Our World Cup bid launched, now let’s back it

Columnist

By Adrian Musolino, 15 Jun 2009 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: 2018 World Cup, 2022 World Cup, Asian Football Confederation, FFA, FIFA, football, Lucas Neill, Socceroos, World Cup

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Australian Danny Allsopp, left, fight for the ball with Indonesian Hariono, right, during AFC Asian Cup 2011 qualifiers Group B at Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Jan 28, 2009. AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim

It’s official, we are in the running for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals. The flash launch reinforced why Australia is well positioned to stage the biggest sporting event in the world. It’s now time for a united vision and for the public to get behind the bid.

The bid has the support of both sides of politics and there seemed to be genuine confidence and expectation from the launch.

It was bold but appropriate affair.

There was no corny celebrity cameos or the like.

The focus was rightly on what Australia can offer to the world, focusing on our closeness to Asia, place within the Asian Football Confederation, where more football fans live than in any other continent and our successful record of staging major events.

Malcolm Turnbull’s cringe worthy use of the term ‘soccer’ aside, this was proof of footballs’ successful journey to acceptance.

This was a common theme emerging; just how far the code has come in such a short space of time.

It wasn’t that long ago that the code was wrecked by instability and its foundations were so unstable that it required such drastic intervention and revolution to sort itself out. This deserves stressing.

As Lucas Neill said, a decade ago Australia football was a very different place and in that short space of time we have emerged with the foundations of a strong league, our national side has qualified for successive World Cups, grassroots football is receiving significant support and there are signs that the old establishments will be integrated into the new structures. And now we are bidding for a World Cup on our shores.

It’s remarkable progression and perhaps this experience will prepare the football community well for the challenge ahead.

The next step is not only working with state governments to settle the stadia issue but also winning the public over.

It’s not surprising the launch felt like a selling campaign to the Australian public.

Many need convincing as there is still much scepticism about our chances, not helped by the doubts about stadia but also scepticism from the usual sources about the game’s worthiness in Australia.

It needs to be reinforced, what a World Cup in Australia would mean to not only the code but also Australia as a whole, culturally and economically.

The competition is strong, especially from the US for 2022, our most likely rival in the bidding process.

It’ll be a fascinating duel between two nations who share a similar historical indifference toward the game.

We need to show FIFA and the global community we want this World Cup and its lasting legacy will be cementing the game in the hearts and minds for current and future generations alike.

December 2010 looms large and the hard work is just beginning.

We wait and hope.

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The Crowd Says (156) | Page 1 of Comments

Towser said | June 15th 2009 @ 8:31am | Report comment

Just as a matter of interest regarding the promotional film “come play” . I was impressed by it, but how do you use it to best advantage for the bid? Ie is it only used in Australia to “reach out” to the general population or is it be used overseas also to help get support for the bid?
Regardless Frank Lowys yacht will be seen anchored in various seas/oceans around the world over the next year or so.

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Brett McKay said | June 15th 2009 @ 9:03am | Report comment

Towser, I’ve not seen the film/ad yet, but I would suggest mass circulation is the answer to your “how” question. “Come play” needs to become ingrained into the vernacular like “another shrimp on the barbie”, and from there, support can grow globally. No point spreading the word internationally if we don’t know the message locally.

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Pippinu said | June 15th 2009 @ 9:34am | Report comment

I would have thought that it’s a film that could be used both domestically and internationally (afterall, both types of support need to be garnered).

It is a very impressive short film, visually stunning and some of the stunts are pretty good.

Some might argue that there’s a bit of poetic license taken – but that’s entertainment.

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Willy said | June 15th 2009 @ 9:35am | Report comment

YES WE CAN!! All Australians are united to bring the world cup to our shores!! The world is looking to us and all Australian football funs are very excited more about this posibility rather than a dream. Go Australia!!

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GeneralAshnak said | June 15th 2009 @ 9:55am | Report comment

The request for the various State governments to get behind the bid is going to be the hardest one. The States which already have the necessary infrastructure are going to see the World Cup as a gold mine opportunity. Those who don’t are going to have the World Cup used as a dividing issue for the electorate. South Australia in particular is going to have the entire bid for the World Cup, and our place in it, used by both the Labor and Liberal party as a way of dividing the state, instead of seeking bi-partisan support for an event that can only benefit the State. This can be already be seen by the current Labor Governments steadfast refusal to agree to the potential need to build a purpose built stadium for the World Cup. It has hidden behind the ‘cost’ of the stadium (they keep throwing 1 billion dollars around as the cost of a stadium – I just keep wondering if they want to build it out of gold…) for an event we may not even get, conveniently ignoring that it would not actually have to build the stadium unless we actually win either the 2018 or 2022 bid. I fear that no matter how much we fans of the game want the World Cup to come here the chances of us winning it are going to be badly damaged by our own internal politics.

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Millster said | June 15th 2009 @ 10:23am | Report comment

I also fear for what GeneralAshnak says above but I hope that we can transcend this. In this bid, Australia is looking at one of the most important epochal nation-building projects in our short history. We cannot drop this ball, either within the scope of the World Cup tournament itself, or more broadly as an opportunity to present to the millions of visitors and viewers as a vibrant, modern, diverse nation that ‘cuts it’ with the rest of the world.

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tifosi said | June 15th 2009 @ 10:47am | Report comment

ok i found this with regard to Brazil 2014.

Its an inspection report for the 2014 World cup bid.

Its a long document but gives a sense to what australia needs to do. Its well worth the read.

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/mission/inspectionreport_e_24841.pdf

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Billy McClure said | June 15th 2009 @ 10:56am | Report comment

I don’t think England will win 2018, it does nothing for FIFA. I think Aus 2018 and USA 2022 or the other way round. Two emerging regions which need the World Cup to boost the game. Europe has Euro championships already and champions league etc, the rest of the world needs the World Cup.

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Pippinu said | June 15th 2009 @ 11:02am | Report comment

Billy

I don’t want to come across all unpatriotic, but to suggest that the world community will choose Australia ahead of England to give the game a “boost” sounds incredibly naive (no disrespect intended).

General
good to see you’ve thought fit to bring your av across to the Roar.

That’s a fantastic point you’re making about the mechanics of state politics – we need these sorts of local perspectives because each state might approach this quite differently because of local politics.

In case anyone is wondering what the General is talking about – the politics would go something like this: Labour sees big money coming into SA from the Feds for new sporting infrastructure, amongst other things, and that’s fair enough, and that’s a good news story.

Libs respond: well, we don’t want this to be too good of a good news story, so how do we bring them down a peg or two? We play to Crows and Port fans by telling them that that’s money that could be going to improving Football Park, or Alberton, or whatever the hell it is.

Madness? Yes.

Good politics? Well, just maybe….

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True Tah said | June 15th 2009 @ 11:03am | Report comment

Billy

to be honest I dont think FIFA is too concerned with Australian futbol, lets face it, in world terms we have a small population, albeit well-off. FIFA would want someone like India or China putting their hands up.

In terms of “needing the world cup”, again I think Australia would rank well behind many other nations, for example South Africa is getting a fair dinkum public transport system as a part of their world cup (how long is it going to last afterwards is a completely differant issue). Apart from the economic boost from hosting it, Australia would not benefit anywhere near as much as South Africa will.

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