New Zealand Football is always good for a goal or two. It is just a shame so many end up in the back of its own net.
The national organisation has made something of a habit of giving away needless fouls over the years. Player eligibility has been the cause of many a yellow card, there have been seemingly endless cases of political instability, and many have lamented the inability of the sport to capitalise on the All Whites’ two memorable appearances at the Fifa World Cup, in 1982 and 2010.
In this latest case of NZF tripping over its own boots — or being brutally hacked down by a gnarly defender — it has been castigated for its conduct and culture following the release of a damning review.
The back story to this saga played out over a tense period earlier this year. Football Ferns coach and NZF technical director Andreas Heraf was placed on "special leave" when it was revealed several members of the New Zealand women’s squad had complained about his behaviour. Heraf later resigned with a confidential settlement, but not before embattled chief executive Andy Martin had bolted out the door.
Heraf always seemed an odd fit for a supposedly progressive sport. Memorably, he demanded the Football Ferns pursue deliberately negative tactics in a game against Japan, and seemed delighted with a narrow loss, and he later made the startling claim he was "compared to Hitler" by some New Zealand media.
Now, an independent review, led by employment lawyer Pip Muir and calling on testimony from no fewer than 80 people, including 12 players, appears to uphold almost every complaint made about Heraf by the Football Ferns, and offers an equal indictment of the culture at national football headquarters.
She found the players’ complaints about Heraf were "genuine and largely substantiated", and that the Austrian coach "offended and humiliated" the players and some staff.
It has become fashionable in the modern sporting era to decry the influence of player power, as if allowing the people actually playing the sport to offer some opinion on coaching and administration should be seen as cause for alarm. But this report emphasises the welfare of the athlete must be paramount, and it reflects well on the bravery and character of these women that they felt empowered to speak up when things turned toxic.
More worrying for the football community at large is the fact the Muir report saved perhaps its most powerful free kick for the employer of Heraf.
NZF was found to have been lax in its investigation of the Football Ferns’ complaints, and Ms Muir expressed "significant concerns" around its high-performance environment. This was later highlighted by Stuff when it reported NZF may have gone four years without establishing a high-performance committee, something set in stone in its statutes.
Ms Muir finished with the equivalent of an extra-time goal. There was the perception NZF was a "boys’ club", as the senior leadership team included no women and it had little regard for diversity or inclusion.
She made 22 recommendations to NZF, yet just half of those were around issues involving the women’s team and player welfare. The other 11 were aimed squarely at NZF’s "structures and processes", a clear signal the organisation had fallen short.
Football has an exalted position in world sport, and has plenty going for it in this country. The game is booming at lower levels, more New Zealanders are getting an opportunity to play professionally than ever, women are generally being given a fairer go, and access to quality coaching has increased markedly. Football South has done some excellent work recently and national league sides are highly competitive.
The concern is the beautiful game continues to display an ugly side at national level. NZF comes out of the Muir report looking dangerously off the pace, and is under pressure to use these recommendations as a launching pad for improvement.
