Australian World Cup Soccer Bid Gets Complicated
by viduka
With the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups well under way, the country of Australia considers itself to be a major candidate and worthy option for the world’s greatest soccer event. In 2018 the country has a very slim chance, as European powers such as England, Russia, Belgium & The Netherlands (combined bid) and Spain & Portugal (combined bid) are all eligible to receive that bid. But in 2022, the country has a fair shot. European teams would be ineligible (should one receive the 2018 bid) leaving Australia’s competition for that bid as the United States, Japan, South Korea, Qatar and Indonesia.
Australia may turn out to be a good choice for FIFA as the country is a major tourist destination and is located in an area that has never hosted World Cup Play before. Additionally, the country is notoriously fond of athletics, has a sound economy but has not, as of yet, seriously embraced soccer. A bid for the country should ignite and excite a “virgin” population of over 20 million people to buy into the sport and further its growth.
But despite all of this positive news, Australia has one teeny tiny complication. The World Cup falls smack dab in the middle of the Australian Rules Football (AFL) season. Aussie Rules Football, or “Footy” is an extremely popular sport down under and while the AFL has shown complete support for the country’s bid, FIFA is requiring that no other major sports leagues play at the same time as the World Cup Finals, which does not suit the AFL whatsoever. So Australia is trying to get an exemption from FIFA, believing that precedents exist that would allow other competitions to continue (i.e. Major League Baseball continuing play during the 1994 World Cup in the United States). Along with the proposed exemption would be a an entire relocation plan that would move AFL, Rugby and Cricket games to different locations during World Cup play so as not to compete.
by doublebug
Whether or not FIFA would allow such an exemption in a market as small and competitive as Australia we have yet to see, but one thing is for sure, this is one commited country. I can already see the laughter that would burst out if the United States Soccer Federation asked Jerry Jones to move the Cowboys out of Dallas for a month while soccer players take over Cowboys Stadium.
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It won’t be the same without the Aussies! Com’n FIBA!
Keep mindful, the FFA require usage of AFL stadia in Melb, Adelaide and Perth and NRL (Rugby League) in Sydney and Brisbane and who know what outside of those cities.
The NRL might be most impacted, and they went negative from back in Oct 2009. The AFL only got public about it come Dec 2009 after the FFA promoted Docklands stadium in Melbourne. THe AFL quite rightly were none too pleased – as this renegged on a back room ‘understanding’.
btw – Australia is not a ‘virgin’ soccer population. THe thing is, from such a multi cultural perspective, the overseas big soccer leagues get most the attention, and domestically, Australia has it’s own code of Football (Australian Football), plus 2 major Rugby codes (League and Union). It’s probably the worlds most competitive ‘football’ market. Soccer in this environment – just can’t compete as a domestic ‘elite’ league.
Note too – Australian (Rules) Football pre-dates the formation of the London FA by 4 years, and by the 1870s MElbourne was perhaps the worlds most evolved recreational football market (due in part to a young city growing on the back of the 1850s+ gold rush, the birth place of the 8 hour day and thus greater wealth and ‘recreational’ time than perhaps anywhere in the world). There’s such an inbuilt association of Melbourne, it’s suburbs and it’s footy clubs that no latter day sport like soccer or Rugby (once codified) could usurp it.
So, certainly not ‘virgin’ territory. The FIFA WC if hosted, would come, and go.
You make good points and I don’t hold anything against the AFL for its genuine concerns.
Perhaps you misunderstand what I mean by virgin territory. I don’t mean that the country is an area that has no passion for football or its own sports and is therefore ripe for the taking, I mean only that it is in a similar situation now to what the United States was back in 1994. A country with its established sports that has not yet embraced soccer. I would not expect that soccer could ever usurp the AFL in Victoria anymore than I would expect it to usurp the NFL in the USA, I only mean that it is an area where many people have not been introduced to World Class soccer and so it is a good one for FIFA to look at in the coming years.