Why football struggles for support in Australia

 
The Crowd Roar Guru

By Luc Knight, 11 Apr 2010 The Crowd is a Roar Guru

Tagged:
 , ,

234 Have your say

Related coverage




Like a lot of sports fans, I have re-engaged with football since the emergence of the A-League. For passionate football fans across Australia, I’m sure it has been a massive boost to their perceptions of the sports credibility and overall standing in the Australian sporting landscape.

Like a lot of people, I became a fan of my local A-League side, in my case Sydney FC. In the first two years, I attended almost every home game and sung in my loudest voice with the hardcore members of The Cove.

Like a lot of people however, it just didn’t ever quite feel right.

As my interest in the A-League has steadily waned, so too has my interest in overseas leagues. For some time I attributed this to superficial factors such as not having Foxtel installed or the arrival of my first child.

However, I have lately come to realise these were extraneous to the central, and in my case absolutely undeniable issue of values. Put simply, football does not promote values that many (but obviously not all) Australians like myself deem important.

I believe if football is to ever become the number one sport in Australia it will only do so if the very fabric of its value system is altered across the globe. That is, if the values displayed by football players (primarily) and its fans reflect those more attuned to the Australian fans sporting psyche; then football may indeed become our national sport. Until that happens, it will forever be third string.

So what am I referring to?

Well the most obvious one is the issue of diving, or “simulation” as FIFA and TV analysts like Craig Foster likes to call it (presumably this gives it a certain cache, that giving it a name makes it less damaging).

I have never met a football fan with a legitimate argument for this practice. It is under-handed, weak, cowardly and, to put it more simply, cheating. To Australian’s growing up with tough contact sports (rugby league, rugby union, AFL) this is an absolute affront.

To see a footballer throw himself (it is always himself. There is no diving in women’s football) on the ground after the most minor of contact when one is used to seeing massive collisions where players are, amazingly, able to stay on their feet looks pathetic and childish to the average rugby/AFL fan. It is becoming more widespread and presumably can only continue to do so. While it does, Australians will stay away in droves.

The faking of injury is perhaps even more horrid to the average Australian sports fan. Again, the heavy physical contact and brutal interplay on AFL/rugby fields means that the histrionics and childish play-acting many footballers indulge in after the slightest of bumps is just offensive to many.

There are so many examples of this that I need not bother citing specific ones. My point being that while Australians continue to see this overseas footage they will never take football seriously. Any responsible parent or coach would admonish a child for such behaviour, so to idolise men who do it for money (and lots of it) is just anathema to many in this part of the world.

Perhaps the ugliest thing that Australian sports fans see though is the intimidation of referees which, again, seems to be acceptable in football.

In no other sport anywhere is it acceptable for players to attempt to intimidate and physically assault an official. This is seen in most top-level fixtures and is the absolute opposite of what you are supposed to be taught as a youngster. You remember, “The referee is always right” and all that. As someone with a young child I cannot allow my child to watch that and think it is acceptable behaviour, because it obviously isn’t.

So what do all these examples point towards? Values – a sport that promotes duplicity and under-handed behaviour as a way of getting ahead. It promotes dishonesty. Simple.

Other sports in Australia have their inherent problems. That is obvious. Rugby league and AFL particularly have attracted headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent years.

But, rightly or wrongly, these do not seem to be a problem for their fans. Why? Because it is about what happens on the field. And that is where football suffers. To many Australian sports fans, the behaviour of football players on the field is more damaging than the bad off-field behaviour of other codes.

This is what football administrators need to learn. Australians do not like to watch overpaid, prima donnas behave badly and be worshipped for it. This is especially true when one considers the inherent beauty of the game.

Football possesses fantastic qualities non-existent in other sports. But the poor values it chooses to promote will always be more visible than the fantastic skills of great players like Ronaldinho and Kaka.

There are obvious cultural differences that may inform a lot of this behaviour, but this is not the forum for that discussion.

To its credit, the culture of diving and duplicity has not infected the A-League or the Socceroos to any significant degree.

For this reason, I will continue to support our league and our team at the World Cup.

Wild Turkey - find out more
The Turkey 10

The Turkey 10 teams have now been selected, as Wild Turkey Bourbon's sport sponsorship kicks into the next exciting phase.

Choose which side you're going to support and get in the running to win $2,500!

Simply visit Wild Turkey Australia on Facebook for your chance to win.

Find out more.

Get a daily football email

Our daily emails are only sent if there is content for the sport. You can subscribe to multiple daily emails; or get the daily Roar email with all our content in it.

We value privacy. More.