Football Federation Australia’s chairman, Steven Lowy, will not seek re-election to his post in November, saying a bitter fight about the future of the game would be better without his personality at the centre of the debate.
Lowy announced his intention to quit on Friday in a move that will end his family’s more than 50-year association with football in Australia.
He told reporters that “the future is unclear” for Australian football, as it faces a stalemate between the FFA board and the owners of A-League clubs.
“The main purpose is to give the game every possible chance over the next couple of months to expand the [FFA] congress and at the same time preserve the independence of the FFA board,” Lowy said.
“The period ahead will be one of uncertainty and intense debate.”
For years, club owners have wanted an overhaul of how football is run, arguing for the A-League to be run independently of FFA, and an expanded congress that would grant them more power.
In a bid to end the stalemate, Fifa brought in a “congress review working group” in April, which this month mostly backed the club owners. The working group recommendations are to be voted on in September, but the FFA board oppose the move, and have the votes to block it.
On Friday, Lowy said he hoped his exit would force the club owners back to the negotiation table.
“I wanted to remove myself from the debate so the stakeholders focus on the core issues at hand,” he said. “This is not about me, it’s not about my dad [previous FFA chairman, Frank], it’s not about my family.
“There is a possible outcome that stakeholders take a step back and...agree on a compromise that delivers an expanded and balanced congress, charts a course for greater autonomy for an expanded A-League, but also retains a structure for an independent FFA board.”
He said the current structure recommended by the review would damage the grassroots game, and hand power to those with the most money.
“The clubs want to take a larger share of the revenue from the game,” he said. “By definition the national team and the grassroots will lose out.
“We shouldn’t allow representation to be driven by money. We should not move to a model where the money flows back automatically to where it comes form. The governance model advocated by our critics leads to the trading of political favours between a few individuals who would control the many.”
If the recommendations are opposed on 7 September, Lowy said it would plunge the game into “a stalemate and further uncertainty”.
Fifa has the power to sack the FFA board and replace it with a “normalisation committee”, and to potentially suspend the national men’s and women’s teams from international competition.
But Lowy said he believed he was “showing leadership” and making the right decision by stepping down.
He also fired parting shots at some of the A-League owners, including the City Football Group, owners of Melbourne City.
“We welcome foreign investment in our league,” he said. “It is more than welcome; it is crucial. But when it comes to the whole of the game, it should not be controlled by foreign interests. That is what is at stake here.
“To those who are tired of the debate and wish for an outbreak of peace so that the game can get on with life, I say: be very careful what you wish for.”
Lowy, the son of previous FFA chairman Frank Lowy, said he left “with a heavy heart” but believed he had left the domestic game in a better state.
“No fair minded person could say that the game overall is not in a much stronger place than it was 15 years ago, or even a few years ago. We are now at a tipping point, the game could get stronger or it could break, if vested interests prevail.”
Lowy was elected unopposed as FFA chairman in November 2015, taking over from his father in a move that drew accusations of nepotism from opponents, such as former Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin.
Alongside FFA chief executive David Gallop, he oversaw the announcement of a record six-year broadcasting deal with Fox Sports in December 2016, worth $346m, and securing Caltex as a major naming rights sponsor for the Socceroos after Qantas opted not to renew its sponsorship.
