sport, soccer

Canberra A-League organisers have all but given up on their $4 million bid to join the competition and will start refunding foundation memberships as soon as the FFA confirms they will not be included in an expansion. As the heated battle between Gold Coast United owner Clive Palmer and FFA boss Frank Lowy continued yesterday, Canberra bid chief Ivan Slavich conceded it was unlikely the capital could secure a team. Despite having $4 million ready to be injected into a Canberra team, Slavich still needed another $2 million to reach the FFA's requirements. He will write a letter to FFA chief executive Ben Buckley this week to seek clarification of whether Canberra was in contention for an expansion spot. The Canberra bid can hold the $400,000 in membership pledges until December 31. But after meeting with ACT Sport Minister Andrew Barr last week, Slavich expects to be told the A-League has no plan to admit a team from the capital. If Slavich receives bad news, he will start refunding the 2000 memberships of $200 each to the community. "I'm a bit disappointed [the FFA] didn't talk to me about it, but if there are no prospects we will refund the money," Slavich said. "I think it will be the end [of a bid] in the short term. "There's not a single wealthy person in Canberra I haven't spoken to about contributing, I think I've spoken to the top 20 wealthiest people. "If we can't get the money, I guess I question the capacity of Canberra to raise the necessary funds for an A-League team. "We don't have a Clive Palmer or billionaire mining magnates." Slavich said he would give foundation members an option of refunding their money or keeping it together in a trust for soccer in the capital. The FFA gave Canberra the target of $6 million in start-up capital before it could be granted a licence. While it set strict guidelines for Slavich's bid, Palmer revealed last week he paid just $50,000 to secure a licence for a team on the Gold Coast. The FFA also shunned the advanced Canberra bid in favour of giving a western Sydney team a chance to join the competition. The western Sydney bid had no start-up capital and failed to gather enough support and momentum to enter a team in the competition. Palmer and Lowy have been locked in a brutal exchange in recent weeks. Lowy yesterday attacked Palmer for making illogical, confused and damaging comments about the game after the outspoken mining magnate questioned the way the A-League was run. The ACT Government contributed $2 million to the Canberra bid, with $400,000 from foundation memberships and the rest private support. "The issue for me is that I see all the other elite sports represented in the ACT – rugby, league, AFL, basketball, women's football, baseball – and I think it's disappointing the most popular sport in Canberra isn't represented," Slavich said. "Football is the most popular sport in Canberra with 18,000 registered players – of which 14,000 are juniors – but the challenge is adding more seniors to that." Slavich has not ruled out starting another bid in the coming years, but conceded Canberra would have to settle for one-off A-League fixtures and a possible youth league team. "I've got no doubt there will be elite football in Canberra, but it's unlikely to be an A-League team given what's happening at the FFA. "Before I did this again the first thing I would work on is getting the financial backing before getting the community excited. "I think it could deflate some fans in Canberra."