jarvie has the Quake girls rocking. Whilst still having Clare Walsh, Leesa Thompson and Sarah Semaan in the side, the team now lacks the attacking depth of the other teams.

And finally the Hawkesbury Commodores. The Commodores are the dark horse of the competition and if the side gets their best players on the court continually these girls could even take out the competition. Hawkesbury signed another two of last seasons Fusions girls in target Samantha Muscat and pivot Kathryn Mladineo whilst the signing of Ashleigh Connor will have the Commodores supporters in raptures. The retention of last seasons u/16 Player of the year Trudy Camilleri should hold the team in great stead.

In what should be the most entertaining season in many years we are going to go out on a limb and say there will only be a matter of a handful of points separating first and last position.

F4A Grand Final Prediction: Mascot Vipers and Inner West Allstars.

Open Mens

The Open Mens competition just like the Open Womens is a very hard to pick as it has been for the past few seasons.

Last seasons Premiers the Sydney City Eagles look to have strengthened their side even further this season with coach Ralph Capasso making some quality off season signings. Marconi player Jason Trifiro and Penrith United star Devrim Hussein have been signed, add them into the mix with Superstar Leo Carle and futsalroos Issac Waddick and Chris Zeballos we cant see many teams beating the Eagles this season. Coach Capasso’s major concern will be come end of the season will his big name outdoor players still be around.

We couldn’t decide on either Sydney Magic or Campelltown City Quake as the second place side so on last seasons finish we went with the Magic.

The defending Champions under the watchful eye of current NSW Thunder coach Jamie Amendolia have done very little in retooling their squad in the offseason with the only notable inclusion is that of former Allstar and former Futsalroo Captain Andrew Nolan. Nolan will bring a vast amount of experience to a very young side which can only help in their quest for a repeat. Futsalroos Peter Spathis and Andrew Paine will again be called upon to lead the young Magic side around the court.

Campelltown City Quake are our tip to be next in line. Any side that has 5 Futsalroos in their squad will be hard to beat. Once again Simon Keith will be their lynch pin whilst youngsters Dean Lockhart and Tuan Cao will need to step and show why they are constantly in the yellow and gold. The Quake have also been quiet in the offseason with their only notable inclusions are that of Heber Carvalho formally of Magic and Daniel Seamaan from Commodores.

Our outside tip for the title and after a number of seasons of poor form the Inner West Allstars should make a return to the top of the pile this year. Ernie Bivona has the reigns this year and the Allstars are the sharpest and hungriest they’ve been for a number of years. Futsalroo terrific duo Adrian Vizzari and Futsalroo Captain Lachlan Wright will again be looked at to spearhead the Homebush based side while James Gullotta in goals is always dependable. The return of Dean Story and Joe Foti will also add a little bit of fire to the belly of a side which has underachieved in past seasons.

The remainder of the competition in our opinion are slight adrift. Hawkesbury Commodores led by the enigmatic Dingwall brothers and the recruitment of Tom Geekie should give the Commodores a little extra whilst the Mascot Vipers and the return of their prodigal son Yavus Ekinci seem to be the best of the rest.

F4A Grandfinal Prediction: Campelltown City Quake vs Inner West Allstars.

F4A are tipping this season to be one of the most intense and fiercely played out competitions since its inception. Full credit must go to the organizers for creating such a great competition and to all the clubs on their effort in making their own club and therefore the competition such a success.

Going by our predictions Semi Finalists numbers will be as follows :

Sydney City Eagles: 7
Sydney Magic PCYC: 6
Inner West Allstars: 5
Mascot Vipers: 4
Campelltwon Quake: 3
Western Raiders: 3
West City Crusaders: 2
Hawkesbury Commodores: 2

Which means every club we are predicting should have a minimum of 2 semi finalists.

Going on these numbers we also believe the Club Championship to determine the best club in the state will once again be a battle of the two competition heavy weights the defending Champions Sydney Magic PCYC and the Sydney City Eagles.

The Magic have without doubt been the most successful club in the past few seasons but we think their status as top club could come to end after three consecutive years at the top and the Eagles from Bankstown will this season reign supreme.

Daylight will separate these top two clubs from their next competitor which we believe will be either Quake or Inner West.

All in all this season promises so much and will probably deliver even more!!

We therefore encourage everyone to get out there and support the clubs, teams and players throughout the upcoming season.

In the second of our Futsal4all interviews we chat to one of Australia’s FIFA Futsal referees, Scott Kidson. Scott will be representing Australia at the 2008 FIFA Futsal World cup this year as one of only 32 referees chosen world-wide. We thought it was important to get a top level Referees perspective on the sport we all love.

F4A : Hi Scott, you’ve played and reffed at the highest levels, and have also been involved in coaching. Whats your background in Futsal and how did you get started? What appealed to you in Futsal over Football?

SK : I remember playing a one night competition when I was about 12, but I started playing regularly at my local futsal competition at my local basketball centre when I was 17.

As a kid I was nuts about “soccer”. Futsal was a natural progression after the season finished in outdoor. I was brought into my local Futsal State League team in 1993 and from there it was a natural progression to Futsal state teams. I played some federation level football in my early 20s, but stopped playing football in 1997 to concentrate fully on futsal. To me the outdoor game was not as exciting as its little brother. I was fortunate enough to travel with the Futsalroos to play against Portugal in Porto in 1999.

Futsal appealed more to me because I had a good deal of speed and with smooth rolls and even bounces my less than brilliant ball skills had a better chance. Also, futsal is all about the team. I group of semi-decent players with a strong team ethic will beat a team with individual skill but no cohesion. I like to think I was very team driven which made futsal perfect for me.

F4A : Why then the move from playing to Refereeing?

SK : I refereed football as a kid and enjoyed it a lot. As a player I was always up on the laws because I wanted to make sure I could do whatever was allowable when I was on the pitch and not give away free kicks. I got my futsal referee’s ticket in 2001 to help out at the local centre.

Although my ability to compete as a player at the elite level was waning, my competitive drive was still there. I knew there were opportunities for me to have a career as a referee so after the 2004 Nationals, I made the move across to refereeing.

F4A : After a reasonably quick move up through the Australian Refereeing ranks to the international level, was being selected to Ref at the 2008 World Cup a surprise? Did it happen much faster than you expected?

SK : As it happens, being named has lost me a bet. Pedro Galan Nieto, the legendary Spanish futsal referee, was one of the presenters at the AFC Elite Panel seminars this year. He bet Chris Colley and I that there would be an Australian referee in Brazil. We disagreed so a bet was made that the loser would buy the drinks when we were next together. I guess I’m in for an expensive World Cup.

The biggest surprise for me however was finding seven AFC referees on the appointments list. We were told earlier in the year there would be only four places. While you always have hope you have done enough, I wasn’t really expecting to be one of the Asian group. AFC has a number of very experienced officials so I am honoured to have been selected after only two years on the FIFA panel.

F4A : Have you had to prepare yourself any differently leading up to the 2008 World Cup?

SK : FIFA have provided all 32 referees attending with a training program in the lead up. Having to fit it in around work, refereeing and other commitments has meant some late night and early morning sessions. The training is a little different because I know I am going to have to be at my best to keep up with the speed of the game and the experience of the players so there is a lot of motivation to train solidly and push myself.

F4A : In terms of the time and money it costs you to Referee, do you get compensated adequately for it at the local and International level?

SK : My involvement in futsal, as I would expect is echoed by most people involved in Australia, is that “I’m not in it for the money”. Paying referees at any level is mostly to attract people to doing one of the most unattractive roles in any participation sport. Compensation isn’t something I really think about – anything I get back is a bonus. I do hope that I earn my money though. My last two tournament appointments, the OFC World Cup Qualifiers and the World Cup have both been time away from work on leave without pay. I’ve used up all of my paid holidays with other tournaments like the FFA Nationals and the AFC Futsal Championships.

F4A : So if someone in Australia wanted to make a career out of Futsal refereeing is there the funding and/or the support for that to happen? I mention this as there are some good promising young referees out there, and it would be great to be able to keep them involved in the sport.

SK : Making a career out of futsal refereeing, like making a career out of anything, is a choice. It isn’t simply funding or support that will allow that to happen, it’s a decision by the individual to pursue it. No one can make such a choice and not expect to make some sacrifices with it. That said, a referee wanting to have a career is not chasing it alone. Every year I see improvement in the way in which all aspects of refereeing development is handled. There is certainly a big focus being put on development at all levels.

NSW each year run mandatory refresher courses for local referees to update them with the new Laws. An Elite group will be put together this year who will be running a fitness test and attending a seminar to ensure consistency in interpretation and standards. There will also be practical training open to all referees in NSW but aimed especially at the State League panels. Inspectors courses and advanced grade referees courses are being run by the FFA across the country as they standardise all of their course material. The inaugural Elite panel has also been formed this year in AFC for futsal referees to bring to top 20 referees in Asia to a higher level. The group met in January for three days in Malaysia to standardise our interpretation and increase our knowledge of the Laws. The funding and support look to be good from my point of view.

F4A : Referee’s more often than not get the short end of the stick in most sports, Futsal being no different. Everyone thinks they are right and referees need to develop a hard skin to continue in the sport. I’m sure everyone reading this who has ever played a match has had a run-in with a ref at some point. Have you noticed any improvement in the treatment of Futsal referees since you started, or does it frustrate you to see things no different to how they were in the past?

SK : Referees are always going to be brought into question, be it because someone watching is not up to date with the Laws and their interpretation, or because the referee makes a mistake. Referees are only human. I wouldn’t say I was frustrated at the treatment of referees – however there is always room for improvement in the interaction between players, coaches, spectators and officials. Personally, I think our referees are getting better on average, so I guess there has been an improvement in the treatment of referees. I know that my association is very open to interacting with clubs to answer any questions they may have on the Laws or our interpretations, hopefully fostering better relationships.

F4A : Do you find it harder to ref local games now from a motivational point of view since you’ve been involved with various International matches on a much grander scale?

SK : I try to give my best on any game I officiate. I run just as hard refereeing a local under eights match as I do on an international. To those kids, that game is just as important to them as the AFC Championship semi-final and they deserve to get the best from the official on the touch line. That’s where I look to find my motivation for any match.

F4A : What does reffing at the World Cup level mean to you and where to from here?

SK : To me, refereeing at this level gives me a challenge. As a player at the top level, you want to get everything right, do the most for your team and get the right result. As a referee it’s no different. You want to make good decisions, be in the right position during the match and work with the other members of your team to get the best result.

From here, it is just a matter of being consistent and improving on my weaknesses so that I can put myself in the running to be appointed to any match. As the World Cup progresses, some of the referees will become surplus to requirements and cuts will be made. My aim is to still be there after the first cut, however with the experience in the referees attending I can’t be disappointed if I am one of the officials who gets an early mark.

F4A : Do you find the pressure is on you more in the local comps since a good percentage of the players would know you are a FIFA International ref?

SK : I don’t feel that there is any more pressure on me. As I said, every game is important to the participants so the players and coaches just want a referee who is committed to the game, consistent and fair. That’s what I try to do every time I put on the badge and enter the pitch.

F4A : So after many years involvement in the sport, what has been the best personal moment you have experienced in Futsal?

SK : Scoring in my first international was a pretty big moment, but I guess that refereeing the Japan v Iran semi-final in this year’s AFC Championship is hard to beat. The Thai crowd was very vocal and with the national supporter from the two countries also in fine voice I could hardly hear my whistle as I blew the kick off.

F4A : Do you still find time to play the game?

SK : I do have the occasional kick around with a group of work mates, but nothing too serious. Actually some of the most enjoyable games I’ve been involved in recently have been at referee’s training sessions when I travel overseas. There are plenty of frustrated players in the refereeing ranks and they get a chance to show their wares in the “friendly” matches. Five on five for five minutes at a time. A couple of runs like that is just the ticket to keeping down my desire to make a comeback.

F4A : And for our final question, how do you see the current state of Futsal in Australia, do you think as sport we are headed in the right direction?

SK : I am fortunate to be in New South Wales where there is a strong domestic competition that gains more interest every year. Australia has moved into Asia which opens another set of doors to us. The FFA has just announced an independent review of futsal, like they have done with the men’s, women’s and youth ranks before it. The findings of those previous reviews have changed the football landscape in this country. The round ball game is going from strength to strength, so I look forward to seeing the findings and resolutions from this futsal report.

F4A : Thanks for answering our questions Scott. We wish you all the best at the upcoming Futsal World Cup and will keep an eye out for you on TV!

29/9/2008 Note : This interview has made it as a Featured article on the Football Australia Website (http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/InsideFFA/default.aspx?s=insideffa_newsfeature_features_item&id=23898)

In the first of many interviews we hope to have here in Futsal4all, we are very pleased to kick things off with a long time NSW Futsal personality and a very strong advocate for the sport as a whole, Robert Varela.

Rob has over 20 years experience coaching Futsal in Australia, and continues to be a respected, influential and outspoken member of the Futsal community.

F4A : Rob first of all thanks for taking the time to answer our questions today. For the readers of Futsal4all who may not be familiar with you, what is your background in Futsal and how did you get started in it?

RV : After finishing my playing career with Melita Eagles and then Cumberland Utd in the South Australian State League I coached outdoor in Sydney for a couple of years.

I started coaching Futsal back in October 1985 at the Revesby YMCA. I was coaching Melita U13’s outdoor and we decided to play Futsal during the off season. We went on to win the competition easily, 6 players got into the NSW team and 3 travelled to Canada with an Australian team, and I have not looked back since.

F4A : You are known as a very passionate an involved proponent of Futsal, why Futsal over Football?

RV : I believe it is a more exciting game to play and watch. As a coach you can have an immediate effect on how the game pans out. Futsal is a very resilient sport; it has survived many rifts, poor administration and the ignorant rejection of many football coaches. I can see that as we continue to work to improve those areas, Futsal can ,and will, take its rightful place in the Australian sporting landscape.

F4A : What led you to becoming a coaching advisor to the Solomon Islands National Team during their World Cup Qualification phase?

RV : My involvement with the Solomons goes back to the year 2001 when we travelled to Honiara for the first time to formally introduce the sport to them. At the time the country had just come out of a very bitter civil war, the tension as they called it, and at the Dural Sport & Leisure Centre and Dural Baptist Church we used the sport of Futsal to bring people together in all aspects of human life: physical, emotional, relational and spiritual.

I have visited the islands several times to conduct coaching clinics and courses. I coached the Men’s team in the OFC 2004 qualifiers in Canberra, but the long term plan was always for the initial group of very talented kids we discovered during our first visit, to form the nucleus of the team in 2008.

F4A : How does Solomon Island’s decision to go ahead with someone else for the actual World Cup itself sit with you?

RV : It is disappointing not to be able to finish off the job. In saying that, the coaching staff have all the right in the world to pick and choose who they want to assist them. I will still be barracking very hard for them and I am sure the boys will do their very best to make their nation proud.

F4A : How have you found the World Cup ‘Roller Coaster’ so far.

RV : The tournament in Fiji was very exciting. We knew we had a very good chance to make it to the World Cup, and once we got there it was a mixture of elation and relief about the fact that we had been able to repay the great support we received by expat islander in Suva and the people back home.

F4A : having been involved in Futsal fo so many years now, what is the best personal moment you’ve experienced in the sport?

RV : There have been many. Being able to help teams win National championships has been very satysfying and the results we have achieved over the years at Dural have also been a highlight.

Going through a tour of Brazil undefeated, 7 wins and 3 draws, with An australian U/14’s team back in 2000 is at the top of the pile.

F4A : Were there many names in that u/14s team we would recognize today, or have they all moved on to other things?

RV : Trent Monkerud has played with Western Raiders and Jay Digger with South Coast and Eric Simeoni played on briefly with Quake. Most of the others I have not seen around the courts except for a lad from ACT

F4A : From either a coaching or playing perspective, what was the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given in terms of Futsal.

RV : Never to assume that there is no more to learn and to treat all players fairly, because we coach people first and players second.

F4A : Your track record with the Dural Warriors squads is amazing, in particular the Youth players for a number of years. Do you have a preference on coaching a certain age group, or is it just a case where the Youth team is the most obvious accumulation of many years of you coaching those players up through the grades?

RV : I enjoy coaching Youth teams because they are technically able to play a sophisticated level of game and their attitude is generally very good, by that I mean they are yet to reach the stage where they think no more coaching is needed.

F4A : Are you involved with all age groups for Dural now, or just concentrating on the more senior age groups?

RV : I am looking after the 12 Boys, Youth and Men as well as being there for all the other coaches if they need any help.

F4A : So given your exposure to the game from a coaching and player development perspective how do you currently see the overall state of the game in Australia, are we headed in the right direction?

RV : We need to decide on a style of play that suits us, demographically and culturally. The two best Futsal playing countries in the world are obviously Brazil and Spain; they both play a dimetrically opposite type of game.

We all admire the Brazilian ball playing wizardry. That style is honed upon many hours of contact with the ball on a daily basis from a very young age. It is a style which is very difficult to coach and nearly impossible to reproduce given the small amount of time our kids spend kicking a ball around compared to the Brazilian children.

On the other hand the Spanish play a very polished technical game underpinned by their ability to keep possesion at speed and under pressure, backed up with a superior tactical approach. That style, in my opinion, is much better suited to our circumstances and it is one that we can reproduce with our players.

The biggest hurdle we need to overcome in Futsal is not the lack of a National League, or more money in the sport or the players’ involvement with Football, they are all part of the icing on the cake. We need to convince our coaches, who are the ones to lead the charge in improving the playing standards, that what we know about Futsal is just the tip of the iceberg.

We all have the need, and the obligation, to continually educate ourselves and make ourselves into the best coaches we can be by being open to attaining knowledge and being proactive enough to put that new knowledge into practice. Our players will thank us for it.

F4A : Where to for you next in terms of your Futsal life? Concentrating on Super League duties or bigger plans afoot?

RV : Super League presents the challenge of trying to lift the Dural Warriors into the Premier League. We are under no illusions of how difficult a task that will be; there are many well credentialed clubs that will make life hard for us this season.Putting the final touches to a coaching book is also taking up a great deal of my “leisure” time. I think it will be finished in the next couple of weeks and I certainly believe that it could be of help to coaches of all levels.

I have recently been appointed Futsal Development Officer at Football NSW and that is keeping me very busy. That appointment has afforded me the opportunity and platform to share the ideas and knowledge that I have been fortunate to gather through my involvement with overseas courses and workshops.

Also I think I will have more opportunities to help reproduce what we have done in the Solomons in other parts of South East Asia.

F4A : The Coaching book sounds interesting, are you able to shed any more light on that at this stage?

RV : Basically it is a compilation of all the information I have gathered over the years, paying special attention to the stuff from the Spanish Level 1 course I did online and several online and live in workshops I have been involved in run by leading Spanish coaches.

The Spanish Level 1 course is their equivalent to our level 2 but it involves 200 hours of theory and 250 hours of practical work if you were to do it “live”. I have tried to convey as much information as I could in a very practical way with lots of diagrams and illustrations.

Getting a book published can be quite expensive so i have decided to put it out on a CD. Hopefully it will be well accepted by coaches and in the schools.

F4A : Congratulations on the Futsal Development Officer role. The Football NSW Futsal department has received quite a hammering amongst the very vocal NSW Futsal community over the past few years (be that fairly or unfairly), at times the initiatives from Futsal NSW have felt like a two steps forward two steps back situation. Can you let us know a bit more on what your role will involve, and can you see things improving there?

RV : We are looking at building on the work previously done in this area.

At the moment we are concentrating in running several Level 1 coaching courses prior to the start of the Premier/Super Leagues. I understand we are in the service industry and I will endeavour to make myself available to help out as much as possible in areas where clubs and coaches feel that they require assistance.

I see the passion shown by the Futsal people as a positive thing. In saying that, it needs to be tempered with knowledge of what drives certain situations and at times that knowledge is not displayed in some of the comments made.

In the past few days I have had the chance to chat informally with people from many clubs as they drop into the office. That is good, but the only way to keep people happy is to provide the best possible service we can; and as they say “the proof will be in the eating of the pudding”.

F4A : Thanks again for your time Rob. Good luck to all of your teams in the upcoming Super League season, we hope it is a successful one for you.

Note : This interview made the news page of Futsal Planet (http://www.futsalplanet.com/news/news-01.asp?id=9557)

Referees are only human.

We can be Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, Sisters, Uncles, Aunties, Sons or even Daughters.

We come in all shapes and sizes.

A lot of us are only kids.

Some of us are as young as 14 trying to earn a little pocket money.

Sometimes we referee games without a second referee.

Some of us are only new. We only learn by doing.

Sometimes we make mistakes. Even experienced Referees.

Sometimes we view the play from a different angle to a Coach or a spectator.

Sometimes our view is obstructed especially when there are 10 players on the court.

Sometimes we don’t see everything. No video referees in our sport.

Sometimes we look away for that split second.

Sometimes we have to interpret rules that are ambiguous.

Sometimes we get upset and take comments to heart.

After all, we are only human. Please give us a fair go.

-The Whistle Blower

Welcome readers to my first foray of many, fully devoted 100% on futsal.

Whilst my opinions might ring true to some, to others I’m sure there will be topics and comments made throughout many a thoughts that will tingle a nerve.

If you like it and agree, continue reading, if you don’t continue reading anyway and then leave a comment and have a sook below.

Remember these are my views and not that of Futsal4all.

 

 

 
Three years ago Soccer Australia was abolished and was on its way to being replaced by the current FFA.

At the time we had 2 divided Futsal fraternities, NSW Futsal and ISA 5 a side.
As part of the FFA reform, Futsal had its hand forced to join with Soccer NSW at the time.

Many might say it wasn’t forced,

But when Robert Waddell, the at the time C.E.O of Soccer NSW waddled in and met with all Futsal representatives he sold a great story so much so he instantly became the front runner of Sales Person of the Year. He sold a story so grand which went along the lines of FFA wants Futsal under the governing body of your state, if you don’t agree to it and go at it alone no players will be able to represent Australia as it wont be supported by the FFA.

Like previously mentioned we weren’t forced.

The one positive of minimal choices about having to join with Soccer NSW was the two bodies would no longer be recognized as individual bodies and they formed the Futsal Clubs, Centres and Organizations we see before us today.

Now three years on Futsal NSW has become a part of Football NSW, the biggest non National Sporting company in Australia and it still beggars belief what on earth has Football NSW really done for our sport.

Our registration numbers have dived south with 30 thousand registered players between the two organisations expected with the forming of the two bodies, give or take 5 thousand as dual registered players that registered in both ISA and NSW Futsal and we should still have at least with the growth of sport over the past three years 30 thousand registered players.

We currently have give or take 16 thousand registered players. Yep that’s right 16 thousand so where have the other 14 thousand players gone?

Now is it just me or does it seem every season a lot more people are talking about the Futsal Premier and Super leagues and their kids wanting to play in it. Every season the competition gets bigger with more clubs entering and its getting so much stronger with more players playing.

So the question I ask again is where have 14 thousand paying futsal players gone?

There are two logical scenarios.

1. That centre administrators are simply not forwarding the registrations onto FuNSW, pocketing the money from registrations and leaving FuNSW out of pocket making themselves possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout the year.
or
2. Centres and competition administrators are noticing that paying FuNSW $67.50 is just not worth it and can do it cheaper themselves.

See centre administrators, especially Futsal ones, are some of the shrewdest in the business. With the registration format as it currently stands, it is flawed beyond fascination and needs a major overhaul if the sport wants to make some money.

As the old cliché goes “You need to spend money to make money”.

Take this as an example -

A player “Little Johnny” heads down to Centre X and pays his $47.50, the competition administrator gets little Johnny and his parents to sign his FFA registration book, hands Little Johnny’s Dad his copy which is also is receipt and proof that he has paid and wollah, bobs your uncle – Little Johnny is registered to play a game of futsal because he is allowed to play with his Yellow form.

Where to that $47.50? Could Little Johnny be one of those 14 thousand players that have gone missing?

You may sit and read this and a little light blub goes off and you think – Well what ever happened to that rule no card no play?
Well that’s a good question, and apparently that rule still stands.

So how does Little Johnny play if he just paid that night and the administrator has to send in his registration details into FNSW?
Another very good question.

At the moment the way around that problem is to let the player play with his coloured FFA form until the player gets his ID card back from FuNSW.
But this is where the problem lies see. If the administrators don’t send in that Registration form with that passport photo to FuNSW they don’t have any idea that Little Johnny was just registered.

Futsal these days especially with the costs of running such centres and even more so clubs has become ridiculously expensive – Referee fees are increasing, Court hire increases, less court hiring available to generate more income and the extraordinary costs of running a club in the current PL/SL as well as time consumption makes life very difficult for most people. Such is the importance of running competitions to PL/SL clubs sees centres now which are affiliated with clubs paying what were volunteers to administer competitions and they really have no choice such is the importance of the game fees towards running their club. Nowadays even more so every penny counts.

The risk of an administrator not sending in his players registration is dangerous indeed, especially in the case of someone getting injured and in regards to insurance.

So what happens if a player does get Injured and the administrators haven’t sent their forms to be registered in ………? Well simply the player is deemed insured from the moment he is registered.

This exact scenario only took place weeks ago involving a current Super League club who also run local competitions.

So again why would any administrator send in their registrations to FNSW besides of those that are needed to compete in SL/PL?

Loyalty is one of the main reasons, but most importantly it is where clubs need to be for their players to be selected for the various State and National representative sides, to be involved in tournaments such as the current School, State and National Championships.

But what about the Centres which aren’t affiliated with a club in Premier League or are just a local centre which is exactly that and just runs local competitions?

These people /centres are in fact the main source of potential income for FuNSW.

Example Fivedock Leisure Centre – One of the biggest if not the biggest independent running centre not affiliated with a “club”. They have over 1000 registered players within their junior, mixed and senior competitions which are played over 4 nights throughout the week. They were once affiliated with NSW Futsal and were also affiliated with club Fivedock Wanderers and Fivedock Force (now Inner West Allstars).

As part of NSW Futsal Fivedock Leisure Centre became a member of FNSW – that relationship lasted one year.

Fivedock Leisure Centre now independently run their own competitions with all the incomes going directly to their centre keeping the money “in house” whilst using Sports Co health cover, the insurance for the centre as their insurance company charging half the price. FNSW in that one centre alone lost anywhere between 5 and 8 thousand dollars.

Another organization which could prove extremely dangerous for FNSW are the PCYC. Thankfully for FNSW the relationship between the PCYC and FNSW currently seems to be workmanlike with PCYC having clubs in both the Outdoor and Futsal fraternities but PCYC only charge a $5 registration cost. That’s right $5.

PCYC have 21 Centres within metro areas of NSW as well as 38 regional centres with Futsal competitions being played in 35 of those centres throughout NSW. All those centres have been made to pay the $67.50 registration by their Chairman even though they could just pay the $5 registration within their own organisation as well as using their own insurance at no extra cost. Should the relationship between the two organisations sour, FuNSW could lose possibly another 10-15 thousand dollars.

Now if an organization such as PCYC can get their insurance to be so cheap that they only have to charge their members $5 and be covered by insurance then where are we going wrong?

That’s a difference of $62.50 for an adult in registration costs.

Quite simply as we speak the structure that is the registration process as it stands is flawed and possibly costing FNSW between 25 to 100 thousand dollars a year and within 3 years of working within SNSW/FNSW they haven’t come out up with a solution on how to fix it or quite possibly maybe they don’t think they have a problem.

Looking from afar it is quite evident to me that there are two major issues with the current registration system which are a major problem for FNSW…..

a) Administators whom use their affiliation with FNSW as a way to attract players and teams are taking advantage of this.
Going purely on the numbers, some centres are signing up players and not passing on their registration fees to the governing body therefore costing FuNSW many thousands of dollars
and
b) The price of FNSW registration is forcing centres away from being affiliated with FuNSW and at the same time possibly forcing futsal players to pay 2 registrations. First for their local non FNSW affiliated centre and Second if they are selected to play in the PL or SL competitions.

There are two possible scenarios which could possibly help FNSW with this money and player loss.

The idea which has been suggested now many a times and that’s increase the outdoor registration fee by a minimal amount even $5 and make every Football NSW member an automatic Futsal registered player.

Lets do the numbers, currently FuNSW has 16,000 futsal players.

The numbers are almost 50-50 in regard to Senior and Junior Players. Lets say
9000 Senior Players @ $67.50 = $607,500.00
7000 Junior Players @ $47.50 = $332,500.00
That’s $940,000.00

Unbelievably the cost of just producing that plastic ID card is a whopping $6.
$6 @ 16,000 players = $96,000.000

So that equates to roughly $840,000.000 profit via FuNSW registrations.

Currently FNSW has 190,000 registered outdoor players. If FNSW would increase the registration by only $5 and that increase going to FuNSW and making every outdoor player a readily registered Futsal player FuNSW makes $950,000.00 clear on the spot.

If that was the case the Futsal registration would surely no longer need to be $67.50 as the insurance component would decrease as the numbers would increase with the merger of numbers combining both Futsal and Outdoor therefore also possibly reducing the registration fees to non FNSW members to even possibly half.

Add to that figure of $950k another say 7 out of the 16 thousand players that play Futsal for recreation that aren’t part of Youth League or Senior Outdoor Leagues at half the current price and that’s another possible $245,000.00, taking the possibility of Registration intake from $840k to $1.2mil.

In that scenario you also wouldn’t have the burden of the loss of $100k on registration cards as all players would have the same ID number for both Futsal and Outdoor except for those 5 thousand players which is a massive decrease from 16,000 resulting in only a loss of $30k from $96k.

a) Futsal makes a massive windfall.
b) Playing Futsal numbers would dramatically increase as all players would more than likely play Futsal as they don’t have to pay an extra fee.
c) Outdoor competitions such as 6 a side and 7 a side would struggle to compete with Futsal as any registration fee those competition charge would be dearer than what Futsal competitions would charge.
d) Its easier to manage players for both Futsal / Outdoor and most importantly
e) Centres can’t take advantage of the system by not registering their players.

If they want to charge an additional registration fee then they have every right to via their centres but FuNSW no longer suffer because of it.

With that extra $400,000.00 FuNSW now have they could possibly take a leaf out of the old regime at NSW Futsal and give every affiliated FuNSW Centre a laptop where centres can simply take a photo of their non registered FNSW players and get them sent directly to the offices at FuNSW and a card can be sent within a week of being registered.

Where the solution to the other problem of players playing with their coloured slip would also come to an end and would not cost FuNSW any money what so ever. There would be no excuse with the laptop system.

If you don’t send those registrations through within 2 weeks of registration the centre should be fined a massive amount of money i.e $1000 per player. In fact I think that Futsal NSW should apply that rule as we speak and any player who hasn’t had their registrations sent in within 21 days becomes ineligible for insurance forcing the centres to send in ALL their registrations as they wouldn’t be able to take the risk of having a player get injured.

The centres continue to make money whilst running their competitions, FuNSW make extra money to develop the sport, Football NSW aren’t fazed either way and continue in their money making schemes and everyone is happy.

So I go back to the original question posed at the beginning of this blog, What has Football NSW really done for our sport?

Sure we have the best PL/SL competitions in the last decade, advertising has increased via newspapers and televisions shows but have they helped out at the grass roots levels and helping increase numbers within our sport the answer is simply NO in fact numbers have decreased.

The evidence is there.

The write ups in the paper and the televisions shows are solely on the back on the quality of one competition not the sport as a whole.

If Football NSW would come to the party with something along the lines that is being suggested then the question is undoubtedly YES.

Until they do, then FuNSW as it currently stands will only continue to run a prestigious and envious league with decreasing numbers and increasing fees.

-Balls ‘n all