A Roar deal?
- Ann Odong
- Oct 18, 2016
- 4 min read
With less than three weeks until the commencement of the 2016/17 W-League season, Brisbane Roar has been forced to defend itself against criticism for anticipated cuts to the W-League player payments pool.
With less than three weeks until the commencement of the 2016/17 W-League season, Brisbane Roar has been forced to defend itself against criticism for anticipated cuts to the W-League player payments pool.
The cuts are result of the re-negotiation of W-League agreements signed under dismissed former managing director Daniel Cobb and it is alleged to result in a 40% decrease of the available payments to the 20 player W-League squad.
Out with the old
To understand the current Roar W-League situation, the greater Brisbane Roar club position needs to be put into context.
Since taking ownership of the Roar in 2011, Indonesian conglomerate the Bakrie Group has had publicly reported troubles with the financial and administrative management of the Roar. In June 2016, businessman Daniel Cobb was appointed Managing Director of the club but three months later he was out of the club.
However, it was not before Cobb had agreed to the increase of the player pool payments from $50,000 for the 2015/16 season to $150,000 for the 2016/17 season – the full utilisation of the W-League salary cap.
Several players including Matildas co-captain Clare Polkinghorne, star midfielder Katrina Gorry and fellow Matildas Tameka Butt and Emily Gielnik are said to have signed the offered Letter of Agreement providing a substantial pay increase from the $125 per week (for a maximum of 16 weeks) provided last season.
In with the new
Under a new managing director, last week new contracts were tabled to members of the Brisbane Roar playing group effectively cutting the offered payments by close to half.
What the new player pool payments would amount to is a disputed figure with Brisbane Roar stating it would be providing a $150,000 investment in the team "with greater investment in the team's coaching staff, medical department and support staff."
A source told The Women's Game that the figure for player pool payments is closer to $75,000 for the squad equating to approximately $3,750 per player or $234 per week.
In an interview with ABC NewsRadio, Brisbane Roar managing director Mark Kingsman told that the new contracts provided a better foundation in the long run.
"The terms that were offered to the girls in August by the previous managing director were not sustainable," Kingsman explained.
"We're paying almost three times as much to the same number of girls as we were this time last year. That's a tremendous step forward."
However, this is not saying much considering the previous deal of $50,000 essentially exhausted the W-League payment from the FFA and marginally exceeded the W-League minimum salary payments of $30,000.
It light of the $125 per week payments of last season, even for senior Matildas, the new deal does provide an increase but it is starting from a low base.
But, armed with the agreements signed under the previous management, several players are weighing up the cost of signing the new contracts while others are refusing to sign new individually bargained contracts.
A raw deal?
Brisbane Roar's situation has come to head on the back of several seasons of turmoil and upheaval that at times has played out on the field.
The discontent has cost the club numerous high quality players in the past and this season's contract condition has cost them the possible signing of Olympian and Matilda Michelle Heyman and Queenslander Hayley Raso, who recently claimed the NWSL shield with American side Portland Thorns. While last season's American goalkeeper Haley Kopmeyer was unable to return, despite interest, due to a lack of resourcing.
For others who had received significant offers from interstate clubs, the door is almost shut leaving players to decide whether to take the new contracts or ultimately not play W-League this season.
Professional Footballers Australia, who this year has looked to increase its advocacy for W-League players, is said to have contacted the club in relation to situation with the players.
With signed W-League letter of agreements, one of the avenues open to the PFA is to look to legally enforce those agreements through the National Dispute Resolution Chamber. All of that will become very legal fast with a review of the agreements possibly taking months.
There is also reluctance from many to see a repeat of last year's animosity regarding the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
With FFA Head of the W-League Greg O’Rourke reportedly being kept informed of the situation, this could also be a test of the new co-operation between the FFA and the PFA stemming from the formation of a W-League Working Group in September 2016.
While one of the goals of the Working Group is to eventually implement a CBA for W-League players, the current Roar circumstances highlight the vulnerability of players and the W-League itself to the increasingly competitive (and lucrative) women's sport landscape.
The Women's Game has learned that a number of Roar players have already been approached by the Brisbane Lions including Emily Gielnik, while Canberra United duo Jenna McCormick (Adelaide Crows) and Ellie Brush (GWS Giants) are already signed to AFL clubs.
Regardless of how the contracts are resolved, Brisbane will field a team – as required under the A-League Participation Agreement – but the manner of the resolution could determine how the club goes forward in future seasons.
UPDATE
Two time W-League champion and Brisbane Roar captain Clare Polkinghorne believes that the Roar contract issue will be resolved before the season kicks off.
“As a playing group we’re pretty confident of getting a result on this issue pretty soon," Polkinghorne told the Courier-Mail.
“We’re still working with Mark and trying to negotiate, but we’re confident we’ll solve it very shortly.”
However, Polkinghorne is not as confident as to whether all the current players will be at the club come the first whistle.
“I can’t give answers of who’s staying and who’s going.”
“Obviously it’s always difficult but we’re just focusing on training hard. We’re just excited for the football to start.”
“There have been a lot of positive changes that have occurred within the women’s program. We’ve got a new coach, new training facilities, medical standards have improved ... we love the club.”
Originally written for The Women’s Game
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