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So Australia’s bid book is done and on it’s way to Switzerland. Excellent. Unlike some other bids (the US bid book was complete weeks ago), the book’s competition is just in the nick of time, but nonetheless, it’s a good thing. That said, I wonder if Football Federation Australia missed an opportunity here.
Yesterday the England bid committee, along with a large media presence, sent off their bid book at a morning function at Wembley while announcing David Beckham will be personally handing it over to Sepp Blatter.
Meanwhile, last week the US bid hosted a function, at which they circulated “mini-bid books” to the press, at the sold-out Mexico v Ecuador friendly. In New Jersey!
Both events helped to garner some positive press for their respective bids. Internationally the focus of reporting on Australia’s bid has been restricted to the AFL and NRL FINALLY signing off on Football Federation Australia’s plans.
So by only announcing the book’s sending on twitter and via a press release to the media, have FFA missed a beat in garnering some extra promotion and momentum behind their own campaign?
I suppose Ben Buckley waving a copy around in front of cameras wouldn’t have matched the profile of having a former Real Madrid, Manchester United and AC Milan player personally deliver the book to FIFA anyway.
Furthermore, between managing the A-League, a Socceroos World Cup campaign and the bid, FFA probably wouldn’t have had the time with so much on their plate anyway.
Don’t be mistaken into thinking that now the bid book is complete FFA’s work is over. It’s not. Now the political wrangling and manoeuvring will really begin.
In other words we have another six months of divided attentions from our game’s governing body.
It raises the question as to why didn’t FFA set up a separate and independent bid committee from the governing body like the US did?
The American’s set up means any “cross pollination” between the US Soccer Federation and the US World Cup bid committee is minor.
Unlike in Australia, the domestic game in the US hasn’t stagnated due to a lack of attention from its governing body. This was emphasised by the announcement last week of a new MLS side, Montreal Impact.
Of course the most obvious answer to why FFA didn’t take this path is resources. FFA is a relatively small organisation and Archie Fraser’s hiring was meant to help in this direction. Clearly that hasn’t worked.
I’d argue that seeing as FFA almost refuses to permit “football people” into its upper echelons, then surely there was someone with the managerial skills of Ben Buckley to help fill the gap.
Instead FFA has spent the last few months negotiating with rival codes as the A-league has stuttered along (most A-League clubs are back in pre-season training yet we don’t even know when the league will kick-off).
No wonder many feel the outlook for Australia’s World Cup is bleak.
As Jesse Fink wrote on The World Game yesterday, “I don’t think Frank Lowy’s famous luck is going to work for him this time around; again, I can’t see England not getting 2018 and USA not nabbing 2022, but good luck to Football Federation Australia.”
I hope my fretting is just pessimism, but I fear another six months will be spent with the attention of many at College Street torn between two monumental tasks.
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