Wednesday, August 30, 2006
A Quick Learner
Yesterday’s announcement that John O’Neill would be vacating his post as FFA Chief Executive Officer in March 2007 has caused considerable sadness in the footballing community.
It is a tribute to O’Neill that many of those wringing their hands over his departure were the same aficionados of the game who doubted his credentials initially, considering that his experience in rugby would not be sufficiently relevant to the vastly different world of football.
Who were these short-sighted fans? Well, one of them is writing this premature eulogy.
O’Neill was certainly guilty of a few lapses of judgement initially, mainly with regard to the eternal club/country problem faced by the Australian national team. The “Caracas Affair”, in which Mark Viduka and Scott Chipperfield were slapped with club bans for failing to attend a foolishly-scheduled friendly match in Venezuela, was the most salient case.
Yet O’Neill learned so much in such a short time. One particular A-League insider commented to me in mid-2005 that O’Neill was “a very good listener”. Subsequent events certainly tended to confirm this.
The former rugby man oversaw the most rapid period of growth in the Australian game ever, and throughout his term of office he was the affable, dignified, competent face of the game's administration. Those in the media who had found previous heads of Australian football bodies easy prey for their vitriol were stumped by O'Neill's assured manner (and disinterested motives).
O’Neill’s “performance” at the National Press Club luncheon a couple of months ago was emblematic of the approach he brought to football. In a concise, measured yet enthusiastic speech, he outlined the gains that had been made in the last two years, culminating in a successful first A-League season and a memorable World Cup appearance. He stated realistic goals for the Australian game, extolled the benefits (and acknowledged the likely difficulties) associated with the Asian move, and presented a far clearer overall vision for the game’s growth than certain pundits with enormous axes to grind have done over the past few years.
He subsequently fielded the various questions – the first of which, incidentally, was utterly idiotic – with confident ease.
Vale in advance, John O’Neill. You will be much missed.
It is a tribute to O’Neill that many of those wringing their hands over his departure were the same aficionados of the game who doubted his credentials initially, considering that his experience in rugby would not be sufficiently relevant to the vastly different world of football.
Who were these short-sighted fans? Well, one of them is writing this premature eulogy.
O’Neill was certainly guilty of a few lapses of judgement initially, mainly with regard to the eternal club/country problem faced by the Australian national team. The “Caracas Affair”, in which Mark Viduka and Scott Chipperfield were slapped with club bans for failing to attend a foolishly-scheduled friendly match in Venezuela, was the most salient case.
Yet O’Neill learned so much in such a short time. One particular A-League insider commented to me in mid-2005 that O’Neill was “a very good listener”. Subsequent events certainly tended to confirm this.
The former rugby man oversaw the most rapid period of growth in the Australian game ever, and throughout his term of office he was the affable, dignified, competent face of the game's administration. Those in the media who had found previous heads of Australian football bodies easy prey for their vitriol were stumped by O'Neill's assured manner (and disinterested motives).
O’Neill’s “performance” at the National Press Club luncheon a couple of months ago was emblematic of the approach he brought to football. In a concise, measured yet enthusiastic speech, he outlined the gains that had been made in the last two years, culminating in a successful first A-League season and a memorable World Cup appearance. He stated realistic goals for the Australian game, extolled the benefits (and acknowledged the likely difficulties) associated with the Asian move, and presented a far clearer overall vision for the game’s growth than certain pundits with enormous axes to grind have done over the past few years.
He subsequently fielded the various questions – the first of which, incidentally, was utterly idiotic – with confident ease.
Vale in advance, John O’Neill. You will be much missed.
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Yes, it is a shame that O'Neill leaves when he still had to offer quite a bit to the sport.
One big advantage of O'Neill was that he was a good administrator who had experience in international sport. Let's hope that whoever follows him will also have similar credentials.
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One big advantage of O'Neill was that he was a good administrator who had experience in international sport. Let's hope that whoever follows him will also have similar credentials.
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: August 30, 2006 at 11:22 PM
: August 30, 2006 at 11:22 PM << Home
