THE Philippine Football Federation (PFF) has set the end of this year as the deadline for all the provincial football associations to adopt and ratify their new by-laws in accordance with the format of the new PFF statutes.
“The current 33 regular member associations have until the 31st of December this year to provide the PFF with the mandatory requirements of membership including having the valid statutes, that follows the format of the PFF,’’ PFF secretary general Ed Gastanes announced after he conducted the workshop here at Cagayan de Oro city for some Mindanao football association officials
Gastanes and PFF president Mariano ‘Nonong’ Araneta Jr., have been conducting workshops to help and hasten the implementation of the revised statutes of the provincial football associations.
Gastanes conducted the workshop in Cagayan de Oro city for invited PFF members from Bukidnon FA, Cagayan de Oro-Misamis Oriental FA, Iligan-Lanao del Norte FA, Misamis-Ozamis FA, Zamboanga FA, Zamboanga del Norte-Dipolog FA, and Zamboanga del Sur-Pagadian FA.
Officials who showed up were Ramon Manlunas and Marie Joy Gamboa, president and
general secretary of Bukidnon FA, Roel Ursabia also of Bukidnon FA, Percy Guarin and
Jeralp Ronquillo, president and general secretary of Cagayan de Oro-Misamis Oriental FA,
Lemuel Mapula, president Iligan-Lanao del Norte FA, Bayani Jose Abad and Diole
Dinglasa, president and general secretary of Zamboanga del Sur-Pagadian FA. Also in
attendance was Renato Cosmod, president of Davao del Norte FA and current vice
president of the PFF.
The next workshop for Mindanao-based member associations will be on 15th August 2015.
Invited are the presidents and general secretaries of Agusan del Sur FA, Butuan-Agusan
del Norte FA, Compostela Valley FA, Davao FA, Davao del Norte FA, Maguindanao
Cotabato FA, North Cotabato FA, Sultan Kudarat FA, and Surigao del Norte FA.
A workshop for 11 member associations in Luzon will be scheduled later.
Initially, Bacolod city hosted the first workshop in the 27th of June for the five PFF member
associations in the Visayas. It was attended by the general secretaries/representatives of the
Cebu FA, Leyte FA, Iloilo FA, Negros Occidental FA,
and Negros Oriental FA.
“Aside from emphasizing that member associations need to revise their statutes/by-laws to
conform to the format
of the current PFF Statutes, focus is also directed towards realization of FIFA directive to
involve all football stakeholders in the structure of the member association,’’ Gastanes also
said.
He also added that the existing 33 PFF member associations have until the end of this year
to regroup themselves into Regional Football Associations following the guidelines to be
adopted by the Board of Governors such that no more than 33 regional football associations
exist after reorganization.
The resulting RFAs are expected to include the 33 existing regular member associations,
seven probationary member associations,
several applicant territorial associations and territorial associations that may apply in the
future. “The objective is for the entire country to be covered by 33 Regional Football
Associations representing amateur football,’’ he said.
The PFF board of governors and the PFF Congress approved the new PFF statutes in
November of 2013. The new statutes according to Gastanes were prepared under the
direction and guidance of Fifa. The world governing body of the beautiful game has
required all its members to adopt and ratify the changes in accordance with the
requirements of its’ standard statutes for Fifa member associations.
Officials from Fifa’s legal and membership departments under its performance management
program of the PFF conducted the workshop here in Manila prior to the approval of the
new statutes by the PFF Congress in the November of 2013. All PFF member FA’s were
then given copies of the revised statutes.
PFF VP and Davao del Norte FA president Rene Cosmod said that the workshop was a good exercise ably handed by Gastanes. “The exhausive work however will be undertaken by the provincial FA’s to ensure that all stakeholders will be represented in the new Regional FAs. As PFF VP and Vice chair for the membership committee, I will see to it that all FAs will be assisted and guided in the revision of their statutes in compliance with the Fifa directive,’’ he said.
Davao del Norte FA consists of Tagum city, Panabo city, Garden city of Samal Island plus eight other municipalities of Davao del Norte.
The changes to the statutes according to Gastanes is very important as Fifa support will be dependent on the PFF implementation of the recommendations.
The PFF membership committee will hold another meeting on Sept. 7, 2 p.m. at the PFF House of Football in Makati, and then the board of governors on Sept. 8 at 10 a.m.
www.pinoyfootball.com/articles/11101714/PH-football-on-crossroad___________________________
Nice to see that the PFF is applying some of the recommendations of the FIFA advisory committee that visited the Philippines way back in 2012. They still haven't implemented other recommendations though including allowing official representation for professional leagues like the UFL within the PFF as well, a formal club regulation system and a national registration of players. The German technical consultant sent by FIFA by the way was Thomas Roy, who ended up spending 2 years there as grassroots technical expert.
A review of the 2012 FIFA visit:
Recognizing the need to build institutional capacity to handle the growing needs of the Philippine football community, the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) wrote FIFA last year and requested an organizational review to assist PFF in identifying its weaknesses and areas for improvement. FIFA responded by sending a 4-man organizational review team under the auspices of PERFORMANCE, the Football Management Programme of FIFA. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) also sent an observer.
The team included 2 members of the FIFA Development Office Kuala Lumpur and 2 FIFA Consultants including a former General Secretary of the Football Association of Ireland and a technical consultant from DFB – the German football association. The head of the AFC’s Vision Asia Project also came as an observer.
The week-long review was comprehensive in both the depth and breadth of the areas covered. Various stakeholders of Philippine football were invited to share their thoughts and suggestions. This list included representatives of the POC, PSC, media practitioners, Provincial Football Association (PFA) officials, major corporate supporters of PFF, UAAP, NCAA, UFL and officials of the PFF itself.
Early on, the FIFA Review Team made it clear that they wanted a no-holds barred and candid exchange with the invited participants. To facilitate such, separate meetings were held with the various stakeholders to identify their specific concerns and issues. The preliminary results of the organizational review reflected the environment that the FIFA team encouraged. The initial recommendations are far-reaching – calling for no less than a fundamental and drastic overhaul of existing PFF statutes. These recommendations reflect FIFA’s principle of Football being for ALL.
Some of the key FIFA recommendations include the following:
Membership. One of the more contentious and possibly controversial recommendations is to open up the PFF membership roster. Currently, only Provincial Football Associations are eligible for regular membership to the PFF. FIFA recommended that membership should be based on the wider football needs of the Philippines. Some of those organizations identified for regular membership included the NCAA & UAAP, the UFL, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, RIFA and a coaches association.
Organizational structure. FIFA pointed out the potential for confusion with the lack of clarity as to the roles of the internal bodies of the PFF. It was recommended that there be a clear line separating the members of the PFF Board of Governors and their strategic purpose with the heads of the line departments of the PFF who carry out the day to day operational activities of the organization.
Reduce Board-Level Committees. Given the logistical challenges of the archipelagic nature of the Philippines, FIFA recommended that the number of Board-Level Committees be reduced to five. This will eliminate non-functioning committees and allow board members to focus on key areas. It also recommended that membership to these committees should be expanded to include external experts such as finance and banking professionals for the Finance Committee, FIFA Referees for the Referees Committee and so on.
Strengthening of PFF Secretariat. To build additional capacity for he organization in view of the rapid growth of football in the Philippines, FIFA recommended additional full-time and senior-level staff for Finance, Marketing and Communications. Corollary to this, FIFA will soon equip the PFF with the FIFA Football Management System (FMS), an end to end IT enterprise system specifically for football which will be customized for the needs of PFF. It will have the ability to house the PFF database of players, coaches, referees and others. FMS will also have an accounting and finance module for use by PFF Finance. Other functionalities including competition scheduling and referee assignment are being eyed for inclusion in the system.
Limited capacity of PFAs. The limited capacity of some PFAs to fulfill their responsibilities of organizing competitions and implementing development programmes was cited by FIFA as a negative. To address this, the PFF will be requesting that FIFA conduct its FIFA Administration Course in the Philippines. Having said this, it was also stressed that PFAs should take it upon themselves to build up their capacities. It was noted that in certain cases, FIFA cited instances where the withdrawal of support for member associations was warranted given the lack of progress in their areas.
Cooperation with the UFL. FIFA sees the development of an elite league and clubs as a major development focus. In line with this, it cited the need for closer cooperation between the PFF and the UFL pointing out that there are many areas of overlap and mutual interest. A formal club regulation system is also a requirement that needs to be put in place.
Others. Other areas identified as needing improvement and where solutions are being identified include refereeing, beach football and futsal, women’s football and government relationships.