Lowy's removal from the equation will likely be the circuit breaker needed to make progress in the stand-off.
‘‘The main purpose is to give the game every possible chance over the next couple of months to expand the (FFA) congress and at the same time preserve the independence of the FFA board,’’ Lowy told reporters in Sydney.
‘‘The period ahead will be one of uncertainty and intense debate.’’
Lowy said the code was facing ‘‘momentous issues’’ but vested interests were clouding the governance debate.
‘‘I want to remove from the debate,once and for all,any suggestion that the struggle to maintain an independent FFA board has anything to do with my personal interest or ambitions,’’ he said.
‘‘What does all this mean? It means that yet again Australian football faces an existential question:how best to govern the game,by vested interest or a truly independent board?’’
Lowy said ‘‘those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes’’.
‘‘We are now at a tipping point:the game either gets stronger or it could break if vested interest prevails. The game has so much momentum ... but this could be seriously at risk in a short space of time.’’
Lowy’s decision to quit ends a 50-year span of involvement in Australian soccer of he and Frank Lowy,the billionaire Westfield co-founder,who preceded his son as FFA boss.