- Target:
- Gillon McLachlan, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Football League (AFL)
- Region:
- Australia
Under the Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA), the Sydney Swans were required to pay an additional 9.8 per cent of the salary cap to all players to compensate for the higher cost of living in Sydney.
On March 14 2014 the AFL announced that as of 2017 the COLA would be be replaced with a modified allowance, and that the existing COLA would not apply to any new contracts, effective immediately.
On October 9th 2014 the official AFL website reported that the AFL had advised the Swans that they were banned from trading in players for 2 years. Failure to comply with this ban would result in the immediate removal of COLA, which would in turn result in the Swans exceeding their salary cap and facing further sanctions.
This ban was not a result of the Swans breaking any league rules and has no precedent in AFL history. It is now clear there are insufficient checks and balances in place to prevent private agendas from driving league policies - if this is not rectified immediately it will be to the detriment of all AFL fans.
We, the undersigned, call on Gillon McLachlan to immediately and publicly denounce and repeal the Australian Football League's unprecendented decision to ban the Sydney Swans from trading players into their club.
Furthermore, we demand that the AFL begin implementing processes to introduce greater transparency and accountability to the decision making processes that govern Australia's only indigenous sporting code, in keeping with the values that our nation holds dear.
We also commend the AFL Players Association for joining us in seeking a fairer and more accountable administration (http://www.aflplayers.com.au/article/statement-from-the-afl-players-association-3/) and encourage other affected stakeholders to also voice their concerns.
As fans we pledge to undertake the following action until our concerns are addressed:
We will share this petition with as many other fans as possible using all means available to us. #FairAFL
We will immediately begin a boycott of the official AFL website.
We will immediately begin a boycott of the official Foxsports AFL website.
We will immediately begin a boycott of the official AFL youtube channel.
We will immediately begin a boycott on purchasing all official AFL merchandise.
We will boycott all free to air broadcasts of AFL games from the 2015 season, and instead listen to these on ABC radio or resort to unofficial streaming services.
(optional) We will cancel our subscription to the FoxFooty channel.
The Fairness and Transparency in the AFL petition to Gillon McLachlan, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Football League (AFL) was written by Ryan K-W and is in the category Sports at GoPetition.