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Australia’s qualification for the 2006 World Cup engrained the World Game into the Australian psyche. Today, Football Federation Australia, led by Australia’s richest man, Frank Lowy is mounting an audacious bid to host the tournament in 2018 or 2022.
And so the battle lines are firmly drawn between the ‘traditional’ Australian footy codes, (AFL and NRL) and their greatest threat – soccer.
Bosses of the traditional Australian codes are in a state of panic after realising they will face severe disruptions if Australia’s bid is successful.
They are now embarking on a campaign of scaremongering, flagging the disruptions. A FIFA edict stipulates that no major sporting events can be held in a city hosting World Cup events for 10 weeks.
Western Bulldogs president David Smorgon, was quoted in Melbourne’s The Age saying ''Why would you give a free handpass to your biggest competitor? You would want some adequate compensation.''
This summarises the core of the issue. The AFL and NRL are scared. They shudder at the thought of the world’s media, the world’s best and highest paid soccer players, descending on their back yards, in the middle of “their” season.
Actually, it’s not just the limelight the World Game would be stealing, it is the hundreds and thousands of children who will be captivated by the prospect of playing for the Socceroos at a World Cup in Australia, or seeing the next Cristiano Ronaldo in person. It is millions of dollars in lost sponsorship and television revenue that will go to soccer – not their codes – that has them nervously squeezing their oval shaped stress balls.
The Federal Government has pledged to build $2 billion worth of infrastructure should Australia win the World Cup bid. FFA must submit its final bid, detailing match venues, stadiums and infrastructure to FIFA by May. The successful bids for 2018 and 2022 will be announced in December 2010.
I implore the AFL and NRL and its supporters to put petty issues to one side, embrace the biggest tournament in the world and celebrate what will the biggest event ever to be held in our back-yard. Any notion of unrest may deter the FIFA decision makers, and that would be a crying shame.
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