Capital Football and a fan group fighting to 'Save Canberra United' are keen to begin working together after a "positive" meeting on Monday, as a federal senator dipped into his own pockets to help keep the A-League Women club from folding.
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Capital Football chief executive officer Samantha Farrow and chair Angelo Konstantinou met with representatives of the fan working group after its $300,000 crowd-funding initiative was launched on Friday, vowing to put money raised directly toward United for next A-League season, amid significant financial pressures.
"It was a really productive meeting, and we're looking forward to working with the 'Save Canberra United' group," Farrow told The Canberra Times.
"Right now I want to get the agreement in place. Once we're all on the same page in terms of legalities around how we're operating, then I certainly would like to come out in full support and move forward.
"There's a really good fundraising platform that's started off and we're having conversations around how we will be able to use the funds to support Canberra United."
Former Matilda and working group leader Sue Read said the 15 people in her team - made up of fans with backgrounds in law, health, accounting, politics, education and sports administration - have been working day and night in the last week to develop multiple strategies to raise necessary funds to save United.
Despite some initial fan frustration about what had unfolded to date between United and Capital Football, she said she felt the meeting with Farrow and Konstantinou was a big step in the right direction.
"From my perspective it was really positive," Read said.
"We just want Canberra United to still be here and be successful. We tried to really highlight that we understand the different things they're managing, so they should see us as a little army of relentless people that can help.
"We're finishing setting up our separate entity, and we just want to have transparency so we're going to create a contract and agreement around that.
"We also said we're happy to do a presentation to the board about strategies we can provide to raise money."
Farrow said she was impressed with how the fan working group's fundraising had been "gaining momentum", and understood that time was of the essence with United player contracts set to expire in the coming weeks.
The goal now for Capital Football and the fan group now is not to unintentionally work against each other, with the parties committing to at least weekly meetings to keep communication open.
"Certainly the intent to work together is strong," Farrow said.
"They've got a project plan and the next step is putting mine and their plan together and making sure they don't clash."
As of Monday evening the fundraiser had reached $40,000, and among the various athletes past and present that donated or voiced their support, was independent senator, David Pocock.
The former Wallaby-turned-politician forked out $500 to the cause which he told ABC Radio was "sad" to see unfolding.
Pocock said he had met with other politicians to discuss Canberra United's uncertain future, but concluded it was "very difficult" for the federal government to contribute. He did argue for the ACT government to do more however.
"There's a really strong case for the ACT government to step in and give them the cash to ensure that the women's team can at least continue until we get a men's A-League team that would take over the licence," Pocock said.
"Forwarding a [$250,000 annual funding] payment to Canberra United compared to the $2.85m a year we pay a Sydney AFL team to play three games here - that doesn't seem to square," he added, referring to the GWS Giants' 10-year deal with the ACT government to play at Manuka Oval.
"In the scheme of things, this is not a lot of money to keep Canberra United going."