Professional Footballers Australia Annual Report 2018 Supporting the Players. Building the Game. Professional Footballers Australia 2/55 Walsh Street West Melbourne VIC 3003 p 1300 650 497 | e [email protected] www.pfa.net.au 02 Professional Footballers Australia 2018 Annual Report From the CEO The time has come to put players back at the centre of football. If the past 12 months has demonstrated sessions, putting 74 players through coaching Football will always be won and lost in the anything, it has reinforced that the dressing accreditation and financially supporting dressing room. If our administrators neglect rooms have continued to deliver for football in players after the closure of the AIS Centre of to anchor their principles for managing this country whilst the boardrooms have not. Excellence program. football in our players and our dressing rooms, time will prove those decisions to be The Matildas became the Tournament of The players continue to show they are world flawed. Nations Champions, defeating the US on class. Combined with the strength of those home soil, and kick-started a nation’s love millions who engage with football on a weekly To demonstrate this point, the NBA uses affair with the team that culminated in packed basis, we should be at the tipping point the algorithmic software to generate over 32 stadiums across the country. game has long sought. trillion fixture variations before finalising its draw. Scheduling 30 teams across 82 rounds The Socceroos overcame the world’s Instead, the sport finds itself at another is clearly a big job. In building its schedule, most arduous and labyrinthine World Cup crossroads. the NBA builds over a thousand constraints qualification journey to qualify for a fourth into its software. consecutive showpiece event, where they One can juxtapose the performance of the pushed the ultimate champions France to the players with the morass surrounding the It’s number one focus across the 32 trillion very end. The Socceroos achieved this with a structural reform of Australian football variations – maximising player welfare. playing population that is a fraction of what governance over the past two years that has other countries can call upon. inhibited what seemed to be our inevitable The NBA embraces the enlightened self- progress. interest attached to making decisions that The A-League and W-League produced an protect and cultivate their most important incredible climax to the 2017/18 season, Countless hours have been invested in assets – the players. The more minutes highlighted by an unforgettable semi-final circuitous boardroom rhetoric that comes at a LeBron plays, the more games LeBron plays, between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory huge opportunity cost for the actual progress the more years LeBron plays – the bigger the and a Riley McGree goal that went around the of the sport. A failure to meaningfully grow beast that is the NBA. world. In the W-League, Melbourne City set our professional footprint through expansion a new Australian football record following an and a second division hurts the quality of The time has come to put players back at the historic ‘three-peat’. football as a career choice and hurts the centre of football. long-term success of national teams on the Off-the-field, Socceroo Awer Mabil has been international stage. Warm Regards, nominated for the FIFPro Medal of Merit for his Barefoot to Boots program which supplies The best coaches stay out of the way of football boots to Africa’s poorest communities. talented players. They guide and poke and prod as needed. Ultimately, their most Awer’s nomination stands as a monument important role is to help the player fall in love to the PFA’s broader commitment to player with the ball. Similarly, the intervention of development which has seen over 200 players administrators must be viewed as facilitators John Didulica | Chief Executive share in over $260,000 in education grants, of the game, not as its masters. provide over 130 confidential counselling 03 Professional Footballers Australia 2018 Annual Report From the President On behalf of the PFA Executive, welcome to the 2018 PFA Annual Report. This report serves many purposes, but one of the careers of Australia’s elite professional past year, the PFA has delivered 72 individual of its key functions is to allow us to reflect players and the challenges and opportunities club workshops, covering topics as varied as on the previous 12 months in order to chart faced by the sport. This only serves to further financial literacy, networking and wellbeing and measure the PFA’s performance. It highlight the importance of our work as we to transition and change, provided 130 allows us to monitor progress, create a level aim to deliver a successful career framework confidential counselling sessions, and the of accountability, while establishing new for all players. organisation’s legal advocacy produced over benchmarks for the next year, and beyond. $5m of recovered wages and damages for Impressively, against this backdrop, 2018 has players. If there is any doubt about the collective been one of the most successful in PFA history evolution of the PFA over the past 12 months, in terms of player development, with a record The PFA’s performance in 2018 has set new the achievements outlined in this Annual number of members accessing the PFA Player standards for our organisation in many key Report provide evidence of the growing Development Program. areas, and we should all be incredible proud strength and output of our association. of what we have achieved together. Over 200 Education Grants were allocated In the PFA’s 25th year, our organisation as players continue to embrace personal This unity will be more important than ever continues to deliver impressive outcomes to development on and off the pitch in record as we aim to collectively negotiate football’s support our members, with record levels of numbers. Encouragingly, many players are turbulent environment to pursue the membership across our domestic leagues, making an impact not only on the football realisation of Australian Football’s enormous National Teams and Australians based pitch, but at University, in various vocations or potential and turn to the players, who are overseas, significantly enhancing the PFA’s in the classroom. always the voice of reason and direction in our capacity to do so. game. In another encouraging development, more But the PFA’s achievements don’t merely lie players are attending or tapping into the PFA’s Best Wishes, in the number of pledges to the association. events and workshops. Over 140 players We are more focused on meaningful results attended the PFA’s Induction, which for the for our players – individually and collectively. first time, provided an ‘Outduction’ component The most important focus is on establishing to assist players transitioning to life after mechanisms that deliver holistic development the game. The two-day showcase provided outcomes and ensure that professional elite players with the necessary skills to football careers enrich all aspects of players’ excel on and off the pitch and understand Alex Wilkinson | PFA President lives. the importance of change in a transient environment. This objective itself provides the PFA with many challenges. Our research continues to However, the PFA’s work has not been limited show the short term and precarious nature to one-off events. It is all year round. In the 04 06 18 What we have PFA Player achieved this year Development Program 08 22 PFA Executive Understanding the Committee Game Contents 09 24 PFA A-League Media Coverage Delegates 10 26 PFA W-League A Powerful Delegates Association 11 27 PFA Socceroos & PFA Events Matildas Committee 12 28 Player Recognition PFA Awards 14 30 Membership / Partnerships Organising 16 31 Legal & Advocacy PFA People 05 Professional Footballers Australia 2018 Annual Report What we have achieved this year Football Matildas: Socceroos: Socceroos: Matildas: Tournament of Reach AFC play-offs Qualify for 4th Record home crowd Nations Champions for World Cup spot consecutive FIFA of over 16,000 in World Cup after Penrith arduous path Player First ever mass 77 players put Over 400 players, coaches and support staff 700+ elite young Record 200+ Development player induction through coaching across the A-League, W-League and National players put through Education Grants licenses Teams addressed in building awareness of and career education given engagement with PFA Programs & Services seminar PFA $25k in hardship PFA presents to FIFA Sign-off on first Evidence of a Over 181 W-League 99% of Australian Activities funding granted for player voice on ever CBA for the collective players signed W-League players to AIS players cut FFA Congress W-League 275% pay increase to professional confirmed as prematurely across the W-League contracts members JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC 06 2017 Professional Footballers Australia 2018 Annual Report Next Steps: Matildas: Melbourne City Matildas: Players produce Socceroos do nation Reach highest ever claim historic Qualify for 2019 unforgettable proud at 2018 World World Ranking W-League World Cup as AFC A-League Finals Cup in Russia three-peat Runners Up Series 1. Better Football 2. Better Competitions Over 20 PFA Alumi $21,380 in special 346 skin cancer 72 club workshops 130 confidential Total of 78% of 3. take part in charity assistance funding checks counselling sessions A-League players tournaments for players supported undertook additional Better experiencing skill acquisition or hardship work experience Industry through Building Fairness CBA delivers Additional rest time 97% of Australian 150 people attend Retention of 5 Confirmed recovery confirmed increased for teams involved in A-league players PFA Women’s foreign players for of over $5.3m in wages of over the ACL fully financial Football Town Hall 2018/19 outstanding wages Building $3,000,000 across - members strategy session - and damages for Opportunity A-League (exc.