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New Zealand Football chief executive Andy Martin.

OPINION: This all could have worked out so differently. 

Last Thursday, New Zealand Football (NZF) could have fronted up to multiple anonymous Football Ferns, as well as one willing to go on the record, voicing concerns with how their camp in Spain in March was run by coach Andreas Heraf.

Players felt an unprofessional culture was developing in the team. Had NZF responded, they might have copped a bit of flak, but looked like an open and transparent organisation. 

JOHN DAVIDSON/PHOTOSPORT

Football Ferns coach Andreas Heraf.

Instead of addressing those issues, their instinct was to shut down that player with the help of the New Zealand Professional Footballers' Association (NZPFA). Rug, meet broom. Sweep, sweep away.

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The player wasn't threatened with a fine directly, merely reminded by the NZPFA the new collective bargaining agreement has a provision whereby players can be fined for negative comments which bring NZF into disrepute.

Yes, Heraf did front the next day, but only after the player had informed both NZF and Stuff she would be retracting her on-the-record comments. 

NZF chief executive Andy Martin went on Radio Sport on Friday and said retiring Ferns defender, Abby Erceg, had been the player who had wanted to go on the record. 

Stuff takes source protection very seriously and will not confirm if Erceg was the player involved.

Martin went on to bemoan the fact it was anonymous players who had made the claims in last week's report on Stuff, knowing full well NZF's role in silencing one of them.

Erceg's retirement was announced when the Ferns' squad for their match against Japan in Wellington on June 10 was announced on Thursday.

When asked by Stuff this week about the reasons for the retirement, Erceg said she could not comment because of potential trouble under the CBA. That does not mean she was the player Stuff was speaking with the previous week.

But because Erceg said she cannot speak this week, those in power at NZF did the speaking for her, controlling the narrative around her retirement with a one-sided argument. They spoke; she was gagged.

Heraf and Martin, safe in the knowledge Erceg had effectively given up her right of reply, gave their version of events. 

Heraf said Erceg was "not feeling that happy coming back again", having just returned from retiring for the first time in February 2017 for the two games against Scotland in Spain.

He also asserted Erceg did not play the first game due to illness, something Erceg disputed on Twitter immediately after the game.

She feels she can't speak about that now, or anything to do with her retirement. The powerful men at NZF have won, for now.

But if Erceg feels she has been forced out, rather than choosing to retire for her own reasons, she could have a case for constructive dismissal, an employment lawyer told Stuff.

Constructive dismissal is defined as: "If an employer's action or inaction makes the situation at work so intolerable for the employee that the employee resigns, it may be considered a constructive dismissal. It can be subject to a personal grievance".

NZF can't have it both ways. If Erceg could not speak as she was bound by her contract, then she was in essence still employed in its eyes, even having retired. So even though she opted to retire, she could argue it was in fact constructive dismissal.

If the working conditions were so poor in the camp, and she felt she had no option other than leaving, she could have a case for lost income - even costs - to be paid.

It might only equate to a few thousand dollars lost from in-camp payments over the next few years of her career, but maybe it would be enough to cover a fine for speaking out.

 - Stuff