Leaked letter to Football Ferns players reveals a ‘restorative process’ is underway weeks out from Olympics

NZ Football has called in independent facilitators in an attempt to repair rifts in the Football Ferns team, weeks out from its Olympic campaign.

The move is outlined in a letter NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell sent to players after an employment investigation into coach Jitka Klimkova.

The details of what sparked the investigation, and the eventual findings, have been kept under wraps by NZ Football. It communicated Klimkova’s sudden departure and re-emergence in the Ferns camp via tightly worded statements.

However, Pragnell’s letter to players – leaked to RNZ – suggests the fallout from the investigation continues to impact the team environment just weeks out from the start of the Olympic Games.

Pragnell invites the players and team management to take part in a “restorative process” in an effort to “build or rebuild constructive relationships”.

“There are many people in the environment who want [to be] working towards a more cohesive and high performance environment that is founded on high trust,” Pragnell wrote.

“Despite the work the team and staff have put into this area over the past nine months there is still further work to be done. To that end NZF and NZPFA [NZ Professional Footballers’ Association] have agreed to providing a restorative process with trained independent facilitators to assist in building relationships with some players and staff.”

Pragnell added that the process was “voluntary” and there was no requirement for players to be involved.

“A restorative process seeks to build or rebuild constructive working relationships. This first stage of a process would be the facilitators having preliminary meetings, with people who are interested, on an individual and confidential basis,” the letter stated.

“This meeting would be a chance for the facilitators to explain these principles, to hear about your experience and perspective and to explore with you what type of process may meet your needs and be a safe, respectful and accessible process for you.”

NZ Football declined to address questions about specific interventions undertaken in the Ferns’ environment, but in a statement said “a strong culture is central to all of our teams”.

“New Zealand Football offer a range of services to our high performance players and staff to ensure they are in the best place to perform on the international stage.”

Cloud over imminent Olympic campaign

The squad has limited time to rebuild team culture ahead of next month’s Olympics. The pool matches, which will be played in various locations around France, get underway on July 24 – two days before the opening ceremony.

The team for the Games is expected to be named early next month, but NZ Football confirmed no players had ruled themselves out of selection contention in the fallout from the investigation.

The issues in the Ferns camp first came to light last month during the team’s tour to Spain for a pair of friendly matches against Japan, when NZ Football announced Klimkova had taken a leave of absence while an employment investigation was underway.

In Klimkova’s absence, assistant coach Michael Mayne took charge for the matches against Japan, where the Ferns suffered 2-0 and 4-1 defeats against the world number seven ranked side.

Less than two weeks later, NZ Football released a statement announcing Klimkova would return to the head coach role “with immediate effect” following the conclusion of the employment investigation.

In his letter to the Ferns squad, Pragnell did not give players any further insight into the findings of the investigation.

“As you will appreciate, the terms of this process are strictly bound by confidentiality agreements that, if breached, would have significant implications for the parties concerned.

“Consequently, there is not a lot that can be reported further at this stage, however NZF has treated this matter very seriously, undertaken independent expertise to investigate a complaint and followed legal advice and due process with [NZ Professional Footballers’ Association] support along the way.”

NZPFA general manager Jacob Spoonley declined to comment on the investigation.

“Everything has been conducted respectfully behind closed doors,” he said.