He had to go and he has gone
Now Andy Martin and Andreas Heraf have gone the blowtorch must be applied to the New Zealand Football board.
The sport’s stakeholders must ask the hard questions about how Martin became chief executive and Heraf technical director.
Martin, who had a banking background and a MBA qualification, had been chief executive at English rugby premiership strugglers London Irish.
Heraf, a former Austrian international, was appointed to the high performance role after coaching Austria at the 2015 under-20 world championships in New Zealand.
Martin quit last month after four years and Heraf fell on his sword yesterday. Neither man seemed to have a feel for New Zealand’s football culture.
Martin could point to a burgeoning bank balance – boosted by receipts from the World Cup inter-continental playoff against Peru – but he showed a disturbing lack of leadership over the mutiny against Heraf when Football Ferns women’s internationals accused their new coach of bullying.
There were a number of snafus on Martin’s watch.
New Zealand were booted out of the 2016 Olympic Games qualifying tournament after fielding defender Deklan Wynne, who did not qualify to play for New Zealand under Fifa regulations.
Martin also blotted his copybook with Kiwis after urging New Zealand football fans to give Peru ‘‘a hostile welcome’’ before last November’s World Cup playoff in Wellington, earning the ire of the Peruvian public and media and prompting retaliatory action when Peruvian air force planes buzzed the All Whites’ hotel in Lima.
Heraf was never destined for a long tenure with the Ferns after insisting on a dour, defensive style of football and then claiming New Zealand teams were not good enough to compete with sides such as Japan. He was stood down pending an internal review after players wrote official complaints to New Zealand Football.
Was Heraf’s appointment a classic case of a bunch of governors being seduced by a sexy CV without delving deeper?
While cooling his heels at home on ‘‘special leave’’, Heraf cooked his goose through his own hubris after giving a damning interview to an Austrian newspaper where he accused the Ferns of a ‘‘conspiracy’’ and of being more interested in making fun videos and social media posts than his ‘sophisticated’ European coaching standards.
It’s a little ironic Heraf is now refusing to comment to New Zealand media after flapping his gums in his homeland.
Was Heraf’s appointment a classic case of a bunch of governors being seduced by a sexy CV without delving deeper?
The current New Zealand Football board has members with business acumen and grassroots football involvement and its governance performance has had a glowing review from Sport New Zealand.
But there is a serious lack of high performance football experience. None of the present board have played or coached at the international top-level.
The best boards have a blend of business brainpower and sports savvy.
Take New Zealand Rugby’s for example. It has career company directors and former provincial union chairmen but also boasts Mark Robinson, an ex-All Black centre and former Taranaki Rugby Union CEO, plus two former New Zealand rugby greats, ex-All Black flanker Sir Michael Jones and Black Ferns legend Farah Palmer.
It’s hard to imagine a Heraf being appointed by a New Zealand Rugby board with such high performance heft.
Former All Whites goalkeeper Frank van Hattum chaired NZF’s board for six years – presiding over the All Whites’ march to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, although one of his final acts was to rubber-stamp Martin’s appointment.
New Zealand Football needs more van Hattums at the board table or in a high performance advisory group.
What chance would there have been of Heraf hoodwinking the likes of ex-All Whites defender and forensic psychiatrist Ceri Evans, Ryan Nelsen, Tim Brown and Simon Elliott, Wynton Rufer, Michael McGarry, veteran coaches Kevin Fallon, Roger Wilkinson and Barrie Truman and eminent former Football Ferns such as Wendi Henderson, Maia Jackman and Rebecca Smith?