City Club Seeks Soccer Changes

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30530, 27 August 1964, Page 15

City Club Seeks Soccer Changes

Direct representation of all provincial bodies affiliated to the New Zealand Football Association, sweeping administrative changes and opposition to any form of plural voting based on playing strength in the provinces are contained in a report prepared by the Christchurch City Football Club. The report has been sent to all Canterbury clubs whose presidents and secretaries have been invited to a meeting to discuss the proposals at the City club’s gymnasium at Spreydon Domain on Monday evening. If the report is accepted by the club officials it will be submitted to the Canterbury Football Association to be sent as a notice of motion to the half-yearly meeting of the N.Z.F.A. next month.

To combat what the report calls “the bad public image of soccer in New Zealand and the inefficiency of the present

administration,” the City club proposes: (a) Direct representation at N.Z.F.A. meetings; (b) the fixing of a four-year period for all members of the Council; (c) the faster turnover of administrators to ensure that there is a continuity of fresh ideas and drive. The club officials will be asked to support the recommendation: That this meeting disapproves of the actions of the N.Z.F.A. council in the following matters: (1) Its organisation of inward tours: (2) its lack of forward thinking and planning in the matter of an alternative to the Rothmans tournament: (3) its ability to appoint competent national selectors: (4) its selection of a New Zealand side to play Munster; (5) its decision to undertake a world tour without adequate planning and

preparation of playing strength; (6) its selection of the players to make a world tour, particularly' in the exclusion of competent South Island players. Dealing with the national administration of soccer, the report proposes that the president and vice-president of the N.Z.P.A. shall be elected to office and should retain appointments for a period of three years, and that members of the council and standing committee shall be elected by the annual general meeting and shall not be eligible for reappointment after four years’ service. All general meetings of the N.Z.F.A. shall be attended by two representatives of each affiliated association, one from the Referees’ Association, one from the Junior National Council and all officers of the N.Z.F.A. and members of the council. The routine business

of the association shall be conducted by.a standing committee based in Wellington, comprising the council chairman, five members elected at the annual meeting, the secretary and treasurer. The report also proposes that the annual meeting be held during February each year, council meeting to be held at periods not exceeding one month apart, and the costs of travel and accommodation for committee members attending meetings of the council or sub-committees be borne equally by the N.Z.F.A. and affiliated associations.

The report, drawn up in the names of the Christchurch City club’s president and secretary (Messrs W. Weir and E P. Millward respectively), states in its invitation to club officials to discuss the report: “We must be prepared to think and act positively in bringing about these changes in the interest of soccer.”