Matthew Hall
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Who's Afraid of the World Cup?
Why so much self-hate, Australia?
It took about as long as Mark Bresciano required to turn debacle into success in the World Cup qualifier against Bahrain last month for the rowdy rabble to protest.
Sports Minister Kate Ellis had just announced the Federal government would contribute some $45 million to help Australia's 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign and the self-haters spewed forth.
The government's decision, mulled over at Cabinet level and not taken lightly considering the global economic meltdown, was an apparent outrage.
The response from some quarters was so predictable a primary school English teacher would have sent the essays back with red-inked crosses.
Spending that kind of money "in the naive belief that they would ever grant the World Cup to an isolated nation of 20 million people that don't much like soccer [sic] in the first place - all in the wrong time zone for prime time TV in Europe and America - is nothing short of crazy," wrote one columnist in a Saturday newspaper.
The same edition carried another opinion, with a correspondent seemingly unhappy at football favouritism: "Soccer [sic] will enjoy unprecedented government access and patronage. That should ensure the game has powerful political allies during what remains the difficult process of establishing the A-League and entrenching grass-roots development. What's more, as other football codes jostle for the crumbs that fall from the budget table."
That was the more measured opposition. Yet another columnist, rabid with rage at the idea of Australia making a professional, well-funded bid to rival England, the USA, Belgium and Holland, maybe Qatar and China, could not help downing litres of bitter.
"While other sports are bleeding and begging the Government for funding, soccer [sic] has been handed yet another golden egg," she typed, perhaps with two fists. "A sport that is absolutely incapable of supporting itself financially should not have been given such a massive cash injection."
"Staging a World Cup would give soccer [sic] bosses the right to trumpet to all of us that this is the only world game and that Australia has a real place in its upper echelons. It would also provide ample opportunity to gloss over the problems the code is suffering here."
"Rugby league, for one, lost a promised $10 million [in funding]."
On and on and on and on they droned.
Bwah, bwah, bwah.
While I yawn, for sure, the financial detail of Australia's bid should not avoid scrutiny. Far from it. Every dinner, dance, and bribe should be detailed accounted for.
This is nothing new for some of us.
Having been a keen student of the often Machiavellian politics of Australian football and the rampant exploitation of its past meager finances for many years before Frank Lowy's regime was installed by the Federal government (after a campaign mounted by media and grassroots supporters, I add), there's nothing I enjoy more than sifting through receipts to discover "soccer" officials had been treating visiting international dignitaries to "massages" on the sport's bill (this actually happened).
But that's not the story here.
The issue is why, why, and why, do Australians have such fear and loathing for a bid to bring one the world's biggest events to our shores?
Perhaps the greatest beneficiaries of this venture will turn out to be psychologists who could make a financial killing if they could get invite some of these fevered critics on to their couches.
Over the past few decades, Australia's attempts to qualify for FIFA World Cups has seen our teams take on opponents from North Korea, Japan, South Korea, Rhodesia, Israel, New Zealand, Iraq, Indonesia, Iran, Taiwan, Fiji, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Scotland, Canada, Argentina, Tahiti, Solomon Islands, Tonga, American Samoa, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, and Uruguay.
In 2018, possibly, we might qualify as hosts.
How odd then that the greatest opposition comes from our own shores.
For those in the know, follow me on Twitter, here.
COMMENTS
Those who are afraid of success are the ones who are stopping this country from being great!
Dare to dream my fellow aussies!
- by Michael Jones on December 13, 2008 at 04:12 PM
Rebecca Wilson is a @#$%% idiot!
She probably wants more money to go into the rugby league world cup. She has no idea about sports and pretends to be some sort of sporting expert most of the time.
Just ignore her.
- by Ben King on December 14, 2008 at 01:00 AM
wow. if those of us lucky enough to be in germany for the last one, could impress upon you the magnitude of the occasion that will come to town if we win it.....
there'd be no resistance. best party ever.
- by robert on December 14, 2008 at 01:15 AM
If we can...then we should.
- by steve vdh on December 14, 2008 at 07:36 AM
This is just too funny. When the bid funding was announced, the general response from soccer jihadis across the country was "YES! Now we'll destroy the other codes and finally become number 1 in Australia!" And so how exactly do you expect supporters of those other codes to respond to the bid? Perhaps if soccer-supporting journalists stopped the triumphalism for just a moment they could understand why people have responded in this manner. As it is, national support for this bid has already been made impossible by the way in which soccer has presented it - namely as a chance to grow at the expense of other established codes of football.
And perhaps whilst the psychologists are busy helping the 'fevered critics' they could also allocate a little time to understanding the self haters whose sense of worth seems dependent upon trashing sports developed in their own country. Sound familiar?
- by Kurt on December 14, 2008 at 08:22 AM
Having the government putting a large amount of money towards a bid for a sport festival that would return millions for every dollar given is only sensible. A football world cup would be a major boost to the nations economy. BUT, the 2018 cup will be in Europe. No question. We should be bidding for 2022. This money will be wasted, and there will be no second offering!
- by Ian Swan on December 14, 2008 at 08:32 AM
Point of order Mr Chairman. Before you start raving about the supposed benefits, the reality is that there are any number of social causes that would be more worthy recipients of such government funding. And if you don't like people referring to the code as soccer then why are the national team still called the Socceroos?
- by Ray McSpray on December 14, 2008 at 09:10 AM
It is really sad to think so many people are afraid of a sport they know little about just because they would prefer not to.
I really hope those of us who want the WC are given a chance to show the world and the rest of Australia just how much it means. It would be a real shame if only the naysayers get the spotlight.
- by Chris on December 14, 2008 at 09:26 AM
The same band of clowns, nay-sayers, pessimists, and sport-haters said the same stuff before the Sydney Olympics. Plenty of 'pundits' said the Olympics would send us broke, no-one would want to come, we can't win gold, we don't like athletics anyway, etc etc
Look what happened! Best Olympics ever.
World cup in Oz? YES WE CAN!
As an aside, I was in Beijing during the recent 2008 Olympics. Plenty of 'commentators', media people, opinion writers, etc, were saying the same thing, even a week before the opening ceremony. I think people are afraid of the big tasks.
- by Ben on December 14, 2008 at 11:34 AM
The real question is where is the two billion going to come from the build at least large capacity purpose built standards for the event. The MCG and Homebush stadiums are just not good enough for world cup soccer. Really Rugby Union and League should be cheering, and stadiums built for sports played to those dimensions are needed in those sports too. If there is even a slight chance of it happening then bid away, because it would be freaking enormous if it did. I think its a genuine chance, the US wont get it again so soon with their now love for soccer, England will have had Olympics too close, and FIFA has shown a clear preference for not having it Europe too often. So why not?
- by Dave on December 14, 2008 at 11:42 AM
In 2000, people could not believe that we could stage the Olympics and the Paralympics. Australia staged the best ever games.
All I can say to the powers that be in the football world put your bid in for 2018. Send a message to the world and to the football(soccer) doubters in this country, that we can do it and bring it on!!
The Football (Soccer) World Cup would be a fantastic event to host in this country and lets share the games around the cities and regional centres in this country!!
It will provide revenue and tourism to Australia but most importantly it will change the world's perceptions on football in this region. It is the most widely watched event in the world, the only event that comes close is the Olympics!!
- by Sophia on December 14, 2008 at 12:58 PM
This just encourages that boring person who sits in the corner of the pub watching soccer by himself. However he just can’t watch it in peace by himself. He has to go on and on "this will take over one day ………..mark my words" Seriously mate just watch your sport and leave the rest of us alone.
- by Dave on December 14, 2008 at 03:04 PM
Dave why is the MCG not good enough it holds 100,000 people which is more than MANY famous soccer stadiums.
Are you concerned that they play aussie rules there which is a game that is almost 30 years older than soccer?
- by PJ on December 14, 2008 at 05:58 PM
as an olympic nation, we battle well above our weight. as a soccer (football, whatever) power, we are minnows - and have made one world cup in the 30 years.
no, a world cup is not going to happen here in 2018 - and the time zone thing is an issue when the world tv rights are such an issue.
while not begruding the money, maybe it would be better spent making the a-league a bit more internationally respected and competitive, as that might make us a little more respected on the world level.
- by monty on December 14, 2008 at 09:56 PM
Self hating nation? Oh dear is that the line of argument you're taking is it? On what basis do you justify the claim that we are we self hating Mr Hall? Is it because *gasp* one nation in a sea of sheep would have the audacity to follow other codes of football more fervently than soccer (the name “soccer”, by the way, is a perfectly acceptable name for the sport, and is in fact particularly suitable in the diverse Australian sporting landscape)? There is nothing wrong with opposing the government’s massive cash injection to the FFA for a bid that is FAR from a sure thing. In fact, given that the government has never been so kind to this country’s other preferred codes of football, I would say it’s necessary.
I played soccer as a kid for a few years and I didn’t mind it, but I got to high school and played rugby union and never looked back. I also rather enjoy the AFL a bit, but I honestly just don’t have time for soccer. And this brings me to my major issue with the more evangelical soccer supporters in this country – Being the “world game” doesn’t necessitate that every country in the world embrace it! Let’s get one thing out of the way, because reading Craig Foster in the Herald today I feel this is a necessary point to make: FIFA is not the United Nations. I’m terribly sorry Craig, but despite your unsupported claims that soccer brings people together and supports peace (while simultaneously having the most violent and gang oriented fans on the planet), this does not make involvement with the world cup the sporting equivalent to ratifying the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Can I ask someone to explain when it became such a requirement that we all love soccer and its world cup in the first place? It’s just a bloody game for crying out loud, having it struggle in this country does not make us insular or unworldly. In fact, I would go so far as to say that we should be proud that we don’t just support the status quo like the other 90% of the planet, and we should be even prouder that we’ve developed our own code of football that is truly unique, requiring both great and diverse skills.
So in answer to your question Matthew, the reason there is so much opposition to this bid “from our own shores” isn’t due to “self hate”. Quite to the contrary, it is that many of us are actually quite comfortable with not being just another nation of soccer fanatics, and thus don’t think it necessary wasting millions of tax payer dollars just to reassure ourselves and the world that we care about their silly little game, when in reality we just don’t. We are a diverse nation, soccer will always have its niche and will always be favoured by parents not wanting their children getting hurt, but kids grow up to take on their own interests and sporting audiences often have deep roots. We’re never going to be a soccer nation, we’re different from other countries. But you know what? That’s ok.
- by Dan on December 14, 2008 at 11:03 PM
I hink that what is really upsetting, Dave, an "old fashioned" Australian, is that he know that the bloke in the corner of his pub is right.
Not all is perfect in he world game in this country, but the trend is undeniable - its onward and upward (1 million reg. players etc.). It's a trend that anti-football fanatics like Dave and Rebecca what's her name find upsetting.
- by John Macdonald on December 15, 2008 at 02:25 AM
Dan certainly has some valid points about Craig Foster's article. Craig Foster's opiniated style also makes him unpopular with significant sections of the mainstream football following community.
Despite its potential for good, football is not something that now transcends the Catholic Church and the UN combined.
Football is a sport.
However, in terms of its popularity in Australia, Dan is way out of touch. Football Australia CEO, Ben Buckley, a former AFL admin whiz, recently claimed that there were now 1,000,000 registered players distributed through all parts Australia and in all sections of society. Now that makes football easily the national game in tems of actual participation. It sounds like you're an older person Dan, because if you had played rugby at school more recently, you would be aware that in at least a third of the former "rugby" schools of Sydney and Brisbane, football, the term know used by eg the AAGPS of NSW, is the most popular sport.
The Sydney area now has something like 100 divisions of the game for young men in their prime i.e. men aged late teens to early 30's, not to mention over 35's, the indoor game and the man 6-a-side outdoor summer competitions now springing up at a great rate. Sorry Dan but football is already far and away the most popular game in this country where it really counts - on the field.
I travel regularly, and I rarely find anyone overseas who has ever heard of AFL, for the very simple reason that it is not an international sport.
- by John Macdonald on December 15, 2008 at 03:06 AM
Dan certainly has some valid points about Craig Foster's article. Craig Foster's opiniated style also makes him unpopular with significant sections of the mainstream football following community.
Despite its potential for good, football is not something that now transcends the Catholic Church and the UN combined.
Football is a sport.
However, in terms of its popularity in Australia, Dan is way out of touch. Football Australia CEO, Ben Buckley, a former AFL admin whiz, recently claimed that there were now 1,000,000 registered players distributed through all parts Australia and in all sections of society. Now that makes football easily the national game in tems of actual participation. It sounds like you're an older person Dan, because if you had played rugby at school more recently, you would be aware that in at least a third of the former "rugby" schools of Sydney and Brisbane, football, the term know used by eg the AAGPS of NSW, is the most popular sport.
The Sydney area now has something like 100 divisions of the game for young men in their prime i.e. men aged late teens to early 30's, not to mention over 35's, the indoor game and the man 6-a-side outdoor summer competitions now springing up at a great rate. Sorry Dan but football is already far and away the most popular game in this country where it really counts - on the field.
I travel regularly, and I rarely find anyone overseas who has ever heard of AFL, for the very simple reason that it is not an international sport.
- by John Macdonald on December 15, 2008 at 03:06 AM
Until your country does something about the near monopoly that Qantas has on air fares, I don't see how your country could support this event. Would love to come back to the Aussie Open, F1 race, or even this World Cup - but Qantas stifles competition. It's cheaper to fly from LA to HK, then to Australia, on Cathay, than to fly direct.
But to the point of this column, are there really that many Kickyball fans in Australia? Or would you just be doing this to try to impress Europeans?
- by Roger on December 15, 2008 at 07:59 AM
Funny thing is that I wouldn't care if the Government spent money on 'our preferred sports' to bring the World cup of those sports here. It would have little affect on me. As a matter of the Rugby league WC was recently on, has is finished yet?
The int'l rules was also on, that's was like a WC because no other countries play, Aussie rules will always be the game they play in Victoria to me.
I went to Rugby wc, it was great, but nothing compared to the football world cup.
- by Robbos on December 15, 2008 at 09:27 AM
Perhaps they can coincide it with Mardi Gras... all the girlie one named ones. Romario, Ronaldo, Cher, Ronaldino, Madonna, Kylie, Deigo etc could all have a float.
if you morons think that all of Australia will get behind soccer this ballet of grass, you are sadly mistaken
- by dean on December 15, 2008 at 09:35 AM
PJ, you and the other 'Mormons of Sport', aka the 'VFL Kiddies', just can't help yourself, can you ? The MCG is clearly unsuitable because it's an OVAL and can't be re-configured old salt. Homebush can be an oval, or it can be re-configured for RL, RU or Football. Just deal with the facts, don't publish 'porkies' and don't use the opportunity to try and spin up some interest in your favoured regional sport. By all means keep the faith, because between you and the Fairfax crew, I'm sure you can popularise Victorian Footy in Cambodia or Surinam, one of these fine days...now go and polish your little red footy
- by citizen tiger on December 15, 2008 at 10:15 AM
John,
A couple of quick points - I'm actually 26 if you're wondering, and I went to a state school in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. So no, I personally wouldn’t classify myself as “an older person”, but I did go to a school that consciously favoured rugby (and dumped league) over other codes.
But yes, soccer does indeed have a great level of participation, but I would dispute that “this is where it counts” – as these people are not necessarily viewers of soccer (or at least the A-League). In fact I know people at work who play soccer on weekends but who actually prefer to watch rugby league. This may in part be due to the perception that the A-League is a 3rd rate competition however, with many people who actually like the game snubbing in favour of watching their favourite European teams play in their higher profile competitions.
Finally, on the point of AFLs notoriety internationally: who cares if no one has heard of it? Is that really a good reason to not support it? Because we’ll never play Qatar in an international? Please. This has been my point all along. With soccer, half the time it seems like people argue we should be supporting it not because it’s a good game or even because it’s particularly interesting, but simply because everyone else is doing it. This is an incredibly weak point in my opinion. The popularity of a game beyond our shores is not an adequate reason to support it. It certainly doesn’t seem to bother the Americans, who are rather content playing their own sports, and in particular have a following for their own code of football that is as passionate as that of European soccer fans (albeit without the riots and violence).
- by Dan on December 15, 2008 at 11:10 AM
We call it soccer in Australia. Please get over it. Your constant, petty "[sic]" is detracting from the excellent point you're making.
Fairfax style in its Sydney publications is to refer to football as "football" in the first instance. This has been policy since 2005. Thanks. MH
- by Clover on December 15, 2008 at 11:14 AM
I'm a big "soccer" fan. I play all year round (those 6-side outdoor comps are great), watch A League when I can and I'd be a permanent fixture at Homebush or the SFS if the WC came to our shores. I enjoy the game as much as anybody in this country. But even I feel a bit queasy about this much money going into the 2018 bid.
Why? Because I don't see us having a hope in hell of getting it which makes the money mostly a waste. Not because we couldn't (or shouldn't) pull it off but because other nations have too strong a case and ours isn't strong enough.
World Cups traditionally went Europe, South America, Europe, South America etc etc. Although they have abandoned that policy old habits die hard. By 2018 it will have been 12 years since the World Cup was held in Europe, which for the Eurocentric FIFA will be too long IMO.
Even if this isn't an issue for them I don't see what we can offer that China wont. Asia is football's high growth area, and a WC in China services the Asian market far better than Australia does. It's pretty easy to understand why they would prefer to grow the sport in a country of 2 billion over a country of 20 million.
Maybe they have an attitude of "you have to lose one to win one." Personally I think we should have waited till 2022 or 2026 to go hard at a bid.
I would LOVE to see it come to our shores though. Would be great for the sport, and great for all those nay sayers who support "other codes". Seeing the biggest sporting event in the world in our own backyard would be a once in a lifetime opportunity and should be embraced no matter what your favorite code is. People shouldn't underestimate how enjoyable an event of this magnitude would be.
- by Age on December 15, 2008 at 01:27 PM
Obviously these rugby league & AFL journos angry about the world cup bid have coveniently forgotten the millions upon millions of dollars worth of infrastructure built for AFL & RL teams in the leadup to the 2000 Olympics - yet that money was specifically supposed to go into Football infrastructure & facilities, with Football being an Olympic sport. AFL & RL syphoned this money off - a prime example is the Gabba in Brisbane. Money which was supposed to be used to provide infrastructure for Qld Football (soccer to you bogans) was instead diverted to refurbishing the Gabba whilst the Olympic Football matches were held at the delapidated pre-renovated Suncorp Stadium. Yes $45m is alot of money, yet the Australian Govenment is seeing the big picture. Welcome to the real world, people. And the real world means playing with the big boys instead of whipping New Zealand or Tonga & pretending to be "world champions" of sports no one in the world actually plays. Its the year 2008. Not 1950. Get with the program.
- by jay on December 15, 2008 at 03:01 PM
Has this board stopped accepting comments?
- by Dan on December 15, 2008 at 08:46 PM
Untill the reporting and promotion of football changes from the English bias it is now, Australia does not deserve a world cup.
All you hear about is the EPL and England NT Unfairly, since Aus is supposed to be a multicultural country.
- by Leonardo on December 16, 2008 at 01:51 AM
Dream on Dorks - it will never happen.
I am an avid fan of ManU, watched all the overseas leagues for 30yrs+, wouldn't turn on my telly to watch the Local crap served up.
- by S Smith on December 16, 2008 at 08:14 AM
Jay,
Calling people who have grown up knowing the sport as soccer “bogans” is not a clever way to get your point across. In fact given the number of spelling mistakes in your post you really shouldn’t be point that particular finger.
I grew up knowing “footy/football” to be either Rugby League or AFL (being that I grew up in Sydney, but have a dad from WA) and I only ever knew soccer as soccer. Believe it or not there is actually nothing wrong or even incorrect about this given that “soccer” is an officially recognized name for the sport (in fact if you go to Japan it is called “sakkaa” and “futtobo-ru” means gridiron).
People like yourself who strangely believe that this is heresy and try to bully people into using the word “football” for your game (and only your game) are displaying an irrational intolerance that is both culturally ignorant and linguistically imperialists in its nature. Much like an American lecturer I once had who refused to accept the British system of spelling as correct (and would mark people down for using it), you are refusing to accept that the world is a diverse place and that no matter how dominant or powerful particular trends may be, there will always be exceptions to the rule. We are one such exception. So is New Zealand, so is Japan, so is all of North American, the Philippines, parts of Africa and so on. So remember, the term “soccer”, which actually has British origins, is accepted as a legitimate name for the sport. So please try to educate yourself a little before trying to force your tired agenda on the rest of us.
But I digress, you say that the Australian government is looking at “the big picture” etc, but you’ve ignored the point that so many other people have made here that our chance of actually winning the thing are slim to none. If that’s the case, then we’ve just flushed $45 million that could have been spent on something useful. That’s the reality and that’s why there are more than a few of us who think this is a waste of everyone’s time.
Lastly, don’t patronise people buy telling us this is the “real world”. The real world doesn’t consist of sporting teams. It’s an anarchic place of few common, but many conflicting interests, arms build ups, economic chaos, intra-state warfare and dwindling resources. FIFA and its Soccer world cup is not “the real world”. It is a game, and that’s all. Get with the program Jay.
- by Daniel on December 16, 2008 at 09:59 AM
Always the same comments... again and again. The point of the world cup is to bring together teams from all around the world for the biggest sporting event on the globe, and NOT to boost the Australian economy. WE DON'T deserve to host!
- by Jess on December 17, 2008 at 01:37 PM
As Frank Lowy said- This World Cup bid is not about football- it is about this country.
The World Cup would bring enormous positives for this nation. To mention the obvious-Economically, geo- politcally, and good old fashioned warm fuzzy stuff.
Its interesting I didn't hear the same resistance when we hosted the League, Union or Cricket World Cups. And if we manage to land this one- it would far exceed the others in just about every respect.
I just hope we are lucky enough to see the World Cup here- one day- whenever that may be.
- by Simon Maher on December 18, 2008 at 11:57 AM
This is a far more appropriate arena for Frank Lowy to be involved in...not Sydney FC (refer blog on 'Culture of Deceit' Jan 09).
As a bit of a tragic, I tend to agree with those who say 2018 is 'dreamin' as Daryl Kerrigan would say. This is because Fearless Frank has ?? about being around in 2022. Frank, for all the good you do for the national game (not Sydney FC...don't get me started) you must realise that sometimes its not about you.
Lets go for it but go for 2022....2018 will go to Europe even though North America and to a lesser extent Asia are next in line.
Finally, to all the followers of the oval football codes (of which I am also a fan)..do you realise how bitter and twisted you sound?? The flow on effects of another 3-4 world class stadiums being built and upgrades to existing regional grounds like Newcastle, Townsville, Wollongong etc and the ordinary facilities in Perth and Adelaide....all the football codes will benefit. Get on the wagon!!
- by Simon Cav on January 19, 2009 at 02:43 PM
"Fairfax style in its Sydney publications is to refer to football as "football" in the first instance. This has been policy since 2005. Thanks. MH"
Hate to break it to you d*ckhead, but contravening a Fairfax polciy does not make something incorrect.
There is something about people compelled to follow a fringe sport (as soccer is in Australia). Have trouble fitting in? The nerds in the Cove sure would without their band of geeky brethen.
- by craig on January 20, 2009 at 02:30 PM
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If Lowy manages to pull this off, this will be the biggest sporting achievement of our country. I don't think people understand how much bigger the Football World Cup is compared to the Olympics. In addition it is truly hosted by the country with all capital cities involved, unlike the Olympics.
In Frank we Trust!