No code should have exclusive rights to the football name

 
Adrian Musolino Columnist

By , 2 Apr 2010 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert

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Richard Vandenberg of the Hawks meets Mark Viduka of the Australian soccer team prior to the round eight AFL match between the Hawthorn Hawks and the Melbourne Demons at the Melbourne Cricket Ground May 19, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia.

Half a decade since Football Federation Australia was born, attempting to bury the soccer moniker in this country, the controversy over who has the right to use the football name in Australia still rages on. And it doesn’t take much for the debate to fire up.

Something as minor as a Qantas billboard promoting “Australian football” (the round ball one) set off the Herald Sun’s AFL journalist Mark Stevens over the weekend, demanding, “Get your hands off our name.”

The problem with this debate, and why the argument about ownership of the term is flawed, is that no one has the right to use the football name exclusively.

It’s not a trademarked name that belongs to one code and hijacked by others. It’s not unique to one particular form of the game.

Punters will point to history and the first code to use the term as justification for why they deserve the right to use the name exclusively. But history shouldn’t matter in this debate. What matters is brand recognition, and both Aussie Rules and “soccer” are justifiably better known and recognised as football.

Therefore, neither should have to relinquish the name, nor should “soccer” have been deprived of its chance to rebrand the game through the football term, which it has every right to use.

The sticking point appears to be when we throw in the Australian clarification to the name.

As Stevens recently wrote on his Twitter page: “I believe AFL should have exclusive rights to term Australian football. I can live with football alone but soc (soccer) is not Aus (Australian) footy.”

Australian football, for Aussie Rules fans, is derivative of the game’s indigenous heritage. For football fans, it’s either used as an attempt to distinguish the local product from the world game (when talking about the A-League, Socceroos, etc) or, by some, as an attempt to hijack Aussie Rules’ moniker with their flawed belief that one day football will assume the Aussie Rules’ position as the sole bearer of the Australian football name.

But using the Australian clarification shouldn’t be an attempt by the round ball followers to stoke the code war battle with the AFL, rather it should be used with respect to the AFL’s right to the term, and in turn the AFL should respect football’s need to use the Australian clarification considering it needs that distinction as it’s part of a world game.

The confusion will only increase with the growth of football in Australia, particularly around the time of World Cups, and we have to find a way to balance commonsense and fairness when naming the codes.

Considering there are so many who still use soccer, don’t expect there to be common ground found in this debate anytime soon, or consensus on what names are appropriate and fair. For example, is it just for the game to be known as Aussie Rules to distinguish between football or is that an unfair expectation? Considering all the different names available and how they have different meanings and connotations depending on where you are in Australia, finding agreement won’t be possible.

But no one should own the right to use a name as universally diverse as football, especially in Australia with its ball sport variety.

The diversity the term football encapsulates in this country should be a source of celebration rather than a source of conflict.

Finally, we should also address the comments made by many on one side of the debate that if “soccer” wants to use the football name, it should dispense with the Socceroos name for its national team.

As the aforementioned Stevens wrote, “Memo Football Federation Australia: If you like the term football so much, call yourselves the “Footyroos” and be done with it.”

This is showing a lack of respect as great as the football fans who use the Australian football name to enrage AFL fans.

The Socceroos name has history and meaning, and that should not be replaced. It’s symbolic of where the game has come from, and typifies the struggle for acceptance the national team has had to endure to reach the point it has now reached in terms of awareness and support.

That history matters more than the need to rebrand the team.

But the fact the national team is still called the Socceroos doesn’t mean the game should be stuck with soccer and isn’t deserving of the football name.

Be it the American version of football, Aussie Rules, Gaelic or the world game, they are all forms of football that are deserving of the universal name.

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