Football fans need patience
OPINION: Patience is a virtue, something the New Zealand Football community will have to consider in the coming weeks and months.
The resignation of the governing body’s chief executive, Andy Martin, was announced on Friday. In a statement he said he was retiring and focusing on his family.
At the same time, he was going to have questions to answer as part of the investigation into the Football Ferns environment under coach Andreas Heraf that was launched last week.
Chief among them: Could he have acted sooner, especially when a longserving staff member had said the team’s culture needed looking into while resigning in March? Also: Why did his organisation move to silence a player when she raised concerns via
in May?
Questions of Martin should have been asked on the basis of his public statements alone. It is understood a complaint about his conduct helped make it clear they would be. President Deryck Shaw neither confirmed nor denied the existence of one when he fronted following Martin’s departure, though he said NZ Football’s executive committee had placed no pressure on the CEO to go.
Whatever made him leave, Martin is gone, without saying goodbye to the game at large. He didn’t front on Friday and hasn’t responded to attempts to contact him. It’s unlikely he will answer questions as part of the looming investigation, though that will not stop others from talking about him.
The person in charge of that investigation and its terms of reference will be made public this week. They will have quite the job to do, but it’s an important one, and those clamouring for change will have to wait until it’s completed.
Establishing what has happened with Heraf and the Ferns will be the first task. The investigator will assess the complaints received from players and a former staff member about him. With Martin now gone, it’s hard to see Heraf wanting to stay, should he get the chance to. Still, a proper process must take place.
The national under-20 women’s team have their World Cup in five weeks, and a number of staff and players set to be involved were part of Heraf’s Ferns environment in Spain in March and Wellington last month.
When the Ferns next assemble, for the Oceania Nations Cup in November, it will be the start of a seven-month sprint to their World Cup. They will easily qualify out of Oceania, but in the new year, when they need camps and friendlies, NZ Football will have to provide strong support, even if it is costly, given how disrupted their preparations have been so far.
Players have been brave in coming forward with complaints, and it’s true they have been somewhat forgotten, as the focus has shifted from them to Heraf and Martin and the wider impact they’ve had. The Ferns will get the recognition they deserve in time, but there is no escaping the fact that problems at NZ Football go beyond them.
Heraf is also the national technical director and has had plenty of influence in that role. The investigation should look at how he’s wielded it. There has been a desire from some to tag anyone who has worked with Heraf as guilty by association; to call for more heads to roll. That is what the investigation is for. Let it take place, then act on what it finds.
There are good people at NZ Football doing good things. Successes in areas like coach education and junior football, to name just two, can be lost when national teams and figures in high-profile roles dominate media coverage. At the same time, Martin and Heraf are not the only NZ Football staff people have concerns about.
A respected investigator carrying out a thorough investigation will ensure the next era of football in New Zealand begins from a point of absolute clarity. Patience may clash with the loud calls for change coming from the grassroots, but it is necessary. The grassroots were largely ignored under Martin. You can be sure they won’t be going forward.