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Sydney (AFP) – An independent inquiry into an alleged toxic culture within Australian football has referred three separate complaints to police, with two further claims being probed in house.
The review by Sport Integrity Australia, a government agency, was sparked by historic claims of sexual harassment in the women’s game by former members of the national team, most notably star striker Lisa De Vanna.
De Vanna, who earned 150 caps&nbsp;for Australia before her retirement last year, said she was regularly subject to predatory behaviour early in her career.
SIA said it had received 27 submissions since opening its probe in November into alleged bullying, child abuse, grooming, harassment, sexual misconduct, discrimination, victimisation and vilification at the national level.
Of those, nine were from individuals directly impacted, and 18 were from witnesses.
Only two will be investigated further by SIA, as the other 25 are outside its remit because they either did not happen at the national level, the alleged conduct was not prohibited or the submission was made anonymously.
But three of the 25 have been forwarded to police “because they included information that could warrant criminal investigation”, SIA said in a statement late Thursday.

– ‘Discouraged’ –

“Every person who speaks up helps us understand what is happening in their sport, and where, and on what issues we need to direct our education and policy resources to build stronger, safer environments in future,” said SIA chief David Sharpe.
Football Australia’s move to get SIA involved came after independent reviews found evidence of a toxic culture and abuse in women’s gymnastics and hockey.
Last year, Swimming Australia also set up an independent panel to investigate issues relating to women and girls, some dating back decades. In January, it publicly apologised for the way they had been treated.
Football Australia acknowledged SIA’s update in a brief statement and said it continued to fully support the process.
De Vanna alleged last year she had been “sexually harassed, bullied, and ostracised” during her career.
She welcomed acknowledgement of problems at the national level, as dealt with by the SIA review, but said it should also be looking at community and grassroots football.
“I can’t say too much as investigations are still going,” she told the Sydney Daily Telegraph Friday.
“But for the SIA to only investigate incidents at the national level was concerning. I think many people may walk away from this investigation discouraged by the whole process.”

Claims stemming from Australia football probe referred to police

Claims stemming from Australia football probe referred to police - World Soccer Talk

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Sydney (AFP) – Australia’s football chiefs said Thursday Graham Arnold will stay as national coach despite mounting calls for his axing after the team’s failure to automatically qualify for the World Cup.
The Socceroos’ bid to directly make a fifth straight World Cup ended with defeats to Japan and Saudi Arabia over the last week.
It thrust them into an Asian qualifying playoff against the United Arab Emirates on June 7, with the winner then facing Peru a week later to book their spot in Qatar this year.
Speculation has been rampant that Arnold could be sacked, but Football Australia said he will remain till at least the end of the qualifying campaign.
“Graham has Football Australia’s support and after nearly four years in the role, still has the opportunity to finish the job he was appointed to in 2018 and see through his commitment to the national team,” said FA chief James Johnson.
“We will work closely with Graham to ensure the team has the necessary resources, support and the approach required to achieve the best possible outcome and ultimately qualification to our fifth consecutive FIFA World Cup.”
Australia made a strong start to their qualifying campaign, but after losing to Japan away in October, three draws derailed their progress before the two defeats over the past week.

Australia coach spared axe after World Cup setback

Australia coach spared axe after World Cup setback - World Soccer Talk

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Sydney (AFP) – Former Australian captain Lucas Neill, who spent 15 years at top English clubs, has declared bankruptcy in Britain with administrators appointed to investigate his affairs, it emerged on Monday.
London-based insolvency experts Begbies Traynor were appointed trustees to the case last week, they said in a statement.
The company’s head of creditor services Dale Hernon said the 38-year-old former Everton, West Ham and Blackburn defender, who played 96 times for his country, was declared bankrupt in January.
“Mr. Neill is due to be interviewed when he returns to the UK in the coming weeks, at which point the trustees will be able to obtain the background information required to determine the full scale of Mr. Neill’s debts,” he said.
“At this early stage of proceedings, it is currently unclear to what extent any funds will be recovered.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said it was estimated he earned close to Aus$40 million (US$30 million) during his career in England. He reportedly invested in property in both Australia and the United States.
Neill, who made his international debut in 1996, led Australia 60 times but was left out of the Socceroos’ 2014 World Cup squad, spelling the end of his international career.
As well as England, he had stints with clubs in Turkey, the Middle East and Japan.

Ex-Australia captain Neill bankrupt in Britain

Ex-Australia captain Neill bankrupt in Britain - World Soccer Talk

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Down under wasn’t at all as I expected, especially in the northern territory of Queensland. Being from London, I am used to always being surrounded by people, but there is so much space in Australia and such a small population that the smaller towns aren’t filled to the brim with human activity.
I expected Great White sharks to be having a beer in the bars I visited and crocodiles to be in the bathtub when I got home. In reality, it was the opposite. I only saw two of Australia’s famous human-killing wildlife in my month there: a 2 meter long red-bellied black snake, and a 15 meter croc in the Darwin river.
I started in Cairns and ended in Sydney, and along the way came across plenty of struggles to keep up with what’s going on in the soccer world back in the UK.
The first obstacle was the time difference. I would be calling back home early in the morning and my family hadn’t even gone to bed because of the 10-hour time difference. This meant it was difficult to replicate my usual Saturday routine of watching the scores come in via Gillette Soccer Saturday, sandwiched between watching both the early afternoon and evening kick offs. The time difference amounted to plenty of early morning alarms, annoyed roommates and mid-afternoon snoozes.
Trips were another factor contributing to missing my usual dose of weekly soccer action, one because I broke my phone on the trip and the other as we were stranded on a boat for three days.
<a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/queensland-islands-map.gif"></a>Fraser Island was going smoothly for the first two hours. We boarded the ferry, drove 4X4’s around the sand island, arrived to our hotel and … my iPhone, the only chance of contact with the outside world I had, was a goner to water damage. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise (for the three-day trip anyway) as I could forget about checking the scores and concentrate on having a kickabout with others on the trips, in front of some of the world’s nicest natural waters such as Whitehaven Beach or Lake McKenzie (pictured).
Sailing around the Whitsunday Islands was an unforgettable experience, and from my ordeal on Fraser Island I knew I could go the weekend without watching soccer or checking the scores. This time, soccer was replaced with conversation. I wore my Ghana jersey onto the vessel and within the first hour a Chilean man came up to me and asked “Are you Ghanaian?”
Being fair skinned and blonde, I laughed and explained that I’m English but have an obsession with collecting soccer tops, with obscure teams such as Japan, Buriram United and the Vietnamese national team in my collection. As with most places I had visited, soccer was once again the conversation starter, and we were soon onto the success of the Chilean national team, both in the World Cup and Copa America, winning the latter on home soil.
After trying to find out if anywhere showed live coverage of English football or the Champions League on mainland Australia, I succumbed to the fact that the only opportunity to watch live matches would be to stream.
Middlesbrough versus Leeds at the Riverside was the first time I used WiFi to access live coverage in Australia, and it was a nightmare. Coming from Asia the weeks before, I was used to super fast internet in every place I stayed, but Australia was not the same. Boro won 3-0, but not until later on the next day when the highlights were released did I get to see the goals. The WiFi lagged at the three most important incidents of the match, but I still went to bed with a smile on my face after beating our Yorkshire rivals.
The confusing part about Australia was they called near enough everything ‘footie’ — Aussie rules, Rugby Union and soccer — which made it difficult to digest what they meant when I saw signs saying ‘live footie’ tonight. Sadly, it was never soccer.
Amid the Aussie rules semis and finals, the Rugby World Cup and rugby league (which I concluded was the East Coast’s preferred sport), the only live game I saw involved Sydney FC and Newcastle Jets of the A-league. The game, although entertaining, was far inferior to European soccer and probably on par with English football’s fourth tier, League Two.
The craziness of the country was topped off by the media being shocked at Massimo Luongo’s omission from the Ballon d’or final shortlist. Coming up against soccer giants such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the Australian was never in the running for most prestigious individual honor in the modern game. However, that wasn’t the way the Socceroos saw it.
My experience down under was incredible, but the fact I stayed up until 6 a.m. on penultimate evening to watch Australia knock England out of their own Rugby World Cup, in Australia, surrounded by Australians made me relieved to be leaving the country.
<h3>More Olly Huddlestone travelogues:</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/2015/11/24/traveling-through-bali-in-search-of-soccer/">Traveling through Mali in search of soccer.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/2015/10/27/traveling-through-malaysia-in-search-of-english-soccer-broadcasts-and-scores/">In search of English football in Malaysia.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.cms.futbolsitesnetwork.com/2015/09/27/traveling-through-hong-kong-and-trying-to-watch-a-premier-league-match-in-a-bar/">Trying to find the Premier League in Hong Kong.</a></li>
</ul>

Traveling through Australia in search of soccer

Traveling through Australia in search of soccer - World Soccer Talk

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