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November 29th 2009 @ 1:30am
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Rudd in FIFA talks about World Cup bid
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took time out on his Caribbean tour to meet FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and again push Australia’s case to hold a World Cup in either 2018 or 2022.
“The Prime Minister took time out of his busy schedule at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, [...]
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![Despite the rugby season kicking off on Friday night, and even though all this debate (and I use the word loosely) about the supposed death of the 50 over game is, frankly, boring me to tears, I am determined to press on writing about cricket for the time being.
But given I’m not likely to win [...] Brett McKay: Any surprises for the tour of New Zealand?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/new-zealand-cricket-th.jpg)
![Groundsmen around the world, please note: bowlers do exist. But the way you are preparing the pitches, they may become extinct. Ditto for Test cricket.
I realise you must be under instructions to prepare a pitch like a billiard table so that it lasts for five days and more spectators turn up to swell the organisers’ [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: There’s too many tall scores and small thinking](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/tall-scores-small-thinking-tendulkar-th.jpg)
![With The Ashes reaching its unfortunate but typically thrilling crescendo in London in the early hours of Monday, and Sri Lanka’s two Test series with New Zealand due to wrap up by month’s end, Test cricket now takes an extended break until Australia and the West Indies resume hostilities in Brisbane in late November.
So while [...] Brett McKay: What can be done to keep Test cricket alive?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/what-can-be-done-th.jpg)
![Enjoy your betting this footy season, but don’t be expected to be allowed to win. I received the following message from the bookmaker Victor Chandler. Or to be more precise, from one of his drones, last year.
“Dear Mr Kaless,
We are contacting you today advise that a business decision has been taken by our Senior Traders [...] Steve Kaless: Fighting the battle with the bookies](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/jarryd-hayne-th.jpg)
![Am I the only person writing on Test cricket these days? After seven One-Day Internationals in England, the ICC Champions Trophy starts the South Africa today, then the Airtel Champions Twenty20 in India starts on October 8, followed by more Fifty50 ODIs between Australia and India in India.
Test matches will recommence in November.
But [...] Kersi Meher-Homji: Short history of foreign-born Australian Test cricketers](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/ipl-mutant-symonds-th.jpg)
![Now that the beer coaster that I had used to write on has dried out, it’s time to reveal the Roar’s NRL Team of 2009. By way of introduction, it is worth mentioning that there were a number of debates that centered around a few different areas.
First, what is better, consistent effort or explosive [...] Steve Kaless: The 2009 Roar NRL Team of the Year](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/nrl-make-move-benjimarshall-th.jpg)
![When I was in high school, I dreamed of travelling the globe. I mostly blame Les Murray for this, because his ‘World Soccer’ show became compulsory viewing of a Saturday afternoon.
Every weekend after watching the show, I’d dream of the days when I too could stand on the terraces of world football’s most famous stadia, [...] Mike Tuckerman: World Cup bid makes us truly global citizens](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ACT-government-shoots-viduka-th.jpg)
![With the Super 14 now a month in, it would seem as good a time as any to start marking the Australian teams, and see which, if any, teams might be heading for the pointy end of the competition ladder.
As I discussed last week, the quality of the rugby this year is a massive improvement [...] Brett McKay: The first month Super 14 report card for the Aussies](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/reds-quade-cooper-th.jpg)
![With the inaugural NRL All Stars set to kick off this weekend, perhaps just one thing is left to be discussed before we focus on the action on the field: can, or will, the concept ever become bigger than Origin?
It might sound crazy at first, but as the weeks have gone by, I’ve become unsure [...] Steve Kaless: Can the All Stars game ever be bigger than Origin?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/nrl-all-stars-wendell-sailor-th.jpg)
![Here is a fearless prediction: England will win the rights to host the 2018 Football World Cup tournament, and Australia will win the hosting rights to the 2022 tournament.
In 2018 it will be Europe’s turn to host the Football World Cup and England’s bid is for all sorts of reasons, financial, geographical and historical, far [...] Spiro Zavos: Australia will host the 2022 Football World Cup](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/socceroos-2018-egypt-blatter-lowy-th.jpg)
![Football fans in Australia shouldn’t be alarmed by the absence of Australians from the first round of nominations for the AFC player of the year award.
It’s not a case of Australian football being shunned by its confederation. Nor is it due to some mysterious lack of top-class Australian football players.
Instead, it’s because the [...] Davidde Corran: Asian Player of the Year award is a farce](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/asian-champions-league-masato-yamakazi-th.jpg)
![The Wellington Phoenix are kicking and screaming for their very existence, and doing a damn good job of it. A sell-out crowd of 32,792 watched them defeat Newcastle 3-1 in extra-time to book their place in the preliminary final against Sydney FC for the right to face Melbourne Victory in the Grand Final.
It was an [...] Adrian Musolino: Rise of the Phoenix gives us a true trans-Tasman rivalry](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/wellington-phoenix-tim-brown-th.jpg)



