NZ Football’s ‘wide-ranging’ review forced by Covid-19
New Zealand Football is set to conduct a ‘‘wide-ranging’’ review that could result in significant changes to how the game is run.
The governing body’s executive committee has moved to establish the ‘‘Football in New Zealand review’’ in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and is hoping to have a preliminary report to present to the game’s members by September.
Those members include the seven regional federations, the Wellington Phoenix, the national men’s league clubs as a collective, the players’ association, and the referees’ association.
Stuff has seen a draft of the terms of reference for the review, which state its objective is: ‘‘To develop an effective and efficient football delivery model for New Zealand to deliver on the 2020-2026 strategy and beyond’’.
‘‘Subsequent to this, [the objective is] to recommend corresponding roles and structures for the future football system in New Zealand and a plan to achieve this. ’’
NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said yesterday the review was being driven by questions ‘‘around the sustainability of sport generally in New Zealand,’’ and ‘‘whether the way that football is delivered right now is financially sustainable’’ that were already front of mind prior to the pandemic.
‘‘Covid-19 has accelerated that dramatically,’’ he added.
‘‘We’re obviously about to enter a period of economic recession, there are enormous challenges around all forms of revenue in all sports and our sport’s no less affected in that regard.
‘‘It’s a chance to effectively do some analysis as to whether we have the most effective and efficient delivery
‘‘It’s a chance for us to really have a bit of a shakedown.’’
Andrew Pragnell
NZ Football chief executive
structures in the game; what the roles and responsibilities of the different organisations that deliver football are; and whether as a whole sports system we connect in optimum way – is the membership model adaptable and suit modern society?
‘‘It’s a chance for us to really have a bit of a shake down and make sure, particularly in light of Covid-19, that we’re fit for purpose for the future.’’
Pragnell confirmed the review ‘‘definitely is wide-ranging’’, but said he didn’t want to pre-empt any results by talking about the type of changes that could happen. ‘‘I’ve heard speculation around what it might mean for this or for that, but there’s absolutely no pre-empting the results. If we’re going to make changes in terms of roles and responsibilities in parts of the game outside of ourselves [NZ Football], we have to have the membership involved.’’
NZ Football is set to hold its annual congress at the end of May in an online forum, as the uncertainty caused by Covid-19 has made it impossible for representatives of the games members to meet in person as they normally would.
The governing body’s annual report for 2019 will be released at that time, giving an insight into its financial position at the end of last year, before the pandemic took hold.