View from the Chair: A-league finals ramp up, APL negotiations, FA frustrations & stadium over-policing

Welcome to your April update. It is an incredibly busy time across the Australian football calendar, with the A-League Women on the brink of finals, and the A-League Men edging towards the business end of their season.

At the grassroots and state levels, the NPL and State Leagues are now well underway, and the magic of the early rounds of the Australia Cup has returned.

There are also thousands of Socceroos supporters making preparations to fly to North America in June to attend the World Cup. The World Cup is an event of a lifetime so we wish all travelling supporters a safe and wonderful journey.

As the action on the pitch heats up, our advocacy work off the pitch has been equally relentless. Here is where the FSAA currently stands on the game's biggest issues.

Global Fan Survey: Thank You

Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who completed our recent Global Fan Survey. We received almost 700 responses, providing us with a powerful set of data.

I want to extend my sincere thanks to Dr Luisa Campos at Curtin University in Western Australia, alongside PhD Candidate Ana Costa and Dr Clarice Kogut of PUC-Rio de Janeiro, for their expert facilitation of this project.

This data will provide us with invaluable insights into the habits of Australian football supporters, the crossover between men's and women's football, and fan engagement across various leagues and levels.

Once the researchers have fully collated and analysed the information, we look forward to disseminating these outcomes directly to you. This will ensure we all have a clear, data-driven picture of what fans need, which will act as the foundation for our ongoing advocacy. Thank you once again to everyone who took the time to participate.

Uniting the Game: APL Negotiations

Over the past month, we have made some significant strides regarding our core objective to 'Unite' the game.

Following our recently signed partnerships with Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) and Football Coaches Australia (FCA), I am pleased to report that we are currently in negotiations with the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) regarding our newest Memorandum of Understanding.

This partnership is a crucial step in ensuring that supporters are placed front and centre in the decisions that primarily affect them.

More importantly, it reinforces our stance that fans must be viewed and respected as major stakeholders in the game, not just customers. We look forward to bringing you more positive news on this front in the coming weeks.

Holding Ground with Football Australia (FA)

Despite our best efforts and months of repeated requests, progress with Football Australia has unfortunately been much slower.

While we understand the internal challenges they have faced recently, including high staff turnover, the lack of respect and willingness to engage with the FSAA has been very disappointing. This includes no formal response to our extensive football supporters paper and recommendations submitted back in July of 2025.

With that said, I am pleased to report that I will be meeting with FA’s newly appointed CEO, Martin Kugelar, over the next week. We remain hopeful that this new leadership will bring much-needed stability to the organisation and a renewed willingness to genuinely engage with supporters.

World Cup Ticketing & International Co-operation

As you would have seen, we recently released a strong media statement demanding Football Australia take appropriate action over FIFA's extortionate 2026 World Cup ticketing processes, as well as the poorly implemented FA+ program.

I can assure all members that we have made our stance very direct and clear to Football Australia. We will be pursuing this issue vigorously to ensure all possible action is taken to achieve a more satisfactory outcome for loyal fans.

On a broader scale, we are currently in deep conversation with our overseas supporter network counterparts—including Football Supporters Europe (FSE), the Football Supporters Association (FSA - UK), and the Independent Supporters Council (ISC - USA).

We are collaborating on the establishment of Fan Embassies to ensure the sharing of vital information and enhanced communications, ultimately improving the safety and convenience for our supporters travelling to the tournament. More updates on this will follow.

Domestic Stadium Policing

Here at home, we are actively liaising with relevant A-League Club Fan Representative Groups (FRGs) following concerning reports of over-policing and over-zealous security guards, particularly impacting fans in Sydney and Perth. We currently view these issues as 'Club-specific', and as such, we are closely monitoring the outcomes and standing by to assist should the FRGs require our direct support.

FSAA Internal Updates

Finally, there have been some significant developments internally at the FSAA.

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Alex Chisholm, who recently departed the FSAA Committee. A foundation member of the FSAA, Alex spent valuable time on the General Committee before stepping up into the Secretary role. We wish him well and thank him immensely for his contribution. This position will remain vacant until our 2026 Annual General Meeting.

Speaking of the AGM, during our April General Committee Meeting, we passed a resolution to move the dates of the FSAA Annual General Meeting.

From 2026 onwards, the AGM will be held no later in the calendar year than August. This adjustment will ensure a more seamless transition for new committee members, in addition to ensuring that all financial and regulatory obligations are met as swiftly as possible heading into the new financial year.

Thank you once again for your ongoing support, passion, and commitment to improving our game.

Cheers,

Patrick Clancy
Chair, Football Supporters Association Australia