I've just read this, and before you get too excited, there is some updated news to add. The previous post quotes from documents that I believe to be in existance and (while not seeing them myself) have heard of their contents.There is no doubt that Leroy Sisnett has not been operating truthfully and he may be called to account by the police etc, but the sport in NZ is united under the re-named national body, now called The NZ American Football Federation. In terms of membership, the newly named body is exactly the same as the NZAFA but without Leroy Sisnett and his wife. After waiting almost a year for Sisnett to provide financial records and to call an AGM to ratify a new constitution, the gridiron community took positive action by renaming the organisation and essentially leaving Sisnett and wife with the empty shell NZAFA.
While in the process of doing this, the new administration discovered much of what you have read, above, from SPARC. Incidently SPARC have indicated that they now recognise NZAFF as the representative body of the sport of gridiron in NZ. SPARC are working with NZAFF to get their affaitrs in order and have indicated that this November they will confer official recognition on NZAFF.
This whole situation has been caused by Sisnett's dishonesty and there has been no divisions among the clubs and membership excepting in their dealings with Sisnett.
Technically NZ should not have been allowed to contest the JWC qualification and to beat Australia. While a bitter pill for you Aussies to swallow, NZ won on the field and earned the right to compete in Canton. If Sisnett had not carried out his elaborate subtefuge, NZ gridiron would have remained officially recognised as the governing body and all subsequent memberships in good stead.
The sad side to this (from a NZ perspective) is that Sisnett continues to prepare the team for Canton (and is in Canton as we speak). NZAFF has no part of the team's preparations for JWC or the tournament itself. NZAFF is between a rock and a hard place as the players have already made a substantial financial contribution towards the event and NZAFF do not want to jepodise their participation. I think its also fair to say that they are not being wholeheartedly supported by the players parents (many who are administrators of NZAFF clubs) who (in my view) are more interested in protecting their son's trip to Canton than doing what's morally right.
This will definitely be Sisnett's swansong as come November, NZAFF will receive the official government recognition, effectively making it impossible for Sisnett to represent NZ internationally. This next season has all the clubs playing under the NZAFF banner, so Sisnett has no teams and no leagues operating under the NZAFA banner.
I hope that GA will work with NZ in growing football in our region and recognise that the new leadership in NZ were also duped by Sisnett with the added pain of 100's of thousands of dollars being spirited away also.
There are some good people involved in the running of gridiron in NZ now, and they can be trusted. Some, like myself, have returned to gridiron administration and are galvanised by the new spirit within our sport. I think we would all like to foster a trusting relationship with Australia, I certainly do.
Wayne Wright