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Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and FFA Chairman Frank Lowy center left, at Parliament House in Canberra. AP Photo/Rob Griffith
World Football Insider has released its updated 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bid power index ratings. Australia is described as the biggest loser and has slid from 2nd in February to 7th now, five points behind Asian rival Qatar.
Bids are scored across ten criteria: bid operation/leadership; wow factor and USPs; relation with FIFA members; cost/funding resources; government/public support; international PR; venue plans; security; transport/accommodation; and legacy.
Now, the easy path here is to criticse the other codes, and undoubtedly many soccer faithful would rightly or wrongly square up to the AFL in particular. However, that’s half the problem. Petty squabling.
However, this ignores the question of how it came to that? My subjective feeling is that federal government’s negligence is to blame and showed a severe lack of understanding of what was required. The move by the federal government to entrust the bid organisation solely to the FFA (itself a young and immature sporting peak body, demonstrably reliant upon non-soccer administrators), given the obvious requirement for buy in from across a varied and competitive domestic sporting fraternities, showed great negligence.
The decision was a poor one, and based on what was known (or should have been known) it is clear that the bidding committee ought to have had a broader base from the outset. Even a soccer nation like England recognised this back in 2007.
However, that’s water under the bridge now. There’s still 200 days to go and anything can happen. Given security is one of the scoring points in this table, and given that South Africa is about to kick off their hosting duties despite its high murder rate, anything can happen.
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