Players call for APL board to be sacked amid concerns over salary cap and league direction
Andrew Redmayne, the Socceroos hero who qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, currently plays for the Central Coast Mariners and is a member of the PFA executive.
Professional Footballers Australia managing director Beau Busch.Credit: Jason South
In a video call with reporters on Wednesday, he spoke of a sense of “discontent” between the playing group and the APL and his consternation that the A-League’s website had been down for most of this week with no explanation; which outlined his concerns about the local league’s lack of promotion and visibility.
Redmayne said passionate football fans had become “fed up” and abandoned the league, with even his neighbors and friends having no idea when the league would start.
“I think it’s pretty common, I mean you’re talking to anyone in Australia,” he said.
“I was with James Tedesco the other day and he asked me, ‘So how long did you stay?’ he said. And I said, ‘Oh, no, we just played round one.’ People don’t know this.”
The PFA’s report is highly critical of the tenor of relations with the APL, which it says has demonstrated a lack of public leadership within the game and a wider pattern of unilateral decision-making and a general lack of transparency, with recent failures including Melbourne-based Western United’s “hibernation” leaving dozens of players stranded.
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“Right now, if we were to Google the constitution of the English Premier League or any major league around the world, we would find that. But in terms of our professional game here, that’s not the case,” Busch said.
Instead of meeting with players, Football Australia and clubs to discuss league regulations, which have not met for more than a year, the PFA said players were blindsided by the APL’s strict new salary cap measures in April. President Conroy said this was necessary to relieve league-wide financial stress.
Players believe the reduced cap would harm clubs’ ability to compete in Asia and access increased prize money, undermining one of the few growing revenue streams the game still has. The report also warns that increasing reliance on player sales rather than fan-based revenues such as broadcasting rights, merchandising and ticket sales – a sector the report claims the APL has “nearly given up on” – is a risk due to the volatility of the transfer market and the unpredictable nature of player development.
APL has been contacted for comment.
