midfielder
Well-Known Member
Gotta agree ... Foz is on the money...
http://www.smh.com.au/world-cup-2010/world-cup-news/lets-hope-an-insular-onecountry-code-doesnt-spoil-australias-chance-to-host-world-games-showpiece-20100605-xltc.html
Let's hope an insular one-country code doesn't spoil Australia's chance to host world game's showpiece
CRAIG FOSTER
June 6, 2010
We hope and pray that December will bring a positive decision for Australia's World Cup hosting dreams, and our children's future. However, if this does not prove to be the case, then all of Australia will have a very big decision to make. Because next time it would have to be done differently.
Six months ago Australia was one of the favourites for 2022, the bid was unaffected by the political maneuvering between the European nations and of the harm that England's bid team always seem to inflict on itself, but then came the AFL's obstruction and subsequent "deal" that represents an enormous compromise on the outcome expected for football from staging the tournament.
The problem is this. In the world of football, compromise is not acceptable, particularly when it pertains to a game that the rest of the world has never heard of, because every other bidder understands the scale of the game and what it delivers to a country.
During the week, Frank Lowy admitted there had been damage, and that he had very nearly pulled the plug on the entire bid, because AFL management could not find its way clear to place the nation before its own interests.
The reason Lowy would have been so disheartened, I would suggest, as to almost give up on his dream for Australia and his beloved game is that at some point, when compromise becomes too great, the process becomes futile.
Because the bid must be sold to the 24-man FIFA executive, and the greater complications presented by having to explain why football does not benefit are extreme.
Put it this way. If I am on that executive, the first question I ask is this: why should we deliver the football World Cup to Australia when football is not the beneficiary?
FIFA awards the World Cup for many reasons one of which is to support or build the game in a particular region of the world or, as is the case with South Africa, to enable an entire continent to reinvent its image and, hopefully, their social fabric through football.
However, in order to prove their worth as a potential bidder, the primary prerequisite is for a country to firstly commit to wanting the World Cup, and to use it to build the game that touches all of humanity.
As soon as AFL management obstructed the bid for its own ends, Australia's desire to host was, and is being, questioned. Then, when a deal was forced on Football Federation Australia and the federal government that dissipates much of the financial benefit to other games, this question became an accusation by Australia's competitors.
The World Cup is the last great sporting event for Australia to host, and our golden chance as a nation was obstructed by a game that exists in a few states, and spends hundreds of millions in an attempt to force itself on the remainder of the country. A few Melburnians put their narrow objectives before the rest of us.
This is the core difference between a game that pulls people in, and one that has to push. Three hundred million people play football through love of the game. AFL has to pay you to take part, poach athletes from other codes rather than develop and support its own, and import foreign players because foreign lands reject the game.
We send our kids out to experience and conquer the world. One game looks out, the other only in.
Naturally, AFL has the right to protect its own interests, except when this means acting contrary to the national interest. And so the game that promotes itself as Australian, demonstrated it cannot act in the most Australian of ways.
God willing, we will win the rights in December. However, if we do not prevail, every Australian will turn the spotlight directly on the AFL to question its motives and what damage its stance did to the $46 million taxpayer-funded bid, and we will need to decide how much we really want the tournament.
Remember, it took two failed Olympic bids Brisbane and Melbourne to produce the memorable Sydney 2000 Games, and after a European nation wins 2018, both 2022 (if not Australia) and 2026 will again head out of Europe.
Next time, however, a few with foul motives cannot be allowed to hijack the overwhelming majority.
As you watch the Socceroos taking on the world in South Africa in the coming weeks and performing with dignity and class, keep one eye on what the tournament is delivering to Africa.
And remember, whether in December of this year or beyond, that should be us.
