Why football is hamstrung in this country

 
Adrian Musolino Columnist

By , 29 Jun 2010 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert

Tagged:
 , , , , , ,

81 Have your say

Related coverage



Football in Australia Leave it to Rebecca Wilson, the leader of the anti-“soccer” brigade that still inhabit pockets of the mainstream press, to unfairly kick the boot into the Socceroos and the World Cup. With sweeping generalisations and tired old stereotypes, her latest offering proves why pockets of resistance will never give “soccer” a fair chance in this country.

Wilson is entitled to her opinion, as we all are, but there are major flaws in her argument that need to be highlighted, otherwise she’ll be allowed to get away with such misinformation.

She writes: “This bunch of blokes who appear to have let themselves – and us – down very badly at the World Cup in South Africa.”

Ask diehard Socceroos fans or casual fans alike if the Socceroos let us down as they gallantly went down fighting against Serbia and the answer will be an overwhelming ‘no’. The Socceroos were a goal away from progressing to the knockout stages having rebounded from a four-goal defeat.

Australians like her need to wake up to the reality that this final frontier for Australian sporting success – winning a football World Cup – will be its greatest challenge, given the immense difficulty of taking on and beating so many footballing nations of such a high standard in the only truly global sport.

Not appreciating the huge depth and breadth of world football is the great flaw in non-football fans’ understanding of the game, and it’s why they can so easily label Australia’s performances as “ordinary” against countries as gifted as Serbia, Ghana and Germany.

Only when they understand where the Socceroos have come from and where they are now will these doubters be able to embrace the team and the game; relishing the challenge and not dismissing because of it.

Such logic is not unique to Australia. Following the USA’s World Cup exit, the New York Post’s frontpage read: “This sport is stupid anyway.”

It’s their loss, but it’s a shame we have to hear their flawed logic.

Wilson continues:

“Thousands of words have been written about what Australia, Pim Verbeek and the rest did wrong in that match. But not a single accredited journalist, commentator or expert who was sent to South Africa told the real, hard truth. They skirted around it, claimed the wrong team played against Germany and that the referees were to blame. They did not say the Socceroos were not as good as four years ago, the old blokes were too old and the young ones were just not good enough.”

Obviously Wilson missed the Harry Kewell saga (although she does refer to it in her article, funnily enough), which was caused by a journalist – sent to South Africa no less – questioning whether Kewell was, to use Wilson’s words, “too old” and “not as good as four years ago,” not to mention the countless other debates around the form of Craig Moore and Vince Grella.

On the A-League’s contribution to the World Cup, she writes:

“A penny should have dropped in the last few weeks that players coming out of the A-League have not got a hope against the world’s best.”

While the technical standard of the A-League is debatable, it’s a blatant lie to suggest its current and former players can’t compete on the world stage.

The A-League’s leading goal scorer Shane Smeltz scored against the defending world champions in a team coached by an A-League coach with four A-League players. Those A-League representatives helped hold the Italians to a draw and were undefeated in the tournament.

Jason Culina, an A-League captain, played all 270 minutes for the Socceroos and was one of the most consistent and reliable performers for the national team.

Players such as Dario Vidosic, Michael Beauchamp, David Carney and Mile Jedinak are products of the A-League.

They have more than a hope against the world’s best, and they’ve proven it.

Wilson continues on the World Cup in general:

“When you watch two full weeks of it and your pulse rate increases just three times out of 30 games, you are entitled to an opinion.”

Rebecca, if your pulse wasn’t sent racing while watching Italy-Slovakia, Australia-Serbia, Germany-England or Argentina-Mexico then maybe watching the World Cup, let alone writing about, isn’t for you. You’re entitled to change channels and watch something else. No one is forcing you to watch, and we’d prefer that you didn’t.

You may be asking why I’ve bothered to even respond to such an article. Such fallacies need to be countered otherwise they are allowed to foster and spread because, sadly, too many Australians take what the media produce and accept it as fact. It’s only by countering it that we can hope to bring some fairness and balance to our media and how the Socceroos and football in general are portrayed.

Finally, it would be remiss of me to avoid one obvious truth in Wilson’s article:

“Please don’t email to tell me I am a soccer illiterate – I already know that.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.

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.