Football Ferns

May be the case.

But ethically and morally it is wrong and the NZF staffers must have know that as well, or was it a case of trying to save their own jobs / roles. 

Is followingly blindly really a defence?   

There's historical precedent that says no

The review is about to happen. The CEO is gone. Heraf has been told to do some gardening. Let's get the facts before calling for other heads to roll. No one has died here.

I've gotten out of the habit of spamming the forum with stuff but on this occasion people might be interested in two interviews with Football Ferns that I conducted last week:

Katie Rood on life and the women's game in Italy: https://in-the-back-of-the.net/2018/07/01/an-interview-with-katie-rood/

And Paige Satchell on recovering from a potentially career ending ACL injury: https://in-the-back-of-the.net/2018/06/30/an-interview-with-paige-satchell/

Football Ferns head coach Andreas Heraf has claimed there is a "large-scale conspiracy" against him while he is on "special leave" during an independent review over his conduct after a player revolt.

He's probably right isn't he? There has obviously been a lot of collusion to get the 13 complaints from the team after there only being 1 [was it?] originally. I don't translate the term conspiracy as being a bad thing - the allegations may very well be right and he deserves to go on that alone.

I'd really like to know what the exact allegations are and I'm not sure we will get exact details. I'm a middle aged male that manages younger people and they do tend to have a different view to others of my age as to what constitutes bullying and what doesn't. Part of the problem might be that but in saying that if you want to get the best out of the group he was coaching, you have to understand them a bit better than he seems to have shown.

I think when a conspiracy means a bunch of people who've been jerked around by a single dude take action to bring him to account, it's more rightly called a mutiny.

I think there's a difference between getting respect and demanding respect too. Seems like Heraf was determined to do the latter.

At least we know he won't be back now, the guy is an arrogant Twit. I'd say he has no man management skills at all. For me, just watching the Japan game was enough for me to know he had to go, but things have gone down even more since then! 

This is an interesting read. Lots of quote from Wendi Henderson

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/07/16/154863/the-r...

The only Kiwi to have appeared in two senior FIFA World Cups as a player (1991 and 2007), Henderson holds a special place in New Zealand Football history.

Hmmmm

Ignoring that mistake, it is a very good article and an interesting look at NZ Football and this kind of boys club/overseas coaches can do it better policy they followed.

As to the gender thing in particular, I know that this year with a woman coach (K. Duncan) has been my best year ever - not only in my game having improved (ha ha, she actually got me doing fitness in my own time!), but in fun on the pitch/team spirit.

haha you are too quick - it has been changed now to say the first kiwi

also they originally said she was currently Upper Hutt City coach, but have changed that as well to say she was last year

despite that it is a good article

Superb article and I witnessed and awful lot of whats said. 

Sadly I didnt react at any time I saw any of these sorts of events, I simply felt I had no ability or standing to make any impact if I complained or brought anything up.

I think that article and the topic really deserve its own thread.

We have a huge problem in not believing in our own, not providing the pathways (despite NZF making a huge number of claims and proclamations over the last decade)  for female coaches (and to a certain extent local male coaches).

There is absolutely a massive problem with local coaches being told they lack the level of experience required or the level of qualification being expected.

2 big problems with that.

We dont provide opportunities for experience despite having lots of opportunities to provide the experience needed. I have mentioned this before elsewhere, we qualify for every age group world cup, u17 mens, u17 womens, u20 mens, u20 womens as well as the Olympics and coaches have been told they have missed out on being assistant coaches on these campaigns because they lack experience despite having passed every coaching badge NZF provide. These campaigns are the PERFECT chance to give local coaches a chance to gain experience, assistants dont need a phd or 30 years experience.....

The second big issue is that NZF coaching qualifications are not high enough for FIFA international requirements. So our own National body is incapable of providing the coaching requirements needed to coach at the highest levels. NZF are unable to provide FIFA coaching badge courses.

NZF have a real issue with transparency despite their pr and spin.  Years ago I attended a level 3 course run by John Herdman. On that course we were all told that to coach at certain levels you had to be qualified and have attained NZF qualifications.  Simon Eaddy was a candidate on that course (hes also a good guy and what happened wasnt his fault.) For the final block of the course (4 days at NHS) he had been promoted to being one of the coaches/instructors on the course despite the fact he hadnt completed the course or had any qualification.

There are numerous examples like this.

I note that again its one of our women player/coaches bringing to light major problems. The senior womens side have done us a huge favour in standing up to the problems they experienced and now one of our former international players Wendi Henderson is making noises relating to coaching and pathways. Our game is dominated by men but its our women trying to show direction.

Someone please make this a thread with a suitable title or topic, we need big changes not just for our female side of the game but for all coaching as well.

I mentioned on another thread that the Three Kings women's coach had to resign because he doesn't have at least the level 2 badge (new rule). Some argued on another forum that too many coaches at this level are not good at coaching, but are good at recruiting players and that's how they get their job, so some objective quality marker is necessary. I'm not sure what I think about that.

And so it comes to pass...

being reported Heraf is gone

from the NZ Herald he's gone - NZF doing something right for a change!

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?...

Alleluia, hoo bloody ray, good riddance to the bloke

surely Heraf has retired not resigned?

He certainly looks closer to NZ Super age than the last guy

From SBS the world game,New Zealand women's coach quits after public player mutiny

Quote 

'Shaw noted that "part of the resignation is that Andreas has confirmed that he will fully participate in the review and we will look to the findings of the review to determine the outcomes around this matter".' 

Resignations don't have "parts". You either resign or you don't! Resignations don't have conditions. Unless, wait, there is money involved! So are NZF paying Heraf off on condition he contributes to a the review? What useful info is Heraf going to provide, he like everyone else is going to say he did just what Andy Martin asked him to do. 

It's simple Heraf will continue to point the finger at the players which the press will focus on when the review findings are released. A great way of taking the focus away from The NZ Football Board.

I hope the inquiry does take a close look at Heraf's accusation re commitment etc. While he seems to be a cock, a comment today about there being no guarantee the players will come back makes me a little uneasy about the team culture anyway.

I'd be more worried about the team culture if they all jumped back in before knowing who the new coach is, that would make it look far more like a hit job on Heraf. 

I have heard several separate stories of Heraf making a good first impression on someone and then quickly losing their good will. For example, he visited one of the Wellington clubs when he first took over and told them he loved their academy setup and praised their players. A few weeks later he was trashing them at a Capital Football meeting with representatives of the club there. 

The Football Ferns affair seems to have taken a similar arc; takes them for a game in November, meets the players' approval, then come his first camp as full-time coach things start to go awry.

Which player's commitment and professionalism should be questioned? Anyone of those with contracts overseas? I'm not sure how they earn those with a lack of commitment. Those playing locally, eg Annalie Longo?  5 minutes watching her play any game of football will show you what the game means to her. Heraf is an idiot, pure and simple, and if NZF screw up the next coaching appointment they will ruin 20 years of good work in the women's game

I just think NZF were duped into making a bad appointment, by a smooth talking Heraf and an impressive on paper CV.

A review of the FFs setup is not a bad idea. A bit of honest introspection never did any organisation or team any harm. Heraf has been rightly panned, and good news he's gone. I just don't think he understood NZ football culture, or acknowledged level FFs were at.

However that doesn't mean you should disregard 100% any feedback he himself gives of the current setup. He brings a different European perspective, and to be fair to him he has a lot of experience. 

He may just have the odd nugget or worthwhile point to consider. This after all is a team, that seems to have stagnated a bit (despite more players than ever with overseas contracts - though many are very recent).

Readings did say before he left, that he felt he couldn't add any more value. Maybe some long standing players are just a little too comfortable, and a bit of a shake up, or new ideas needs to be discussed.

I'm not calling for a witch hunt, just what Coochie said, have a look all around just to make sure everything is in order. If it is, then fine, just don't limit the scope.

I also think it's fair to question if it's actually nothing to do with a "European approach" and everything to do with him being a dick. Sure, there's a good chance something innocuous came across as something else, but the allegations we know of so far (verbal abuse, the dinner table stuff) sound like a guy who tries to rule by fear, which is neither uniquely professional or uniquely European. 

NZF under Martin made such a big deal out of the coaching badges and the places people had coached that they got taken in by a couple of charlatans in Hudson and Heraf.

To be fair to Hudson he must have been a dam good charlatan as the players didn't revolt and seemed to think he was a good coach

Stepped Down $$$$$$$$

Just goes to show with today's employment law, it is dam difficult to get rid of anyone, however incompetent they are or whatever bullying or harassment they have done without paying them out.

Especially if they are at a senior level and have a few dollars in their bank to lawyer up