While Andrew Demetriou may have gilded the lily talking up the possibility of a cancelled AFL season should Australia win the right to host the FIFA World Cup, it’s clear that a country where “football” runs a poor fourth, at least in commercial terms, amongst winter sporting codes simply should not be in the race in the first place.
I suppose it’s laudable that Frank Lowy and friends are generating recognition internationally for Australia. There may even be a little coin to be added to the GDP by a few international visitors, were we to host.
Lowy and his fellow promoters of the bid must have known at the time they launched the bid that there would be a clash of calendars and venues. The time to work out what could and could not be done scheduling-wise was before the bid was submitted.
Instead we have this unseemly battle of the codes via the media in response to FFA’s ambush. Tell FFA and FIFA to stick their tournament where it fits — somewhere where “football” is a religion.
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3 comments:
I'm with you!
What are these 'commercial terms'? The A-League? It's a poor league at the moment and not a true reflection for the support of soccer in Australia. It's like saying Australia don't deserve the cricket world cup because no one goes to domestic games.
Most support the EPL and other overseas leagues at the moment. Support for the soccerroos is massive, have people forgotten the 06 hysteria? The support for the WC would be massive. The amount of tourists coming would be massive. Australia hosting the biggest world event would be massive.
And considering 2022 is Australia's real chance, there is plenty of time to sort out the details. Nothing will get in the way of a WC here. The AFL can halt for 8 weeks in the middle of the year for a once in a lifetime event
I thought 'commercial terms' would be fairly easily understood: gate takings, sponsorships, broadcast rights, competition/club turnover. Clearly soccer is fourth and a relatively minor sport IN AUSTRALIA.
I've got no beef with the WC per se, except that it potentially interferes significantly with our major winter sports. Run it out of season and I don't have an issue with it at all.
I think the expectations of tourist dollars are, as is usual when promoting something that is going to require significant taxpayer subsidy, wildly optimistic. Who knows where we'll be with climate change and whether peak oil will have grounded international airlines by 2022?
The AFL can halt for 8 weeks, can it? I wonder what would happen if another sport wanted to sideline the EPL for a minimum 8 weeks? Buckley's chance!
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