Lowy fears for future as opponents plan for the road ahead

On the 22nd floor of 1 Oxford Street on Tuesday afternoon, Football Federation Australia chairman Steven Lowy accepted defeat in the two-year battle for power of the game's governance after a vote at an EGM favoured major reforms to the organisation's congress.

It began by praised the progress of the game under his reign and that of his father, Frank Lowy before quickly turning to swipes at his opponents, criticism of the proposed new governance model while repeatedly highlighting his grim views for the game's future.

Outbound: Steven Lowy accepts defeat in the FFA power struggle.

Outbound: Steven Lowy accepts defeat in the FFA power struggle.

"I don't need to revisit my fears for the game today – they are clearly well known to you," he said. "Suffice to say that our game today has crossed a red line from a corporate governance model for football to one where stakeholders with vested interests will compete for power and resources."

While Lowy delivered his bleak outlook to the cameras and press, representatives of all of Australian football's major stakeholders were across the road at the Pullman Hotel, beginning their planning for the way forward for the game's more inclusive, representative and seemingly unified governance model that falls in line with FIFA statutes.

For the first time, representatives of women's football, professional players (the PFA) sat with the nine state member federations and A-League club owners with the knowledge they can finally have influence within the central body of Australian football by.  Having successfully expanded the FFA's membership tier from just 10 seats (nine state member federations and one seat for A-League clubs) to 29 seats that hold 100 votes, more than a dozen administrators from various backgrounds began plans for the new leadership of the FFA.

Already, they need to find a new chairman with Lowy having announced he will step-down as chairman at November's AGM while three other seats on the board are up for re-election. Included appointed board members, there could be as many as seven new faces could be on the FFA board by the end of the year.

Nominations for those positions must be submitted by October 25 in time for the November AGM where elections will take place on the leadership of Australian football in what will be the largest change in the game's direction and administration since the establishment of the FFA since its rebranding in 2005 from Soccer Australia.

It sends Australian football into the unknown. Lowy and the current FFA board have highlighted their concerns that with increased power and resources, A-League clubs will neglect the grassroots of the game and the needs of the national teams. Stakeholders have heralded the result as a triumph for more democratic governance with the looming decentralisation of power in the game. There's newfound unity within the game but it's unprecedented maturity that will see it flourish.

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