From Mr Mark Sayer, President, Football Wagga Wagga, Thursday 23rd June 2011 at 0720 hours.
Football Wagga Wagga
Media Release
In recent weeks there has been many assertions by a Mr. Henri Moreels who last refereed in the Football Wagga Wagga competition in 2009.
In the comments that he saw fit to publish through his workplace, the Daily Advertiser, he made many sweeping and some patently false statements.
Following a recent meeting of the Association with their member clubs, all the clubs at that meeting wanted myself to clarify some points that Mr. Moreels raised.
All clubs present indicated that they continue to support the new structure, as they have since 2009. As well, all clubs present totally supported the Football Wagga Wagga Referees Branch( FWWRB) that was formed as a result of the restructure in 2009.
Mr. Moreels is totally incorrect in saying that we have inexperienced referees who are ordinary at best. This is really a strange statement to make. All but himself and a couple of his friends from the old referees branch that could have joined the new branch from the old branch are now with the FWWRB. This new body had 71 referees as members of at the start of the 2011 season and now they have been joined by another 27 referees who have been successful in completing their training this year. This has swelled our referees listing to 98. 86 of these are now listed as active.
He really is doing a disservice to his former colleagues by making such demeaning statements, and indeed as a referee, he is breaching the Referees Code of conduct by being public critical with his personal opinion of refereeing standards, something which is certainly not supported by the extensive feedback mechanisms now in place for our new Branch. In fact quite the opposite seems to be the case with the overall feeling being that referees now are better that we have ever seen.
These incredible membership statistics of the FWWRB has been achieved in an 18 month period, keeping in mind we have a 5 year plan to complete the restructure of referee services in our Association. When Mr. Moreels and his cohort ran the old referees branch, they advised FWW that they had only 23 active referees in 2009 at a meeting I attended early that year. To come from where we were to where we sit now is a phenomenal feat by the hard working men and women of our clubs and Association committees , not to mention to all the wonderful people that have put their hand up and either joined or in many cases rejoined our refereeing ranks.
Whilst it was acknowledged that early on, there have been some concerns with lack of coverage of a small number of games, these are now being dispelled as last weekend all 18 senior games and all 19 Junior Competition games from U/12’s up were allocated 3 officials for each game, a feat that we all should be proud of. We now have to focus our attention to the U/10’s U/11’s and the Junior and Senior girls competitions to ensure that we can get the same level of service and coverage now enjoyed by all the other grades.
As well the standard of refereeing continues to enjoy quantum improvements through constant ongoing support and training from the Football NSW State Technical committee who have undertook training in the Wagga Region by running 3 courses and 7 individual visits in the last 18 month period.
Mr. Moreels should heed the advice of Mr. Bill Kostandas, Football NSW Head of Competitions who stated in recent correspondence addressed to Mr. Moreels and dated 21 June 2011 that, and I quote:
“The Wagga Football Referees Association Inc. is an entity without any standing within the Football NSW structure. It is an organisation without status or recognition by Football NSW as it is no longer a contemporary institution required to provide services to Football Wagga Wagga. Football Wagga Wagga was required to streamline its operation. This was done as part of a need to be more vertically linked to Football NSW. This necessitated Football Wagga Wagga implementing the first stage changes to its administrative arrangements.
Part of the structural adjustment resulted in Wagga Football Referees Association becoming redundant. The function of officiating was integrated into Football Wagga Wagga via the new Football Wagga Wagga Referees Branch.
The Referees Branch is a functioning unit within the operational framework of Football Wagga Wagga.
These arrangements have been endorsed and sanctioned by Football NSW.
It is therefore not appropriate for any other body within the region to be representing itself as the organ responsible for football officiating within the Football Wagga Wagga catchment area.
Any comments or public representations by Wagga Football Referees Association Inc. that tend to purport it has officiating responsibilities in Wagga is a form of “passing off”.
Such comments would be misleading and a misrepresentation of the facts. If utterances to this effect were deliberate, then a reasonable person could come to a conclusion the circumstances and motivation behind such comments are deceptive and designed to confuse.”
Therefore Mr. Moreels is the President of a defunct branch which has no standing within Football NSW or indeed anywhere else. As such he has nothing relevant to bring to the future of our code in the region. He and others have made the decision to not be part of the new structure and they should enjoy the alternative avenues he and his friends have seen fit to embark upon since last refereeing here in Football Wagga Wagga in 2009.
I sincerely wish him all the best with these endeavours, and hope that he will realise that people and the clubs are now easily seeing through the misrepresentations he continues to peddle via out right false assertions in the media.
In late 2009, Mr. Moreels told me through a newspaper article, again the Daily Advertiser, that I was dreaming to think we could 100% cover all games in our Association with referees. It is always nice to watch dreams unfolding into reality, through I must acknowledge the sheer hard work of a large number of passionate football lovers and supporters. I knew it may be difficult to achieve but I never doubted our football community’s resolve to see it happen.
Mark Sayer
President
Football Wagga Wagga
For any further information or interviews, please contact the writer on 0428692174