FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20288, 22 December 1927, Page 17

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION.

SERIOUS FINANCIAL POSITION. HEAVY LOSSES LAST SEASON. (Special to Daily Times.} WELLINGTON, December 21. Followers and supporters of the Association football code all over New Zealand will be somewhat shocked to hcai of the serious financial position in which the New Zealand Football Association finds itself. Although £2OOO was realised from the art union two years ago, the losses on the Canadian tour, the running of the F. A. Trophy competition and the loss on the Australian schoolboy :=am s tour has eaten up practically everp penny ot the available funds, and when the nalance sheet comes to be presented at the annual meeting it will be found that, at the best, it is only possible to square accounts. A full meeting of the Council of the New Zealand Football Association has just been held, Mr A. Varney presiding, when a financial report was presented by the secretary, Mr L. O. Atkinson. The statement showed that the, e was a loss of £4OO on the F A. Trophy competition, a deficiency of £is on the tour of the Australian schoolboy team, and on the tour of the Canadian team ot £IOOO. Other payments include school grants and balls £B3, expenses of annual meeting £23 15s Od, shares in the New Zealand Cricket, Ltd., £SO, honorariums. 1926, £SO, postages, salaries, interest, etc., £2ll. The receipts up to _ date include donations, subscriptions, interest, ana entry fees £205. There is yet owing to the council for interest and subscriptions £265, and when these amounts are realised the funds of the association will be practically nil. There may be something to come from the New Zealand Cricket, Ltd. Not only has all the year s income been expended, but the whole of the sum raised by the art union two years ago has been swallowed up in meeting the losses mentioned. In 1925 the association had a cash balance of £l5O, and atthe end of 1926 season, but for the art union, the association would not Lave had a penny in hand. The Canadian tour was* embarked upon, and it was estimated that the expenditure would be £6200 and the receipts £BOOO. Ine expenditure actually came to within £SO of the estimate, but, owing to bad weather experienced during the tour ot the Canadian team there was a loss on the gates, and the revenue fell far below expectations. When the first rough balance sheet was brought before the council about two months ago the deficit was placed at £1155, but recently further liabilities have been disclosed which had not come to light on the previous occasion, and the loss on the Canadian tour is now £I4OO. What will happen in regard to the return visit of a New Zealand schoolboy team to Australia next year it is not yet possible to say definitely. The original intention was to send such a team, comprising boys up to 15 years of age, in 1028.' The council will still adhere to that decision, provided sufficient _ funds are available for the project. It is estimated that the cost of steamer fares, outfit, and other expenses to the point of disembarkation in Australia will be £4OO, of which, the council will find £IOO, the remaining £3OO being provided by the affiliated associations concerned. This is one of the questions which will have to be considered by the local association. The visit of an Australian team to New Zealand may also be jeopardised by the position, although the present intention of the council is' to proceed with it. At the meeting held this week a letter was received from the Australian Football Association stating that the terms submitted by the New Zealand Council for a visit of a team from Australia in 1928 were in general satisfactory. The Australian Association desired, however, to know whether the New Zealand Council would grant £IOO towards the assembly and outfit expenses in Australia. The council decided that it would follow the same practice as in past tours where such association paid its own assembly and outfit expenses. The Australian Association further desired to know whether personal allowances to players would commence from the date of leaving their respective homes or from the time they embarked on the steamer. The council decided that personal expenses should be paid from the date of embarkation to date of disembarkation. A meeting of the New Zealand Council is to be held about the middle of January to devise ways and means of raising further funds for the use of the council.