In a lengthy six page memo published today, the CRWG – set up at FIFA's request to overhaul the way the FFA is run – dismantled all of the FFA's arguments against their report made public last week.

The six month inquiry by the CRWG, chaired by Judith Griggs, laid out a list of major changes to the way football in Australia should be governed.

As well as spinning off the A-League into its own organisation for 2019/20, it also proposed giving seats on the FFA Congress to players and clubs as well as state federations.

And it also opened the door for more seats on the congress further down the line for fans and NPL clubs as well as other special interest groups.

But the FFA dismissed many of the key proposals in the report, claiming it favours professional football over grassroots football.

Today the CRWG hit back at that suggestion and said their specific mandate from FIFA was to make sure no stakeholder group had a controlling interest, especially when it came to electing directors to the FFA board.

"For the first time in Australian football, the report recommends an enhanced direct input through representatives of grassroots and community football providing advice directly to the FFA"

"This assertion is without merit and without substance," says the CRWG statement today.

"The CRWG was tasked with establishing a more representative and balanced Congress for Australian football.

"This included the need to embrace existing (including member federations, A and W League clubs, and players) and future (women’s football, NPL clubs, coaches, referees, futsal, fans and the like) stakeholders who previously have not had a voice or vote in the leadership of Australian football."

FFA Statutes require 60% of Congress backing to elect a director, and to prevent any one faction dominating voting, the CRWG's plan pulled state federations' vote share back from its current 90% to a proposed 55%.

"As such, the CRWG provides and recommends for the existing grassroots representatives to retain more than a simple majority of Australian football's Congress," said the CRWG statement.

"For the first time in Australian football, the report recommends an enhanced direct input through representatives of grassroots and community football participating in the Grassroots and Community Football Committee, which provides advice directly to the board and management. of FFA."