“Leadership is an external challenge of communication.”

A future vision requires imagination and someone to spark the flame.

Performance Coach Owen Eastwood describes this as the creation of ‘forward memories’.

To ignite, motivate and bond individuals into teams through a shared future and journey they will undertake together.

Imagination, in terms of leadership, clearly requires creativity, but mostly, it is an act of courage.

This thought comes to mind when I am speaking with my brother Brendan Schwab and his vision.

Brendan is the most creative and courageous leader I have met, prepared always to hazard himself for the possibility of fulfilling the promise of the sport, impacting the structure and governance of sport, and the rights of athletes who play it.

Having established the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) fresh from studying law and three decades in helping build the Australian and international player association movements, Brendan spent eight years as Executive Director of the World Players Association (World Players), representing 85,000 players through more than 100 player associations in over 60 countries.

In 2018, he was recognised by the players as the fourth 'PFA Champion' and, in 2022, was inducted into the Football Australia Hall of Fame, the first Australian to receive this honour in any sport for their work as a player unionist.

“Australia is a great sporting nation. We can become a great football nation” was the vision.

Brendan understood that the vision would not be achieved through the embedded frameworks vested with responsibility for leading soccer in Australia. These structures and the power they afforded to the few had consistently failed the game, with self-interest prevailing against any potential of a greater good.

Brendan drew the rough outline of a different future for the game he loved, something that inspired, knowing that others would need to colour it in.

The ‘others’, in this case, were the players themselves.

“I felt that through the players, we could realise that vision of Australia being a great football nation”.

The shared love became the greater good the game so badly needed, and a very special group of players bought in with a collective purpose and preparedness to put themselves at risk for the sake of the game they treasured.

So pleased to welcome my brother Brendan Schwab as our guest, ‘In the Arena’.

I am very proud of him.

Enjoy!

Play on!