Meet the Committee
Louise Taffa
Louise Taffa, from Canberra, has worked in football for the past five years and in various media roles for the past nine years.
She is a regular contributor on BBC Sport and was previously the host of several shows at FNR - Football Nation Radio.
Louise currently works in a government communications and media role, while maintaining a passionate interest in the game, especially the development of young players.
Jorge Knijnik
Dr Jorge Knijnik is an Associate Professor in the School of Education and a researcher in the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University.
Jorge’s overarching research interests focus on topics of Education (including Health and Physical Education), social justice, sport for development, gender, multiculturalism, football fandom, curriculum and social inclusion.
His community and pedagogical work has been acknowledged by two major prizes: the 2009 Building Gender Equality awarded by the Brazilian Research Council, UNESCO and UN-WOMEN, and a 2014 Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, presented by the Australian Department of Education.
Originally from Brazil, Jorge is a lifelong football fan, and has authored or co-authored eight books, both academic and non-academic in genre.
His most recent publication (2018) is entitled The World Cup Chronicles: 31 Days that Rocked Brazil.
Rob Juric
Rob is an avid football fan and accredited coach, having played in semi-professional leagues in Australia and England. Rob has been involved in the sport for over 40 years as a player, coach, team manager, volunteer and parent.
In recent years he has been deeply involved in youth and school football on the northern beaches of Sydney through his association with Manly Utd FC and Sydney FC Sporting Schools Program. Rob is also a volunteer for Football Utd/Creating Chances which aims to empower youth through football.
Professionally, Rob holds a commerce degree, graduate diploma in applied finance and investment (FINSIA) and CPA qualifications. Rob has an extensive business and project management background with particular expertise in corporate lending, risk management and financial analysis. As a corporate finance professional Rob had over 20 years experience with top tier investment banks in Australia and the UK. In his most recent role, Rob was an executive director at UBS AG having worked on numerous high profile corporate deals.
Rob’s latest project is the running of a boutique sports management business that focusses solely on female footballers.
Bonita Mersiades
Bonita has been a football volunteer in Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney and Townsville for more than 35 years.
She has worked professionally in football with a national soccer league club, a state federation, as team manager of the Socceroos, and with FFA as Head of corporate and public affairs. She is also the author of two football books: Frank Farina's My World is Round and Whatever It Takes - the Inside Story of the FIFA Way. She is a writer, editor and publisher, founder of the Football Writers' Festival and is an advocate for reform in football internationally as co-founder of the former campaign group New FIFA Now.
Prior to working in football, Bonita also worked as a senior executive with the federal government in the areas of health, education and budgetary policy, and as a Ministerial advisor. She has represented Australia at the World Health Organisation on HIV/AIDS and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation fora including leading APEC delegations.
Vicki Morton
Victoria Morton is President of South Hobart Football Club, a position she has held for more than nine years and has been involved in football in Tasmania for 17 years.
She is deputy Chairman of the Association of Australian Football Clubs (AAFC) and President of the Central Region Football Association in Tasmania, which manages football for 4,500 players between the ages of 5-12 in greater Hobart.
She is also a Director of Morton's Soccer School which runs classes for girls and boys between the ages of 4-18 years. Victoria also manages The Kit Room, which is a football specific store in Hobart.
In 2018, Victoria re-introduced the Hobart Cup to the local football landscape, with more than 120 teams participating to be Southern Tasmania's most popular junior tournament.
A former restaurant owner and pastry chef, Victoria was also named Football Administrator of the Year in 2018.