26 February 2021
Football St George (FSG), the governing body for football in the St George district has confirmed that it will unbundle St George City (SGC) from its operations via a change in membership structure.
In 2015, the Board of FSG sought to obtain a Football NSW National Premier League (NPL) Youth Licence for 13- to 16-year-old males to provide a complete male pathway from under 9 (via SAP) through to 16 years for aspiring local players and coaches.
To achieve this objective, FSG was required to establish a senior program and to compete as “St George FA” in the Football NSW State League Mens competition (currently known as NPL4) and ultimately strive for promotion to NPL 3 Mens competitions. This would then secure a NPL Youth licence and require FSG to establish a separate legal entity, under Football NSW regulation.
In 2017, St George FA were promoted to NPL 3 Mens and subsequently FSG established a new entity to operate its NPL and SAP programs, to be known as St George City FA.
During this period, and under the guidance of Head of Football & Technical Director, Aytek Genc, the Club and its programs have grown to be recognised one of the most progressive, dynamic and successful football organisations in NSW. SGC currently compete in the NPL 2 Mens and NPL 1 Youth competitions.
After the recent impacts of COVID-19 on all aspects of our community, the FSG Board embarked on a strategic planning process, which included an independent review by leading sports executive John Didulica. The review focussed on short, medium and long-term sustainability, to maintain and grow football as the premier sporting code played in our community.
Accordingly, FSG were required to review the needs and future aspirations of SGC, to determine the best options for it to continue to deliver successful youth pathways while also enabling the senior team the chance to ascend further in the ultra-competitive NPL hierarchy.
This process clearly identified that the needs and increasing investment FSG would be required to make into SGC to sustain and subsequently maintain or enhance its performance levels would exceed existing FSG resources and divert focus from our fundamental objective of delivering quality grassroots football programs to players of all ages and abilities.
Since early December 2020, members of the FSG Board and five (5) other individuals have discussed on several occasions the unbundling of SGC from FSG by way of a change in its membership. The decision to proceed with this proposal was not taken lightly and only after a considerable amount of time and effort was invested by the parties to achieve this outcome.
The unbundling of SGC from FSG will allow the Association to focus on core activities that will allow it to meet its objectives and increased demands of our local district including:
- delivering a stronger commitment to grassroots level football;
- focus on coach education and development opportunities;
- increasing participation and enjoyment at all levels in our sport;
- nurturing talent and passion; and importantly
- investing heavily in female football as the regulatory body in our community.
In accordance with terms that have been discussed confidentially and agreed to between the parties, the unbundling of SGC from FSG includes the change of members and the following programs will be retained by SGC after separation:
- Centre of Excellence (COE) (U8)
- Boys Skills Acquisition Program (SAP) (U9 – U12)
- NPL Youth Boys (U13 – U16, U18)
- NPL 2 Men’s (U20, 1st Grade)
- Futsal Program
- Small Group Football Training Program (SGFT)
The FSG will retain and operate the following programs:
- Girls Skills Acquisition Program (U10 – U13)
- Association Youth League (U13 – U16)
A major factor in FSG considering this proposal was the composition of the proposed new Members of SGC that have committed to take over and operate the existing program. They are all strongly affiliated to football in the St George district. The members of SGC after separation will be:
- Mr Aytek Genc – Former Socceroo, Technical Director, Football Pundit
- Mr Abbas Hammoud – Accountant & Partner
- Mr Peter El Khouri – Lawyer & Businessman, former SGFA (FSG) Director
- Mr Stephen Matthews – Finance Consultant & Businessman, FNSW Award
- Mr Sal Torrisi – IT Consultant & Businessman
It should be noted that two (2) of the continuing members, Mr Stephen Matthews and Mr Salvatore Torrisi are existing Directors of FSG and as they have agreed to continue with SGC, under the agreed terms it has been determined that no person can be a Director of both FSG and SGC. As such, both Mr Matthews and Mr Torrisi will resign from the FSG Board on completion of the separation.
As previously noted, FSG are extremely proud of the achievements, growth and unprecedented success of SGC program and acknowledge there are even greater opportunities for the program. However, it is abundantly clear that SGC will require a completely dedicated team that are able to focus on the program to secure the levels of resources and funding it will require.
St George is fortunate to have a strong NPL presence within our region and we will continue to promote those pathways for aspiring players and coaches.
On completion of the separation, Mr Aytek Genc will resign from his duties as Head of Football and Technical Director of Football St George and will remain Head of Football and Technical Director of St George City. As a result of these changes, Mr Brian Dene has been appointed by Football St George as the Technical Director for the following programs:
- Girls Skills Acquisition Program (GSAP) (U10 – U13)
- Association Youth League (AYL) (U13 – U16)
St George City History Snapshot
2016 | Won Football NSW State League Mens in inaugural season
2017 | Promoted to Football NSW NPL 3 Mens and provided a licence in Football NSW NPL 2 Youth (13-16) competition
2018 | Won Football NSW NPL 3 Mens 1st grade, Under 20 and runner up in Under 18. Club took out Club championship.
2019 | Promoted to Football NSW NPL 2 Mens and Football NSW NPL 1 Youth (13-16)
2021 | Current Football NSW NPL 2 Mens, NPL Youth and Boys SAP Licence holders
