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Referee Roberto Rosetti, pushes away Australia's Harry Kewell after showing him a red card during the World Cup Group D soccer match between Ghana and Australia at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, on Saturday, June 19, 2010. AP Photo/Rob Griffith
Let me start this post by saying (stating) that it is no way designed to inflame some kind of code war. I love football – following both Seria A and the English game since I was a young boy.
Equally, I’m constantly excited by the standard of the A-League and the Socceroos.
But after the FIFA decision on the World Cup and the subsequent commentary by football commentators around the country, I simply have to stand up and say the following.
Football in this country will never become the dominant force its fans think it deserves to be until pundits, former players and fans simply face up to some home truths.
It will never happen because they are too proud.
It will never happen because, like an immature child, they simply cannot (will not) look themselves in the mirror and say the following:
1. People in our sport cheat.
Players dive and allegations of fixing exist throughout the game. The diving would be comical if it weren’t so serious. Players demanding cards for players who fall over – doing exactly the same thing just moments later. It simply goes against Australian cultural mythology and must stop.
2. The premise that people involved in football are more passionate than any other code is a dangerous myth.
I like to call this one the Craig Foster Award. I used to like Craig – a true champion of his sport. But his continued and irrelevant insistence in everything that he writes that football somehow has a monopoly on passion is ridiculous and naive. I love football but I know that plenty of people love plenty of things, this myth being used as a bargaining tool for why one code is better than another is embarrassing.
3. The organisation of the sport is terrible.
Guess what, I don’t just mean FIFA – though they are trying their hardest to make the IOC look like a children’s charity…
My kids have all played Pee Wee football – my son still plays. And of all of the codes my kids have been involved with football overwhelmingly suffers from an obsession with elitism and a lack of control of the worst kind of parents. The inference that every seven-year-old should be focused on securing an international contract or involved in weekend camps or training in a Dutch formation before they can even spell is offensive and prevalent. If football wants to know why participation drops off significantly at 14 – look no further than this.
4. My personal favourite: The lack of respect for the authority of the referee is insidious, deliberate and unforgivable.
In international hockey, the umpire is judged by how little he speaks. Umpires can go entire games purely by using the whistle. Players may remonstrate occasionally but the concept of attempting to physically intimidate an official by running at him or her en masse would be unforgivable and result in severe sanction.
Plenty of codes have whiners but can anyone seriously imagine a group of players charging a ref or coaches getting physically involved on the sideline by touching the ball or players in any other code and getting away with it. Simply would never happen.
If football takes itself seriously it would immediately implement a set of rules (that are enforced) that result in immediate cards for any kind of dissent – then maybe captains and refs could actually start a constructive dialogue.
5. Money rules.
Even the most professional leagues in the world in the most capitalist in the world (read NFL, NHL, ABL) have instituted rules and procedures that protect the game from large money.
In contrast football’s most famous league, the EPL is content to allow four clubs to dominate. It seems unbelievable how much money dominates the code. And we all learnt where that left the global code last week.
6. There are other codes in Australia.
Nothing to add. Just get used to it!
So there you go. I feel better. I love football, I’m sure many many Australians who are fringe fans love it too – what’s not to love.
But until the leading lights in Australian football stand up and just admit the true position of their code, I’ll keep subscribing to Foxtel to try and catch a game.
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