So much for the World Cup bid taskforce
Roar Guru By Mister Football, 22 Apr 2010 Mister Football is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- FFA, football, World Cup football
It’s now almost eight weeks since the Sport Minister’s own deadline to her taskforce that all the stadium details for the World Cup bid be worked out with the various levels of government and the relevant sporting bodies.
It’s also three weeks since the head of the FFA announced that we were ready to finalise those very same details and that all relevant parties were now in agreement. That the date of that announcement was April 1 may or may not be significant.
It would be incorrect to think that there has been inaction on the government side.
For weeks now, there has been furious negotiating and bargaining over a kitty that is well into the billions of dollars.
We’ve seen claim and counter claim, public misgivings aired, back downs, claw backs, setbacks, with Federal and State public officials burning the midnight oil in an attempt to resolve a litany of intractable issues.
Yes, the Prime Minister is on the verge of nutting out a deal with the State Governments to put into effect his much vaunted plan for national health reform.
But here is the rub: the taskforce involved in organising the World Cup bid is in the same department as the one that’s been in meltdown over the last few weeks on this major issue which is bound to frame the forthcoming election.
Ask any Health official where the World Cup bid sits in relation to the health reform question, and they are bound to give you a quizzical look.
Not because the order of priority is obvious, but because they are unlikely to have any idea that there is such a taskforce lurking in the depths of their department.
This goes back to the obvious question I raised from the moment the taskforce was announced: if the Prime Minister was truly interested in the World Cup bid as a high priority, needing cooperation from all States, Territories and national sporting bodies, why did he not create the taskforce in his own department, which is generally geared towards running with the Prime Minister’s priorities (and banging heads together when the need arises)?
With the May deadline now hurtling towards us, I think we have our answer.
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- Explore:
- FFA, football, World Cup football
April 22nd 2010 @ 8:38am
Mister Football said | April 22nd 2010 @ 8:38am | Report comment
On another forum a few of us have likened WA’s current intransigence with the PM’s health plan with that of both WA and SA in respect of the WC bid – some very common features there.
April 22nd 2010 @ 10:14am
AndyRoo said | April 22nd 2010 @ 10:14am | Report comment
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/let-the-games-begin/story-fn4ke077-1225856607730
A bit last minute (givien their only a few weeks to go and the draft has only just been submitted)
April 22nd 2010 @ 10:44am
Michael C said | April 22nd 2010 @ 10:44am | Report comment
AndyRoo -
Interesting how the article talks about the ‘Etihad replacement’ and the NRL wanting it built b/w Fairfield and Campbelltown,
and of course we still wonder why the Etihad replacement can’t be the expansion of the Melb MRS with whatever compensation to Docklands management if it breaks any moratorium on grounds of certain size within certain range within certain time frame.
(alas in Melb, it’s all too similar to why we’ll never get a train link to the airport whilst there’s a privately run tollway to be paid off……..PPP’s have a sting in their tail)
April 22nd 2010 @ 12:49pm
AndyRoo said | April 22nd 2010 @ 12:49pm | Report comment
I had really only paid attention to the first half about the meeting. In regards to the stadium details it’s hardly new news in that it just seems the same rumors being thrown about and just the regular Telegraph padding (no stadium issues were brought up at the meeting apparently).
I quite like the Geelong idea to be honest as Geelong want’s it. Sure it’s not sexy but in a small country like ours as many stadiums with genuine demand for them as possible so it’s as little money down the toilet as possible.
Some compensation for Abblett joining the lifeguards.
April 22nd 2010 @ 10:24am
Tom said | April 22nd 2010 @ 10:24am | Report comment
Pip, you do realise you’ve lost all credibility on this issue, don’t you?
April 28th 2010 @ 9:41am
mahony said | April 28th 2010 @ 9:41am | Report comment
Among other government roles I am an ex Commonwealth health official. When I worked on the team implementing the Private Health Insurance Rebate changes we were still able to reform Medicare, provide funding for primary care, reform regulation of aged care, roll out public health information campaigns, impliment strategies for indigenous health, monitor MBS changes for new drugs through the PBAC etc, etc, etc…
Let me tell you a Department that size can chew gum and walk.
Media reports today are of the work of the taskforce coming to an end and the important contribution of Mr Dixon in particular.
The World Cup Taskforce is just a ‘bite size’ task for this department – however big it may be for the beautiful game.
Give it a rest Pip. You got caught out overreaching on this bit of ‘administrivia’. For your own sake – just drop it.
April 28th 2010 @ 12:52pm
Mister Football said | April 28th 2010 @ 12:52pm | Report comment
mahony
your euphemistic ‘bite size’ gives the game away.
What you call “overreaching” I call being spot on the money, as I have been from day one.
I said 4 months ago that that taskforce would not meet the Minister’s deadline of 28 Feb – and I was spot on, given they are still mucking around at the 11th hour (and your DT report serves to amplify that, you didn’t want to refer directly to the DT report?)
I’m sure your little health project was very important in your own mind, a veritable harbinger in the history of public administration in this country – but please don’t insult us by making out that it could in any way be put in the same basket as the health reform process we’ve been going through the last couple of months.
I’ll give it a rest when someone is capable of rebutting one of the dozens of things I have had to say on the subject.
Just one.
April 22nd 2010 @ 10:55am
Mattay said | April 22nd 2010 @ 10:55am | Report comment
“Ask any Health official where the World Cup bid sits in relation to the health reform question, and they are bound to give you a quizzical look.
Not because the order of priority is obvious, but because they are unlikely to have any idea that there is such a taskforce lurking in the depths of their department.”
So, in other words, you’re just making this up?
There’s no doubt the current Minister for Sport is a dud, and the WC bid is being driven by an egomaniac PM with other priorities at the moment. The FFA just need to make sure things are moving as it’s their heads and their game that is at risk, not the Governments.
April 22nd 2010 @ 7:53pm
Mister Football said | April 22nd 2010 @ 7:53pm | Report comment
Chuq
what you might call dribble, I call being spot on the money – pretty much everything I have written on the WC bid has been spot on the money (certainly closer to the mark than much of the wide eyed optimism I’ve seen from soccer fans).
Just a few examples:
1. I said from day one: the AFL has a water tight contract on Etihad. What’s more, the Etihad management has little to gain from showing 3 or 4 WC matches over an 8 week period with maybe 200.000 fans coming to the stadium when over the same period, at least 10 AFL games would be attracting double that through the gates.
Soccer fans responded: the AFL doesn’t own Etihad, the contracts not worth the money it’s written on, FIFA is much bigger and more powerful than the AFL so it will simply waltz into Etihad, the Government will legislate to takeover Etihad, the stadiumn management will want WC games because there is so much money to made, etc, etc.
2. I said that for the AFL to give up the MCG for the WC will require massive compensation. I said it from day one. I’ve been estimating around $300 million, and that’s over and above any stadium sweeteners – that’s hard, cold cash. Why do you think they are still negotiating right now?
3. As soon as the taskforce was announced in late December, with a deadline of the end of February, I said the taskforce won’t make it. Two months after the deadline, they;re still working it all out.
4. I said that the WA and SA governments will be reluctant to spend lots of money on big rectangular stadiums. I said that the WC bid cannot go ahead without major expenditure on oval stadiums because these are the only ones that can pay for themselves in the long term. To date, we still have heard nothing about WA/SA involvement.
5. I said that the budget deficits to be found at federal level and right across the state governments will hinder the prospect of committing to billions of dollars of expenditure on new stadiums. (jury still out on that one, no change to the score)
6. I said that the fact that the PM plonked the taskforce in the Department of Health was an indicator of where it sits on his list of priorities. Read this article to get a pretty good feel about how close to the mark I was on that one. (I’ll adjust the score once we hear some more)
In the meantime, people on this forum are still talking about a possible WC in Australia in 2018!! I mean – really!!
April 22nd 2010 @ 10:46pm
Norm said | April 22nd 2010 @ 10:46pm | Report comment
Well I didn’t see you get self righteously indignant over this colossal waste of taxpayer’s money:
http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-uses-ausaid-in-africa-20100325-r00q.html
April 22nd 2010 @ 11:02pm
Gazza said | April 22nd 2010 @ 11:02pm | Report comment
Well i see that you have normie, a mere drop in the ocean compared to soccer’s grab for cash.
Lighten up, watch a movie.
April 23rd 2010 @ 9:05am
Norm said | April 23rd 2010 @ 9:05am | Report comment
I can watch any movie if I choose to do so but I’ll never be able to watch the AFL Inter. Cup because TV won’t touch it.
April 23rd 2010 @ 7:29am
Mister Football said | April 23rd 2010 @ 7:29am | Report comment
AusAid has contributed $308,000 to AFL South Africa.
Two points:
1. $300k is an absolutley tiny amount of money in the context of what’s being spent on the bid alone (most of it going into the pockets of foreign consultants and lobbyists, and goodness knows what else); and
2. It would appear this absolutely tiny amount of money went to an organisation called AFL South Africa.
April 23rd 2010 @ 9:07am
Norm said | April 23rd 2010 @ 9:07am | Report comment
You’re the king of excuses.
April 23rd 2010 @ 8:16am
Phil E Buster said | April 23rd 2010 @ 8:16am | Report comment
Hundreds of thousands of Australian tax dollars being spent to expand AFL into Africa? What a sickening travesty. If you are even handed you would write an article about it Mr Football. Except you won’t.
April 24th 2010 @ 8:19pm
Midfielder said | April 24th 2010 @ 8:19pm | Report comment
Mr Football will write an article for it to be increased…
April 24th 2010 @ 10:03pm
Norm said | April 24th 2010 @ 10:03pm | Report comment
Midfielder, pippy boy doesn’t write articles he cuts & pastes from Wikipedia.
April 26th 2010 @ 6:45pm
Mister Football said | April 26th 2010 @ 6:45pm | Report comment
I”m not sure if poeple noticed, but the AFL matched the AusAid money to Africa 4 to 3, i.e. $400,000+ to $300,000.
If all sports funding worked on the same basis including the hundreds of millions that end up with the Olympic committee and the FFA, we wouldn’t have a budget deficit anymore in this country.
So yes – I back all private sector matching of spending on sport by Government at a ratio of 4:3.
April 26th 2010 @ 6:11pm
Mister Football said | April 26th 2010 @ 6:11pm | Report comment
Wikipedia?
That’s an odd claim, given much of what I have written in my three blogs on the subject has been relatively unique – you don’t find too many others making the claims I have made (and it follows, no one, and I do mean no one. has been spot on the money like I have been to date).
I mentioned six points above that I have made since day one and which have been spot on the money – the counter claims from soccer fans have been way off the whole way.
It’s easy to understand why I have been spot on – I have a contact in a senion Minister’s office, AND a contact on the task force.
I’ve given it all to you straight from the horse’s mouth and it has all been spot on.
This is why in all three blogs, where people have left comments, not once have soccer fans tried to rebut any of what I have written – not once – but have pretty much fallen back on personal vilification.
That pretty much tells you where things stand at the moment.
April 26th 2010 @ 6:42pm
Mister Football said | April 26th 2010 @ 6:42pm | Report comment
The Australian ran this article the other day:L
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/australia-dealt-world-cup-blow/story-e6frg7mf-1225858118319
about Sepp backing the Qatar bid.
Now personally, I don’t read too much into what Sepp says about anything, he’ll pi$$ in anyone’s pocket, including ours, but the thing is that the Qatar bid can have so much credibility when the very notion is laugable.
Given that they have already bought off the Afican vote and God knows who else, the thing for Australia is that as long as Qatar remains in the bidding it will take votes from Australia, increasing the odds that we are one if the first to exit – and therefore not getting a chance at going up against the US for 2022 (where we are very close to a 50/50 chance).
April 27th 2010 @ 4:55pm
Phil E Buster said | April 27th 2010 @ 4:55pm | Report comment
Until you name your alleged sources I refuse to believe they exist due to your obvious bias.
As for being correct on all points I recall quite clearly some basic details of the bid that you were definitively wrong and ignorant about. I am not going to argue these points with you as it you are like a loopy dog chasing its tail.
The sad thing is, if we won the bid to host the WC you would be first in line for tickets for yourself and your family.
April 28th 2010 @ 7:44am
Mister Football said | April 28th 2010 @ 7:44am | Report comment
Phil
compared to pretty much all WC proponents, I’ve been absolutely spot on the money the whole way through.
The reasons why are clear (apart from me having two reliable sources from within Government ranks):
1. my bias is nothing compared to those who dream of the WC (many of whom still believe Australia is a strong chance for 2018, and who think it’s practical for Government to build a 50k+ rectangular stadium for the exclusive use of soccer in every capital city and major regional centre); and
2. following on from the first point, the whole bid has been based on emotion the whole way through, not just from supporters but from the people at the top – there has been zero substance in the bid from day one.
In support of the last point, simply re-read what I have been saying from the word go – I haven’t changed anythign from the start. To help you along, let me copy the six examples from above:
1. I said from day one: the AFL has a water tight contract on Etihad. What’s more, the Etihad management has little to gain from showing 3 or 4 WC matches over an 8 week period with maybe 200.000 fans coming to the stadium when over the same period, at least 10 AFL games would be attracting double that through the gates.
Soccer fans responded: the AFL doesn’t own Etihad, the contracts not worth the money it’s written on, FIFA is much bigger and more powerful than the AFL so it will simply waltz into Etihad, the Government will legislate to takeover Etihad, the stadiumn management will want WC games because there is so much money to made, etc, etc.
2. I said that for the AFL to give up the MCG for the WC will require massive compensation. I said it from day one. I’ve been estimating around $300 million, and that’s over and above any stadium sweeteners – that’s hard, cold cash. Why do you think they are still negotiating right now?
3. As soon as the taskforce was announced in late December, with a deadline of the end of February, I said the taskforce won’t make it. Two months after the deadline, they;re still working it all out.
4. I said that the WA and SA governments will be reluctant to spend lots of money on big rectangular stadiums. I said that the WC bid cannot go ahead without major expenditure on oval stadiums because these are the only ones that can pay for themselves in the long term. To date, we still have heard nothing about WA/SA involvement.
5. I said that the budget deficits to be found at federal level and right across the state governments will hinder the prospect of committing to billions of dollars of expenditure on new stadiums. (jury still out on that one, no change to the score)
6. I said that the fact that the PM plonked the taskforce in the Department of Health was an indicator of where it sits on his list of priorities. Read this article to get a pretty good feel about how close to the mark I was on that one. (I’ll adjust the score once we hear some more)
But I”ve made stacks of more points along these lines – all spot on the mark – and all backed by two very reliable sources (and thus my accuracy compared to just about any other pundit and correspondent you care to mention anywhere in the media).
When it’s all said and done – someone should nominate The Roar for a Walkley for having the fortitude for exposing this bid for what it really is.