Heather Reid, Joseph Carrozzi, Chris Nikou and Remo Nogarotto have been elected to the board of Football Federation Australia after an historic election at the organisation's Sydney headquarters on Monday afternoon.
Board games: FFA CEO David Gallop and outgoing chairman Steven Lowy at Monday’s election in Sydney.Credit:AAP
Reid, Carrozzi and Nikou all surpassed the required 60-vote mark in the first ballot to sweep straight into power. It appeared a third round of voting would be required to separate Nogarotto, the former Soccer Australia chairman, from Stephen Conroy.
However, ex-Labor senator Conroy decided to withdraw from the process, saving all those present what would have been a lengthy wait for the final director to be determined. Nogarotto had received 53.11 of 100 available votes and Conroy 46.89 in the second round of voting.
Reid, a pioneer of women's football in Australia and the former head of Capital Football, coasted through with 90.78 votes in the first round. PricewaterhouseCoopers managing partner Carrozzi scored 75.56 votes and Nikou, who was seeking a return to the FFA board after his three-year term expired, got 68.44 votes. Former referee Mark Shield was the only candidate who did not attract a single vote.
The new board are expected to hold their first meeting either later on Monday or on Tuesday, where they will elect a chairman to replace the outgoing Steven Lowy.
Carrozzi and Nikou had indicated their intention to pursue the chairmanship on their nomination forms but the FFA constitution provides scope for any director to throw their hat in the ring for the position.
The board can also appoint a further three directors at their discretion.
Carrozzi had been deputy chairman of GWS Giants, but the AFL club announced earlier on Monday that he had relinquished the position to pursue "new opportunities" – suggesting he perhaps already knew he had the numbers before the election. Carrozzi had served on the GWS board since 2011.
As members cast their votes, they had to walk past Lowy, who sat at a desk at the front of the room with CEO David Gallop and FFA secretary Jo Setright. Lowy's facial expression and body language tended to change depending on who was up.
There were only nine nominees up for election in the end. Mark Rendell, who had indicated his intention to become chairman, dropped out of the running on midday on Monday. He was the third person to do so, following the prior withdrawals of Judith Griggs and Craig Foster.
Meanwhile, two special interest groups were granted 'qualifying member' status of FFA – the Association of Australian Football Clubs and Football Coaches Australia.
However, the AAFC – a lobby group of NPL clubs who are pushing for a national second division and promotion and relegation – failed in their bid to have their induction backdated to July 2017, which the congress review working group had recommended. It means they will have to wait a little while longer before they will be granted full voting status at future FFA meetings.
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