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Open Letter to Chris Fong & the Owners of Brisbane Roar FC

Dear Chris,
On Sunday, 7th April 2019, an article appeared on the SBS’s World Game website quoting you as saying the appointment of a new coach may be delayed as late as June. We note the club’s frequent claims of misrepresentation in the media therefore we are writing on behalf of our members seeking clarification on the following points:
1. Can you please confirm the current status on appointing a replacement Coach given more than 100 days have elapsed since the position became vacant? Fans could reasonably expect the recruitment process to have been concluded successfully by now.
2. We note that this statement was attributed to you in your APFCA role. Can you please confirm whether it is also the official position of BRFC that there will now be a delay in hiring a replacement Head Coach?
3. Can you please advise whether APFCA provided any encouragement or pressure for BRFC to delay a decision on the new Head Coach, or is this decision solely BRFC’s?
4. If APFCA provided any encouragement or pressure in regard to this decision, is this a unilateral decision by BRFC or will other APFCA members be taking comparable measures also e.g. will other clubs be delaying coaching appointments or delaying player signings?
5. Given that pre-season starts in June, what assurances can you give to fans that this delay won’t adversely affect season 2019/20?
A decision to delay the appointment of a new head coach is extremely worrying to Roar supporters and we must convey the initial reaction from our members has been overwhelmingly negative to this news.
Finally, we believe it is imperative that the Club communicate with its fans as a matter of urgency on this issue. To this end we invite you and David Pourre to attend an RSF Fan Forum as soon as possible. We believe this would allow our members to discuss this season in general and set a positive tone for next season.
If you or David could provide a suitable date and time, we will take care of the rest.
We reiterate our support for BRFC and our commitment to growing the supporter base for all of Roar’s teams and we believe our actions this season have demonstrated what we can achieve by working together.

The RSF Board & Management Committee

Link to the original letter – Open letter to Chris Fong on the Head Coach appointment

 

We are pleased to say the RSF has had a quick response from Chris Fong to our correspondence relating to the appointment of the new head coach, this is summarised in the open letter below (remember, the RSF uses “open letters” for transparency so all members can see an adopted position on any given point). and thank you to David Pourre for his usual excellent engagement as well!

Chris has agreed to a fan forum at the earliest possible date and we will work with the club to arrange this. In respect of the replacement coaching appointment things don’t seem as literal as reported in the SBS article and we have sent a couple of clarifying questions to Chris and will await his response before providing a final update.

Thank you to all members that have corresponded on this, we will endeavour to provide individual responses but please give our (time poor) volunteers a bit of time to get around to everyone. And thank you to Chris/Dave at the club for a rapid fire response

The RSF Board & Management Committee