- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Post-Lowy, Australian football has slowly started to get its act together. But its momentum appears to be leaving Perth and Adelaide behind, particularly regarding international football.
In this country, unlike older countries like England, the focus nationally is not concentrated in the capital. So in England, Wembley is, if you like, the stadium of national focus.
It represents England and all that is English, despite massive regional differences in accent and culture throughout the nation.
Not so here with Canberra.
So in my book, to become a true “national” sport in Australia, you have to spread yourself around the states. Here are some statistics regarding Socceroo matches since the World cup qualifier 2005:
Sydney eight matches / average 51,315
Melbourne four matches / average 72,560
Brisbane three matches / average 43,505
Canberra one match / attendance 20,032
Some of the matches were friendlies, some World Cup or Asian Cup qualifiers.
It doesn’t matter really.
The point of the exercise is to show that, with no matches in either city, Perth and Adelaide are missing out on football’s momentum.
Clearly Melbourne and Sydney are doing okay, but so is Brisbane. In fact, Brisbane has come from a position of almost no history of substantial crowds to a decent position post-Lowy. I believe its because it has joined in football’s momentum.
This issue with Perth and Adelaide is an Achilles heel for the FFA in spreading football throughout the country and making it a true national sport.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.