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From the ashes of a corrupt, inept, and bankrupt football system, to where we are today, it’s been an incredible job. We sit at sixteenth in the FIFA rankings and have qualified for the 2010 World Cup with more than a year to spare.
Dutch is the flavour the media wants to play, but I like to draw my own conclusions and love the freedom provided by the net and sites like this in particular.
What a chequered past: from the 1955 revolution by the new football over the associations to the 2004 revolution.
The key turning points were Nick Tanna and Perth Glory – who showed football could be mainstream; the 1997 loss to Iran made people think about football; the appointment of David Hill, who began the great change; Nick Greiner, whose appointment of Ian Knob led to the putting of the NSL into bankruptcy.
Who can forget Uruguay in 2005 and the World Cup in 2006?
Not forgetting many others along the way, like the Northern Spirit; the team that did more to break ethnic clubs’ hold in Sydney and make football mainstream news.
Amazing things happened, like the time in either the late 70s or early 80s when those running soccer told Kerry Packer to Fark Off when he offered to set up a ten team competition Australia-wide with more money on offer than either AFL or rugby league to be broadcast on both TV and radio.
(The team structure for those that don’t know: 1 Brisbane, 1 Newcastle, 3 Sydney, 1 Canberra, 2 Melbourne, 1 Adelaide, I Perth)
Today we have we have the phoenix rising, or the waking of the sleeping giant, whatever you want to call it. But the badlands of the past appear to be gone.
Think about what it could be: 2015 Asian Cup, 2022 World Cup, 2021 Confederations Cup, Women’s World Cup, all possible to be held in Australia.
Future broadcast deals and revenue streams other codes could only dream about are being talked of.
There’s still a long way to go, but I am more confident than I have been before. Football will become accepted as a mainstream Australian sport.
The football media is still somewhat of a problem child and I hope one day Fox and SBS bury the hatchet.
My feeling can be best summed up with two youtubes, the first, Reverse the Curse, captures so much of what was prior to the 2005 World Cup Qualifier.
The second is a Fox promo:
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