Andrew Dillon’s appointment sees one other middle-aged white man land the AFL’s high job. Can he fulfil his pledge of creating footy extra accessible to all?
It’s been greater than a 12 months since Gillon McLachlan introduced his resignation as AFL CEO at an emotional press convention, however lastly the hunt for his substitute has concluded. The protracted search, which scoured the nation for potential successors, lastly completed up inside AFL Home and the interior appointment of the manager common supervisor of soccer operations, Andrew Dillon.
It’s removed from a daring or dangerous appointment — it calls to thoughts a soccer workforce with a slim lead taking part in the ball round late within the sport to keep away from a loss. American journalist Sydney J Harris as soon as mused that “our dilemma is that we hate change and find it irresistible on the identical time; what we actually need is for issues to stay the identical however get higher”. That is typically the way in which issues are in sport: the previous establishments are gradual to vary, afraid to make any sudden actions and jeopardise all that they’ve spent years constructing.
When McLachlan steps down in October, the inheritor to his throne can be made in his picture — one other privately educated white man in his early 50s with an extended historical past as an novice footballer and an expert soccer administrator. The reassurance to these watching is constructed into this appointment: the AFL is not going to stray from its core values, and there’s no trigger for concern. This evaluation of the state of affairs was reiterated within the endorsement of Dillon throughout the press convention on Monday by AFL chair Richard Goyder AO.
Learn extra about how the brand new AFL CEO might assist change the sport…
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