Football: Congress coup signals change ahead at NZF

Michael Anderson and Sue Griffin, above, were prominent figures on the NZF board.

Change is coming for New Zealand Football. It might not be universally welcome, nor comfortable for those at the top, but it seems inevitable.

There is even a sense of rebellion in the air. That's the only conclusion to be drawn from last week's remarkable annual congress, where two of four board members up for re-election were voted out.

The casualties included Michael Anderson, a long-time member of the executive committee who was NZF vice-president for four years until Thursday afternoon. The other was Christchurch-based Sue Griffin, who had been on the board since 2014.

The changes won't necessarily capture the public imagination but are significant. The election and particularly re-election of those at the top of NZF has traditionally been a box-ticking exercise.

But this year, after months of organising behind the scenes, the seven federations mobilised for change and took a unified approach. There has been concerns over a disconnect between the board and federations for some time, as well as some of the processes behind key NZF decisions in the past year. That all manifested itself on Thursday, with three new representatives voted on.

"It was an emotional day," said one delegate. "Some of the other mem-bers of the board were completely shocked ... they didn't see it coming."

Another source described it as a "coup for change".

"Things will be different. And the other members of the board have been put on notice."

Anderson and Griffin were prominent figures on the NZF board. Anderson was part of the NZF delegation to last year's Confederations Cup and also made the trip to Lima for the World Cup playoff against Peru.

The Auckland lawyer was part of the advisory committee that sanctioned Andreas Heraf's appointment as NZF technical director and was on the panel - alongside chief executive Andy Martin, Heraf and a High Performance Sport New Zealand representative - that opted for Fritz Schmid as All Whites coach.

Griffin represented NZF at the 2016 Fifa Congress and 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada and also chaired the NZF women's committee.

The new board members are John Ormond, Garry Carnachan and Johanna Wood (Central Football). Ormond is an Auckland merchant banker with strong footballing bloodlines. Grandfather Bert played for the All Whites in the 1960s, as did uncle Duncan and father Iain in the 1970s.

The new members are expected to hold the rest of the executive committee and Martin to account.

NZF's plan to build a national academy is unpopular, given the success of existing academies around the country. There is also concern about Heraf's far-reaching powers which exceed those of previous technical directors. And there remains issues with the integrity of the processes underpinning the appointment of Heraf as Football Ferns coach and Schmid, particularly in the latter case when there were obvious local candidates to coach the All Whites.

It means Liverpool fan Martin will have plenty to ponder when he returns from watching this morning's Champions League final in Kiev.