As a lifelong AFL fan, I am interested to know the long term expectations of Australia’s football community.
I am not referring to Frank Lowy’s dream of an Australian World Cup or Ben Buckley’s plan to cram yet another sporting team into Western Sydney.
I am talking about the local football mums and dads who drop their children off at practice every week and drive them to matches on Saturday morning. The fans who have posters of Lucas Neill rather than Lance Franklin in their cubicles, Josh Kennedy instead of Jonathan Thurston.
The true believers who actually paid money to watch Gold Coast United play North Queensland Fury.
These hardy souls are the code’s greatest asset and yesterday their faith was repaid handsomely with Australia’s stunning come-from-behind win against Saudi Arabia.
This article was written before today’s newspapers were put to bed but I am willing to bet the Socceroos won’t feature on the back pages of the News Limited publications in particular.
I don’t mean this as a criticism of the Herald-Sun and Daily Telegraph, they are merely running what they believe the majority want. But I wonder if the footballing community wish it were different.
To use a military metaphor, the round ball has the advantage when it comes to boots on the ground. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, of the 1.2 million people aged 15 and over who played a football code in 2009-2010, 33 percent played the world game, 20 per cent Australian rules and 9.5 per cent rugby league.
Does the 33 per cent wish their code had a higher media presence? Do they yearn for the day when the A-League can plan a fixture without worrying what the AFL will do? Does it rankle them the semi-retired David Beckham has a higher profile than the entire squad of league leaders the Central Coast Mariners?
Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps the joy a fan finds from football is not connected to its television ratings and crowd figures. I barracked for Essendon even though everyone else at my West Australian primary school was obsessed with the West Coast Eagles, so peer pressure is not the be all and end all of sporting allegiances.
As I wrote at the beginning: I am simply curious.
Does the A-League on Foxtel plus a quadrennial World Cup binge satisfy you or do you wish for more? And if you do, what is it?
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