Looking for Egmond's Accountability

You have to love the world we live in today. Everyone is to blame but ourselves! So it comes as no surprise that some media commentators are quick to lay the van Egmond fiasco at the FFA’s doorstep rather than the individual responsible.

In his latest blog, Jesse Fink points the finger at FFA and a lack of due diligence on their behalf as the root cause for the problems that Gary van Egmond now finds himself in. But where is the accountability for the individual that misled the FFA and his club throughout this process. Gary van Egmond should bear the majority of fault for this mess not the FFA.

The article itself touches on van Egmond’s role within the process without ever associating wrongdoing to him personally. Fink writes, “According to our information, the FFA then offered to contact Constantine to inform him of their planned offer to employ the coach. Van Egmond persuaded them to hold off, suggesting that he should tell Constantine himself”. So the FFA was under the impression that van Egmond would inform his employers that he had applied for a role at the AIS and FFA, was it reasonable of the FFA to then go behind Van Egmond’s back and inform the club, I wouldn’t have thought so.

The other concern in this process is the contract that Van Egmond had with Newcastle Jets. As Fink writes “Van Egmond allegedly assured the FFA during the interview process that he had been “unencumbered” contractually.” Jesse goes on to suggest that they should have requested a copy of the contract. Really? Is it really a reasonable request for a potential employer to request a copy of the current contract that a potential employee has with their existing employer? Again I would have thought not.

It seems to me that Gary Van Egmond here needs to bear the brunt of the blame. It was he who misled the FFA in regards to his ability to exit his contract. And it was he who failed to inform his existing employer that he was seeking employment elsewhere. His reputation is now in tatters and I wonder if a senior club in the A-league would even consider him for a youth role at the moment.

Fink’s colleague and fellow blogger Phil Micallef seems to be of the same mind as myself as his latest article places the blame squarely on Gary van Egmond’s shoulders. It’s interesting to note that Philip, who spoke to Egmond before this all blew up in his face, quotes Egmond as being “almost cocky” about leaving the Jets in the lurch.

It’s good to see that FFA did the correct thing and withdrew their offer of employment once it was confirmed that indeed van Egmond had misled them. There is no doubt that the FFA could have handled its communication with Con Constantine better after the offer of employment had been made and accepted but I cannot accept them as the “villain”, as Fink puts it, in this situation.

15 days to Season V
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