Am I living in fairyland here?

No, I think it's an important discussion and one that we're certainly eager to have and we've been trying to progress through the negotiations.

It's important to look back at the history of the salary cap and understand how did we end up with one.

So it was actually the PFA that proposed it through our model for the fans before the A-League got up and running.

The basis for that was we needed to attract capital, we needed to attract owners, and the owners needed to know, okay, what's this thing going to cost me? So it was really important.

The league was also ran by Football Australia.

That was a not-for-profit that had a duty to support the grassroots and also the national teams.

What do you see in that sense, through the eyes of how clubs operate and grow themselves?

Am I living in fairyland here?

No, I think it's an important discussion and one that we're certainly eager to have and we've been trying to progress through the negotiations.

It's important to look back at the history of the salary cap and understand how did we end up with one.

So it was actually the PFA that proposed it through our model for the fans before the A-Leagues got up and running and The basis for that was we needed to attract capital, we needed to attract owners, and the owners needed to know, okay, what's this thing going to cost me? So it was really important.

The league was also ran by Football Australia.

That was a not-for-profit that had a duty to support the grassroots and also the national teams.

At the time as well, we had really strong central revenues through Fox Sports.

What do you see in that sense through the eyes of how clubs operate and grow themselves?

Am I living in fairyland here?

No, I think it's an important discussion and one that we're certainly eager to have and we've been trying to progress through the negotiations.

It's important to look back at the history of the salary cap and understand how did we end up with one.

So it was actually the PFA that proposed it through our model for the fans before the A-Leagues got up and running and The basis for that was we needed to attract capital, we needed to attract owners, and the owners needed to know, okay, what's this thing going to cost me? So it was really important.

The league was also ran by Football Australia.

That was a not-for-profit that had a duty to support the grassroots and also the national teams.

At the time as well, we had really strong central revenues through Fox Sports.

What do you see in that sense through the eyes of how clubs operate and grow themselves?

Am I living in fairyland here?

No, I think it's an important discussion and one that we're certainly eager to have and we've been trying to progress through the negotiations.

It's important to look back at the history of the salary cap and understand how did we end up with one.

So it was actually the PFA that proposed it through our model for the fans before the A-League got up and running.

The basis for that was we needed to attract capital, we needed to attract owners, and the owners needed to know, okay, what's this thing going to cost me? So it was really important.

The league was also ran by Football Australia.

That was a not-for-profit that had a duty to support the grassroots and also the national teams.

What do you see in that sense, through the eyes of how clubs operate and grow themselves?

This is Beau Bush, the CEO of the PFA, the players' union.

It's spoken about a lot.

Um, a lot of the time it's spoken about just in the narrow context of pay, but a collective bargaining agreement is far more than that.

It's certainly a key, key part.

We've had collective bargaining in Australian football really since 1995 in the old National Soccer League.

We've had it, um, in the national teams, in the Socceroos case, really since 1997, um, in the Matildas since sort of 2009 as well too.

So it's really been a fundamental part of football in Australia, and it's been a critical way in which the players have made progress around their workplace conditions, but also around driving broader reforms around the game.

What, uh, is your sort of perspective on the key changes that have been made, and therefore the key elements that need to be negotiated into a new CBA?

so i want to move on to uh the history of the pfa um so you guys have been an influential force in the game for i think roughly 30 years i don't know exactly when your birthday is yeah 1993 so just over Can you briefly outline your history for those at home who don't know?

Yeah, so I think there was actually eight attempts at setting up a player association and it took some incredibly special individuals in the co-founders, Brendan Schwab, who I still have the opportunity to meet with regularly, and Kimon Taliadoris.

And And ultimately what had occurred at the time is the players were subjected to a transfer system that meant that in the event their contract expired, they still remained chained to their actual club.

So the same as the Bosman, this was pre-Bosman ruling as well too.

Kimon and Brendan had been really close friends at school.

Brendan was a qualified lawyer.

Kimon was, at the time, the top goal scorer in the NSL, a soccerer, and he wanted to move.

I'm curious about if you have any comments on that and any comments on that perception and whether there's anything you want to say about that.

Does that remain the case as we sit here now?

I think where we're at, we're in negotiations for a long period of time, well, over six months.

Our position was that there was a huge amount of uncertainty in the game as we were going into those negotiations, uncertainty around Western United, Central Coast at the time, Canberra United, Broadcast Steel.

et cetera.

And in that circumstances, we thought it was wise to pursue a short-term collective bargaining agreement that really achieved three key things.

The first was maintaining the club's ability to invest, if they so chose, into their A-League men's team.

The reason why we wanted to ensure that was to ensure they could be competitive in Asia, also to ensure as well that we could attract and retain the best quality talent to drive crowds, TV interest, et cetera.

Can you just let our listeners know a little bit of the time and research that Brett, Erin, John, yourself and the team go through to really understand the economy of the Australian football, you know, before we get to these moments where ultimately it can be a difficult decision to reject a CBA proposal.

Uh, do you have any understanding of how those decisions were made?

Yeah, so incredibly difficult for them.

One of the biggest challenges here is that we really haven't been able to establish direct contact with the players.

That's very rare for a trade union, um, to be unable to seek individual instructions from players to provide them with independent legal advice, and that's something that really needs to be addressed ahead of any other major tournament into the future.

What we know is that the Australian government, as a result of pressure put on by many across the world and in the Australian football community, became involved after their last game.

They started to reach out and try and engage with the players independently.

The Australian, um, Home Affairs, the, the Minister for Home Affairs ensured that every player at the airport before they departed met with immigration officials to understand their rights, to ensure they had sufficient time to be clear around them, to speak to pe- people back home.

And one headline I saw called the ones who stayed, quote, "Brave new Aussies." What's the plan to help support the ones who are staying, and is there any way to ensure that you even know whether the ones who returned are safe?