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News came out recently that the FFA and the federal government were set to withdraw their FIFA Football World Cup bid for 2018 and 2022 because they were not able to meet “outrageous demands” put on them by Andrew Demetriou and the AFL commissioners.
No one has yet elaborated on what these demands were, but it was only after the AFL relented somewhat in their hard line approach, faced with the prospect of serious public embarrassment at being the cause of not being able to hold a World Cup in Australia
Maybe the FFA should have withdrawn their bids, after all.
It’s obvious that the whole thing hasn’t gone as smoothly as everyone at the FFA would have hoped. The bid itself is a long drawn-out complicated process and must be run like clockwork to succeed.
It also requires the cooperation and agreement with all major players. The main players in this case are the other major football codes in the NRL and rugby league, ARU and the rugby union, and of course, the AFL and Australian Rules.
The hastily contrived bid and the demands from other codes that they not interrupt their season has weakened the bid and lowered Australia’s reputation as a sporting nation worthy to hold a World Cup in its home country.
It’s obvious now that Australia will not win either bid.
This is not entirely the other codes’ fault, either. The FFA and football management in this country in general must also take part of the blame.
Besides, in the end, who was going to benefit most from the World Cup in Australia – football and the FFA? Unlikely.
Ironically, if we are to win one of the bids, the biggest beneficiary out of a football World Cup will be the AFL. The AFL is set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for having to move fixtures for a few weeks.
This is despite the fact that the AFL only generates about 200 million in receipts for the entire season.
The Geelong AFL Club will also get a revamped and upgraded home ground to over forty thousand capacity, free of charge.
Adelaide Oval and Perth will also get significantly upgraded facilities that in the main will only be used by AFL teams after the World Cup.
The FFA’s management and the federal sports minister have been weak in their dealings with the other codes and given in too easily to ensure the bid was completed on time. No doubt they were held to ransom by some strong personalities in the opposing camps.
In the end, the whole thing was not done properly, without proper consultation, and any spirit of co-operation, and should have been scrapped.
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