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Neil Cordy discusses our World Cup bid

Roar Pro
21st January, 2010
46
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I recently chatted with Neil Cordy, an ex AFL player who currently works for Channel 10. Channel 10’s dedicated sports channel ONE will screen a magazine style football show in February where Neill will contribute some stories.

Neil shared his football experiences; we spoke about the chances of the Socceroos at the World Cup; and also got some information regarding the new football show that has fans of the world game in Australia buzzing.

Half Time Heroes: So I hear you’re a football fan?
Neil Cordy: I’ve been a football fan virtually all my life. Since I was a teenager I started following the English First Division in the 70s. I used to watch Match of the Day on the ABC at 6pm and I subscribed to Shoot magazine. It was great publication. I read it religiously.

West Ham was the team I followed. I used to watch The Big Match also on the ABC, and it was produced by London TV. So we got all the London teams. West Ham was a very attractive team to watch. Trevor Brooking was an outstanding talent. They also had some great characters in the team, like Frank Lampard Senior.

HTH: You witnessed the World Cup in Germany 2006. How do you think the Socceroos will fare at the World Cup in South Africa this year?
NC: I hope we advance to the next stage, but I think it’s going to be a bigger challenge. I think we have a more difficult group this time than the one we had in Germany. The other thing is, our playing group has barely changed from that time. Some of them are a little bit past their prime.

HTH: All football fans are buzzing at the news Channel 10 is going to air a football variety show shown on the dedicated digital free-to-air sports station, One. Can you give us more information?
NC: Sure “World Football News” will be starting on February the 8th. It will have a mixture of international and Australian content, with panelists discussing issues with stories and features. It will be a combination of all those things. We will have an English based reporter who will be catching up with a lot of our guys that are playing overseas.

HTH: As an ex-AFL player, what did you think about the FFA and the AFL arguing in public? And will it affect Australia’s bid for the World Cup?
NC: I’ll say a couple of things about that. I think we are actually going to win the bid. I genuinely believe we will win it for 2022. It just stacks up right. We are the right country at the right time. From Andrew Demetriou’s point of view I haven’t heard him ask any unreasonable questions.

I think it’s not unreasonable to ask for some more detail and I don’t think he is necessarily trying to undermine the bid. But I think it is reasonable to ask what is required, so they can get their games in order.

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It’s a big thing that they going to have to work around and be in co-operation with. So he obviously thinks they haven’t been given enough detail from the FFA.

For the full interview and other football stories, check out the January issue of Half Time Heroes: http://halftimeheroes.com.au/2010/01/21/january-2010/

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