AUFC to hand back the Womens Licence to the FFSA in 2018

[sportsbird]

Rumour has it that the board of the AUWFC have had preliminary discussions in relation to handing back the licence to the FFSA.
This has come about the extra costs of running the women's team and with the additional player payments.
Further discussions will take place after the W League has completed as not to disrupt the lady reds.
Maybe that is the reason why the lady reds flew to Melbourne on the same day to play Melbourne City. It was cost cutting exercise.
If this is true it will be another merry go round in a circus.

[juniorsupporter]

I would imagine that the FFA may have something to say about that.

[SAD GAL]

SURPRISED? Not I.

Pay rise spelt the end of the AUFC-W Team.

Enjoy the remainder of the season girls; one of two things will occur. If they (AUFC) relinquish the licence then the FFSA will step in and take over however, I suspect the a large % of the FFSA Board of genii will oppose the move. Unlike the AFL and their subsidiary clubs, the FF and its offspring the FFSA are minnows in women's sport in SA.

Secondly, if AUFC do retain the licence, you will that GG and co will ask for permission to cut wages back OR if it stays at $10k min, there will be only one visa marquee player and possibly a name player from interstate. Costs are obviously killing it.

[juniorsupporter]

I don't think any entity will get the license if they don't comply with the PFA agreement. And this is only a rumour Not a fact.

[SAD GAL]

My money's on Sportsbird. The tom tom drums are banging

[scipio africanus]

I also fear that the United board, forever looking at their bottom line, will see the dramatic increase in costs and seek to hand back the team to the FFSA.

It's great to pay the team and the girls definitely deserve it, but reality is someone has to pay for it all and the women's game does not raise enough revenue itself to be self sustaining to the tune of $10k to each player.

The problem deepens when the FFSA may not be in a financial position to take back the team and run a large loss with them.

As for the FFA, they are at war with the clubs with FIFA threatening to intervene and take control of the comp.

Interesting times ahead.

[Lucas Leiva]

"Rumour has it..."

I'll think you'll find that any Club that holds an A-League license will no longer be able to "hand in" their W-League license without the entire club first being in financial distress.

However, I for one do not believe that AUFC are contemplating this at all.

[billy the kid]

You can't force any A League club to have a team that they are unable to support financially or otherwise.

Watch this space. Especially after the pay rise resulted in below par performances.

[Raich Carter]

You can't force any A League club to have a team that they are unable to support financially or otherwise.

Watch this space. Especially after the pay rise resulted in below par performances.

Of course you can, its a franchise and the franchisee must obey the franchisor

[juniorsupporter]

Exactly. People are discussing this as if there are no legal agreements in place to govern the competitions and franchisees. There are.

Secondly, Billy, to say that the pay rise resulted in poor performance, well, I'm going to write that off as a misstatement. There is no causation there. And to begrudge the women getting paid- before the PFA agreement most of the local players were playing for free. Which is abhorrent.

I acknowledge that there is an obvious issue here- but I don't think it's all about money. Look at Brisbane, for instance, another team operating on a shoe string. The women there seem to be doing just fine.

[scipio africanus]

FFA are at loggerheads with the A League clubs to the point FIFA could still intervene and take control of the competition. I wouldn't be betting my house on any franchise rules at the moment. Its all up for negotiation.

At the end of the day, clubs have to be able to afford to pay and run their sides.

I'm all for the women getting paid as much as possible, but in return the product must be good enough to generate the revenue to pay the players.

Adelaide United and football in general in this country, do not have rivers of gold to give hand outs.

The owners of the lady reds, who run the men on a relative shoe string, will be loathed to be losing hundreds of thousands elsewhere.

[juniorsupporter]

I agree that the PFA agreement has put greater financial strain on all of the clubs- and it will be another while until the women's game can pay for itself. But I think we need to be careful not to scapegoat the women for the issues, financial and otherwise, that the game is experiencing in Australia atm. The men's game is hardly setting attendance records on fire either...

[billy the kid]

My apologies at how my statement came across. I try and limit my ranting and I missed the point. Abhorrent is a word to use if that was what I meant.

I am standing in the shoes of the administrators who undoubtedly would ALWAYS look at the return on their investment. As much as I deplore the statement, GG and co are numbers men and would look at the cost vs the output. Trigger happy boards will be very happy to cut the losses. And can the team.

The product is good across the W League. When compared to the AFL-W, the AUFC players and are streets ahead.

No club irrespective of their FFA membership requirements/licence will be dictated to by the FFA (Head Licence Agreement). I pray and hope the AUFC-W salvages something from 2017/18. This is a must.

[Lucas Leiva]

I agree that the PFA agreement has put greater financial strain on all of the clubs- and it will be another while until the women's game can pay for itself. But I think we need to be careful not to scapegoat the women for the issues, financial and otherwise, that the game is experiencing in Australia atm. The men's game is hardly setting attendance records on fire either...

Here here.

I think regarding any debate around expense behind a W-League franchise needs to remember that clubs in turn provide reduced facilities, less full time staff and travelling conditions that do not rival those of the men.

[juniorsupporter]

Billy, your statement wasn't abhorrent- lol, the fact that the women played for free was-

And yes, there is an economic imperative here- football is a business, not a charity. But women's football is headed in the right direction. Quality is improving, attendance is up. I hope that a sustainable model can be found. The future of the women's game depends on it.

[Brian the Postman]

I agree that the PFA agreement has put greater financial strain on all of the clubs- and it will be another while until the women's game can pay for itself. But I think we need to be careful not to scapegoat the women for the issues, financial and otherwise, that the game is experiencing in Australia atm. The men's game is hardly setting attendance records on fire either...

Here here.

I think regarding any debate around expense behind a W-League franchise needs to remember that clubs in turn provide reduced facilities, less full time staff and travelling conditions that do not rival those of the men.

What roughly would be the value of the revenue that the women's team brings to the club v expenses?

Would the gate takings cover the playing contracts?

[juniorsupporter]

I don't know the figures, but I am fairly certain that it is operating in the red.

[sportsbird]

The approx. cost of running the lady reds is as follows;
2016-2017 season, approx $300,000
2017-2018 season, approx $450,000 with the introduction of payment to players
The gate takings this season have not really improved from last season, therefore has minimal impact on the team expenses.
Adelaide United is currently struggling with income, so unsure how long before they make a decision on the women's team.

[billy the kid]

Based on pure numbers, the future is bleak indeed. However, if the survival of all sports (male, female, junior, etc.) was based on pure economics then we'd have only AFL, NRL and Cricket. In saying that, how the hell is local and state cricket surviving on gate takings only? Sheffield Shield for instance. Who goes? Local footy too. How do clubs survive with overheads skyrocketing? Hand outs from government grants and local councils is one sigbnifncat way.

Moral of the story here is that whilst some would say you cannot continue to operate at a loss, the easy road to cut the AUFC-W team would be a huge a detrimental loss to the club and community. Does the AUFC youth league pay its own way?

Hopefully cooler heads will review the season and then make the decision to back the team in. And I mean back it in and give the coach what he asks for in the way of keeping the bulk of the team together in the off season so that they can achieve their potential.

[Brian the Postman]

Based on pure numbers, the future is bleak indeed. However, if the survival of all sports (male, female, junior, etc.) was based on pure economics then we'd have only AFL, NRL and Cricket. In saying that, how the hell is local and state cricket surviving on gate takings only? Sheffield Shield for instance. Who goes? Local footy too. How do clubs survive with overheads skyrocketing? Hand outs from government grants and local councils is one sigbnifncat way.

Moral of the story here is that whilst some would say you cannot continue to operate at a loss, the easy road to cut the AUFC-W team would be a huge a detrimental loss to the club and community. Does the AUFC youth league pay its own way?

Hopefully cooler heads will review the season and then make the decision to back the team in. And I mean back it in and give the coach what he asks for in the way of keeping the bulk of the team together in the off season so that they can achieve their potential.

The AUFC youth league produces players for the first team (the clubs core business) and has resulted in revenue from Transfer fees (Riley McGree, Awer Mabil etc).