David Gallop has admitted Football Federation Australia made a mistake by not reacting quicker to the publication of a report that revealed the identities of fans on its banned list, as newly installed chairman Steven Lowy reiterated the organisation’s zero tolerance policy to those supporters engaging in anti-social behaviour.
“We got it wrong,” said Gallop. “We should have come out earlier. The Sunday Telegraph article unfairly tarnished decent football people. We looked to whether we should monitor, or say something straight away. We got it wrong, and we should have recognised that.”
In his first press conference on the divisive matter, Lowy confirmed that the appeals process for banned supporters would be reviewed. He will take a proposal to review the banned fans policy to the FFA board later on Thursday, finalising a new policy by the next board meeting in February. He said it would involve extensive consultation with all stakeholders including fans.
“FFA is resolute on the issue of crowd behaviour,” said Lowy. “Zero tolerance is our policy. That won’t change. 99.9% of our fans do the right thing ... fundamentally we don’t want antisocial behaviour.”
Fans have expressed anger at FFA for what they perceive as a dereliction of duty on behalf of the governing body and two supporter groups staged walkouts last weekend. Further demonstrations have been promised this coming round of fixtures, although Lowy appealed for calm and urged fans not to boycott any more matches.
“Getting angry and frustrated isn’t getting us anywhere,” he said. “We stand with the vast majority of fans that love the game. We don’t want people with flares. We don’t want anti-social behaviour. We won’t take a backwards step in rooting out the culprits.”
“We hope what we say today shows we stand with the fans,” he added. “We hope they come this weekend, but we respect their views. Our job is to listen.”
Active supporter groups from Western Sydney, Sydney FC and Central Coast have pledged to boycott this week’s matches entirely, while Adelaide United’s supporter group, the Red Army, have announced they will walk out after half-an-hour of Sunday’s home game against Perth.
Supporters are furious FFA is still insisting fans seeking to have a ban overturned must prove their innocence while the governing body won’t disclose evidence used to ban them.
Gallop said transparency was something the review would address, but it was difficult for confidentiality reasons. “There is information that ... only provided if it’s kept confidential, so we’ve got to be careful how we look at that in this review,” he said.
Gallop acknowledged FFA’s “confused message” on fan consultation needed work, adding channels of dialogue had now been opened with clubs.
Lowy said he had met NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, the SCG Trust and the chairmen of A-League clubs to help understand the issue.
He described the leaking of the list as “a travesty”, and he did condemn the recent slandering of football fans as “suburban terrorists” and “grubby pack animals”, the latter a comment by assistant police commissioner Kyle Stewart.
“I think it’s wrong, I think it’s offensive and I think it’s said by people who don’t understand the game,” he said.
