Taking Stock of the Andreas Heraf/Football Ferns Showdown
Let’s see if we can get this all in proper order then. Andreas Heraf’s first tour in charge of the Football Ferns was in March where they played twice against Scotland (in Spain) and lost twice, both by 2-0 scorelines.
The performance was nowhere near as negative and cynical as we saw against Japan but still there were reports of an unprofessional atmosphere and immediately afterwards Abby Erceg, former captain and NZ’s most-capped player, swiftly returned to her international retirement. The team manager, Claire Hamilton, also resigned after five years with the Ferns. Neither elaborated on why at the time and a later exclusive about those allegedly toxic team dynamics was quashed by a concerning clause in the new CBA which prohibited players from speaking out against NZ Football under punishment of a hefty fine.
NZF obviously denied that there was any gag clause. They didn’t outright deny that there were prohibitions in place but they played with the semantics of it all, for what that’s worth. Meanwhile Heraf himself suggested that some players were just unhappy with their playing minutes. Ali Riley acknowledged tensions in the group but still offered support to Heraf. Abby Erceg’s retirement was ignored right up until a throwaway mention when the squad was announced for the home game against Japan. It’s been revealed that a member of team management filed a complaint about the environment on the tour which was ignored by NZ Football. Then the real funky stuff started happening.
The Football Ferns tanked it up against Japan. They lost 3-1 but barely even tried to play anything resembling the football that they’re capable of. Ten players behind the ball at most times. It was a disappointing performance on what was otherwise a celebration for the Ferns before a record crowd in Wellington. Then Heraf turned a disappointment into a scandal when he suggested that players in this country could never compete with the technical ability of the Japanese players, hence it was play the spoiler and hope for some attacking set pieces or face the prospect of losing 8-0. Forget all recent history between the two teams proving that the difference in quality is nowhere near as defined as Heraf believed.
That’s a real bugger coming from the manager of the national women’s team. Imagine hearing that your own coach doesn’t trust you, that he feels he needs to take drastic tactical measures to try and shortcut how useless you are. Not the most encouraging thing for the team’s development. Even worse when it’s coming from the bloke who is also the Technical Director of New Zealand Football… meaning that his literal job is planning for the future of the sport in Aotearoa. And this was his attitude.
Heraf’s comments were widely shredded amongst fans and in the kiwi media. The man himself claimed he was misrepresented and tried to ease concerns with talk of bigger pictures and such. This was only one step along the path to contending with such teams. Building from the back, basically. Andy Martin was hanging out in Russia on official business at the time, some FIFA congress of sorts, and conveniently dodged having to make any comments. When he did front up on a conference call with local media he naturally apologised for the inferiority comments, fair play to him, but he also supported Heraf as the right man for the gig.
Abby Erceg didn’t, though. She pulled no punches in going on the record with local media and dropping an unfiltered statement on Instagram.
Former players chimed in too, Katie Duncan probably the most vocal. Someone who only retired last year and will know almost all of these players extremely well.
Since then there have been accusations that Heraf’s influence was leading to similarly defensive tactics in age-group teams, which has led to hesitation among players and their families. Ole Football Academy are considering not releasing their players to those teams. Hints emerged that more Football Ferns would be willing to sacrifice their international careers in protest and all just a year out from the World Cup. Then this…
NZ Football, Tuesday 19 June: “New Zealand Football can confirm it received a letter from the NZ Professional Footballers Association (NZPFA) last night with a number of complaints from the players of the Football Ferns. New Zealand Football is currently reviewing the complaints as a matter of priority. A further statement will be issued tomorrow morning. New Zealand Football will not comment further on this matter until the follow up statement is released tomorrow.”
The NZPFA claimed they’d had no official complaints after the Scotland games but they sure have now. It’s reported that something like ten different players have filed complaints. That’s nearly half the squad. Not something that can be shrugged off as easily as some flippant comments or some angry tweets. NZ Football’s board has already met at least twice regarding this matter.
By the way, the complaints aren’t specific to the style of play. That’s one vine within this tangled mess but talk of “bullying, intimidation and a culture of fear” goes far beyond whatever frustrations there were regarding the dismal tactics against Japan. And considering that murmerings existed after the first tour and have only gotten louder in the aftermath of the Japan result, it doesn’t really sound like anything is being fixed.
Oh and as if that’s not enough, it’s also been revealed that FIFA’s Technical Director Handbook specifically discourages the idea of a TD also being a senior coach. The word they use is ‘incompatible’. One is meant to seek immediate results while the other’s imperative is long term planning. You can argue that it’s possible to do both, of course it is, but there’s still a concerning dispersal of power thing going on here. Andreas Heraf can’t exactly be accountable to himself which effectively gives him free licence to get weird with tactics as he did. Like, who’s gonna stop him?
Heraf was the Technical Director for four months before he took over for Tony Readings as Ferns manager. Again, people have claimed that process wasn’t the most transparent but there’s no way for us to know that looking in from the outside.
And that brings us more or less up to the current date. If you want the juicy opinions then you’ll have to wait until tomorrow because it seems silly to launch into something that might be irrelevant within 24 hours… but those succulent ideas are on their way, don’t you even worry about it. First it just seemed like we needed to get all of this into context before the real bombshells start dropping.
NZ Football has done their usual thing in prioritising their public image at every opportunity, consistently backing the bloke they hired twice, and now that’s really starting to look like Andy Martin’s only digging a massive hole that won’t be easy to climb out of. As for Andreas Heraf… at least we know that while Martin’s had his back at every stage so far, if it ever comes down to him or Heraf then Heraf’s gonna be out on his arse quicker than you can spell ‘eligibility crisis’.
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