Calls for the addition of a designated Asian player position have been deafening among critics of the sport and Griffin revealed that Football Federation Australia has already pushed hard to pass the rule into the A-League regulations.
But the APFCA, which represents the A-League club owners and expects to inherit control of an independent A-League when it is no longer under the auspices of FFA, has no intention of following public sentiment.
Speaking at the World Football Summit in Kuala Lumpur, before an audience full of Asian football leaders – including clubs, member associations and sponsors – Griffin made it clear that A-League clubs would fight to keep an Asian-only player slot out of the A-League.
“I’ve been a very vocal critic of the three or four-plus-one rule. The FFA, as part of their attempts to ingratiate themselves in Asia, have said they want one Asian player of five foreign players. But we [the A-League clubs] have consistently refused to do that,” he told the conference.
“It’s not because we don’t see them as good players – some of the Asian players are outstanding quality – but we simply can’t match their salary requirements.
"There’s no point in us [A-League club owners] bringing over an Asian player.
“A very good Asian player – like a [Keisuke] Honda or an [Shinji] Ono, who have been spectacularly successful in the A-League – requires a much higher salary than a very good Australian player.”
Griffin said that the changes in the Asian market now meant that the A-League could not keep up financially and that they were better served asking European scouts to deliver players.
“Say we’ve got a budget of $500,000 or $600,000 for a foreign player. Well, the average wage for the Chinese Super League is $2.1 million for Chinese players,” he said. “For that money, you might get a very competent player, but I’m sure that if I told [a European agent] that I have $2.1 million, he’s going to get me two, three or four very good players.”
It is not the first time Griffin has been outspoken on this issue, having previously stated in January 2017 that an Asian player slot was “ultimately a fruitless exercise” and that there was “absolutely no point in going 4+1 and compromising the product we provide in some attempt to curry favour with the AFC.”
Despite ongoing protests, particularly from fans, Australia remains one of very few AFC nations that has failed to bring in an Asian player slot for its domestic leagues.
Also noteworthy is that many of Australia’s neighbours in the ASEAN region now have visa positions available for players specifically from within the region in an effort to grow football relations between these countries.
Last month, the K-League announced it would be opening a position specifically for ASEAN players, while J.League clubs are now allowed to register an unlimited number of ASEAN players with the hope of driving the league’s popularity in that region.
