The FFA blunders again, Wellington Phoenix Women’s Team Vetoed
With the recent revelation that there will be a foreign player quota that includes NZ players, the proposed Wellington Phoenix Women’s Team that has been in development for some time has been halted. With most of the players meant to be Kiwis, with the league opening a professional pathway for young talent in this country, in one statement the FFA have made years of work unsustainable. And the ‘As One’ message of the jointly hosted 2023 Women’s World Cup has been made a mockery of, with the FFA clearly worried that the Ferns could have been given an advantage by playing in the W-League.
Instead of an announcement this Thursday confirming that a team would be competing in the league, the Wellington Phoenix, and their General Manager David Dome, who has been championing the move, will be forced to abandon their plans. Tom Sermanni, a former coach of the Matildas and current Football ferns coach, will no longer be taking the reins of a professional NZ women’s club side. It is a move that is a clear double-standard and completely baffling, the FFA have decided not to carry over the same special privilege given to the Wellington Phoenix men’s team about NZ players counting as Australian or ‘homegrown’ players. A move that makes no sense, given that if the Wellington Phoenix women were made up of 11/24 NZ players (like the men’s team are), it would provide all of the Australian sides with a better test, facing fully fledged Football Ferns, rather than young Australian players and maybe one or two Ferns or Matildas.
If the Phoenix do change their mind and decide to go ahead with a team comprised of mainly Australian players at such short notice (the league starts on December 27th), it also robs them of the opportunity to bring more talent to the league in overseas Internationals/marquee players, as instead they will be forced to use all five import slots for their NZ players. It will also mean that the plan to develop the next generation of Kiwi talent, while allowing their high-level Ferns signings to gel will also be ruined. The move will also mean that the Westfield W League remains a nine-team league next season, which will see a bye happen each week, a scenario no football fan enjoys.
This decision is disappointing on all levels. The fans, players, and 2023 World Cup event all suffer because of it. Its another backwards step by the FFA, a further blow to the relations between the Wellington Phoenix and an organisation that always seems intent on doing its utmost to not support its one international club.