The veteran chief of the powerful Australian Rugby Union (ARU), John O’Neill, was appointed on Friday to rebuild the country’s struggling national soccer organisation.
O’Neill, architect of last year’s successful Rugby World Cup, said his eight years of experience as general manager of the ARU prepared him well to rescue a sport that has languished in the shadow of the more popular football codes and Australia’s national pastime, cricket.
”There is undoubtedly a lot of work to do, but I welcome the challenge and see this appointment as a terrific opportunity to use my experience in sport and in business to fulfil both the sporting and commercial potential of soccer in Australia,” O’Neill said after his appointment.
O’Neill was signed up for a three-year term as chief executive of the Australian Soccer Association by the body’s chairperson, business magnate Frank Lowy.
O’Neill announced in December that he would leave the ARU at the end of February, 10 months before the end of his current contract. He oversaw last year’s successful Rugby World Cup in Australia, which earned Aus$45-million in profit for the ARU.
The ARU said earlier this week that Matt Carroll, general manager of the World Cup, would take over as acting general manager of the ARU pending a search for a permanent replacement for O’Neill.
Lowy, owner of the Westfield Shopping centre chain and one of Australia’s richest men, took over the near-bankrupt Soccer Australia last year and rebaptised it the Australian Soccer Association.
With Aus$15-million in government aid, Lowy has launched a major restructuring of football in Australia and notably of the ailing National Soccer League.
O’Neill’s first major task in carrying out Lowy’s ”soccer revolution” will be to build a strong Premier League that will replace the NSL in November.
He will also try to encourage overseas-based Australian footballers to return home to play.
About 150 of Australia’s best footballers are playing professionally with overseas clubs. Australia’s Olympic team, the Olyroos, qualified last week for this year’s Athens games but the national side, the Socceroos, face a difficult task qualifying for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. — Sapa-AFP