'Flawed' funding system behind silence of smaller nations in FIFA's civil war, says ex-PNG player

SYDNEY, Aug 11 : Former Papua New Guinea international Alex Davani says some of the smaller football federations have kept quiet during FIFA's civil war because they fear losing the funding that is vital to their operations. Davani, a former deputy general secretary of Football Australia, believes global soccer's development funding system is flawed and hopes the discussions prompted by Gianni Infantino's abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal might create the environment for reform.The 11-member Oceania federation were scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss the row that has split world football asunder and Davani thinks they are in a tough spot. "I don't think the sort of institutional silence or the quiet coming out of the region is complicity or apathy or anything like that," the