Sport Management Football Federation Australia

Question: Discuss about the Sport Managementfor Football Federation Australia. Answer: Introduction The football federation Australia (FFA) is a governing body for football in Australia and they are a member of the International de football association (FIFA), the international principal body for the game football. The FFA was founded in the year 1961 and it has its headquarter in Sydney. They got the affiliation from FIFA in the year 1963 and affiliation from AFC during 2006. FFA has been chosen for this assignment as their long-term objective is to establish football as the most popular and largest sport in Australia and their core strategies are structured around the business operations of (1) football community (2) Elite development for players and national teams (3) competitors and A-League (FFA Home, 2017). Programs under Football Federation Australia: FFA in partnership along with the members of the federation, Westfield W-league clubs and Hyundai A-league offers school children across Australia, quality experience in football through various programs of sporting school. Further they have a partnership with Australian Sports Commission (ASC) for delivering $160 million from Australian government for taking initiatives to involve more children in sports. As the footballs national organization for football, they offer various quality programs to the children to encourage them for taking part in the sport of football. As part of the schools sport program they are closely working with the Westfield W-League clubs and Hyundai A-League to introduce the girls and boys aged between 5 years and 12 years with the fundamental skills along with wide range of fun and various activities related with game (Fairley et al., 2016). Success Stories of FFA: Since the first football match that took place in August 1990 in Sydney, people from all over Australia started involving in the game of football as volunteers, referees, administrators, coaches and players in the media. They celebrated the legends from hall of fame including the people from behind the game in football. The A-league is an example of phenomenal growth and their growth rate over the last two years is a real story of success. The Football and A-League has achieved a very high position by taking the television rights started from considerably low base and at present they are in the midway of the deal that is valued around $ 40 million. Moreover, they have more than 10 teams under their position and they are expecting to involve more teams under them for further expansion. Fox Sports has played an important role in achieving their success. Their style of coverage through camera was really a unique way. Despite of various challenges, football in Australia is considered at the number two place in each state of Australia and encouraging the statistics of FFA. Their players have got various awards, for instance, Diego Kastro has got the Johnny warren Medal, Jamie Maclaren was awarded with NAB Young Footballer of the year, Thomas Sorensen has got the award of Goalkeeper of the year, Bruno Fornaroli was awarded with the Nke Golden Boot award, Roy ODoniovan got the award of Goal of the year, Guillermo Amor awarded with Coach of the Year, Jarred Gillett awarded with Referee of the year and Brisbane Roar with the Fair Play Award (Georgakis Molloy, 2016). Challenges: Various challenges that are faced by the FFA are that the urbanisation and population are rapidly growing and it is expected that by 2035 there will be the population of 30 million. It is expected that after urbanisation the people from Australia will involve in football as per their own term and will not consider the traditional structures if the club. It is further expected that the game will be for both men and women and the club will have to arrange for matching the waves of indigenous population and migration from non-European nations (OConnor, Larkin Williams, 2017). Further, the government grants towards the football of Australia also reduced over the past years. In 2011, only $ 11,65,063 has been funded by the government. With the growing needs in football it is a major challenge to fulfil the requirements with the reduced grants from the government. Another major challenge they are facing that the misbehaviour among the player are increasing with time. They do not play the game just for passion any more, rather they want to play the game with their own conditions, requirements and structures (Andrews Itsiopoulos, 2016). Moreover, though there are anti-doping policies in the Australian football, some players are there who takes prohibited substance to improve their performance. For instance, Ryan Crowley aged 31 years played his 1st football game in 2002 and last game in 2005. He was tested positive eto a banned painkiller, named methadone that banned him from playing the game further. Another player, Ahmed Saad aged 25 years only tested posit ive in 2013 with the banned stimulant that he took with the energy drink just before the game (Stell Salisbury, 2015). Stakeholders Management in Media Relationship: There is a dedicated media for Australian football named as The Football Media Association (FMA), they are the specialist in professional group for the people involved in the football media. They closely work with the governing bodies of football, communities and professionals to assist them with the sports management as well as promoting the activities and events associated with the game. Their fans play an important role in their success. The fans and the members are placed in the centre of their strategic pillar while making any decisions (Hay, 2013). The target of the strategic pillar is to attract more fans and convert them in club fans and at the same time creating excitement and offer best experience to the fans of the sport. They further aim to deliver the marketable players with Australian mainstream. They had 13,16,021 viewers in total throughout the season and shown 20% increase in the average numbers of viewers in 2015-16 as compared to 2008-09 (Talpey et al., 2017). They are getting good support from the government regarding the FIFA world cup qualification and in holding the friendly matches in international level. Further the shareholder of the association has generated some profits in terms of equity as compared to the year 2015. In 2015, the stakeholders equity was $ 77,07,000 and in 2016 it increased to $ 73,20,000. Their winning pillar mainly focussed on the performance and development of the footballers. They further focussed on the development of successful future players from the Australian community (Australia, 2013). Conclusion: From the above discussion, it is concluded that the FFA oversees the youth, men and the women from Australia and encourage them to get involved in the game of football. The football in Australia has gained rapid interest in the field and the viewers play a crucial role in their success. Over the years, they were able to increase the numbers of viewers as well as number of teams for smooth operation. However, the increasing rate of misbehaviour in players, drop in grants from the government, increase in population are some of the challenges that are faced by the football federation Australia which are endangering their growth and sustainability. Reference: Andrews, M. C., Itsiopoulos, C. (2016). 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