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So that’s why they call it the world game. Australia’s A-League launched its fifth season this week looking like the UN general assembly. The major sponsor, Hyundai, is Korean. The biggest star, Robbie Fowler, is a Pom. Eight of the 10 coaches hail from foreign lands.
Four are Scots – Ernie Merrick (Melbourne Victory), David Mitchell (Perth Glory), Lawrie McKinna (Central Coast Mariners) and Ian Ferguson (North Queensland Fury).
Vitezslav Lavicka (Sydney FC) is of Czech background, and for that matter so is Frank Lowy, the billionaire boss of the code in Australia.
Ricki Herbert (Wellington Phoenix) is a Kiwi, Miron Bleiberg (Gold Coast United) is an Israeli and Branko Culina (Newcastle Jets) is a Croatian-born Aussie.
Only Aurelio Vidmar (Adelaide United) and Frank Farina (Brisbane Roar) were born in Australia.
Sydney FC is part owned by Russian banker David Traktovenko, a St Petersburg football “fanatic” who aims to achieve in Australia what Roman Abramovich has done in England.
The league’s new intake of internationals, apart from Fowler, is headed by Newcastle’s Italian Fabio Vignaroli and Perth’s Serbian striker Branko Jelic.
Melbourne Victory has re-signed flashy Costa Rican import Carlos Hernandez.
Several dozen other imports have come from clubs in England, Ireland, Scotland, Brazil, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Ivory Coast, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Romania and Macedonia.
The league’s international credentials are also bolstered by bringing back some Australians – not just any Aussies but current Socceroos with ambitions in next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Perth Glory has coaxed back a trio of Socceroos, bringing Mile Sterjovski and Chris Coyne home from England and Jacob Burns from Romania.
Gold Coast scored the biggest single coup by signing Jason Culina after a decade playing in Holland.
He will lock horns in Queensland derbies with veteran Socceroo defender Craig Moore of Brisbane, who also wants a key role in Dutchman Pim Verbeek’s World Cup plans.
The A-League’s increasingly international flavour has been seized upon in the new season’s advertising campaign.
“When it comes to being part of the football family, we hope the advertisement encourages fans to think global, act local,” said Football Federation Australia (FFA) chief commercial officer John O’Sullivan.
“We know that football fans are proud of the fact that football is the one truly global game, and we want to continue to build Hyundai A-League clubs with this natural connection.”
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said: “Market research shows football fans in Australia take enormous pride in the global nature of the game.
“Interest in football is on the rise due to the Socceroos qualifying for next year’s World Cup, as well as Australia’s bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.”
Adelaide United’s bold showing in last year’s Asian Champions League also helped.
The Australian game, of course, has always been international in nature, given that its impetus came from immigrants, mainly from Britain and Europe.
But once upon a time it was riven by ethnic rivalries.
The big achievement of recent years has been to retain, indeed grow, the code’s international flavour, yet get rid of the ethnic bitternesses that had stunted its growth as a mainstream Australian sport.
The dark old days of “wogball” are gone.
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