Australian sports are small fish in big ponds

Technically speaking everyone in australia should be doing athletics specifically track events considering more people men/women participate in it than anyone else worldwide and how its the most competitive world wide sport... Personally its good that we have such a diverse range of sports to choose from and i personally dont feel that we should all of a sudden start playing 'soccer' because everyone else is. I do find it interesting however that rugby league in particular holds such a high market in the media considering its only played in two states, but the fact remains, we wouldnt be better off by having a one sport monopoly. Btw on a side note if the NFL was replace by rugby league i think Australia would have cause for concern.

Actually. Uruguay are a great sporting nation. The thing is, they are utterly obsessed with football. Their country has only 3 million people. How did they win win their World Cups? By allowing their black players to play; the first nation to remove class and race and pick their team purely on skill. That was their gift to the world.

Correct MV, the author technically has not directly advocated "ditching" Football, League or Union in favour of Soccer. But it is most definitely a scathing attack on the sporting paradigm we currently have in Australia: "But until we win a FIFA World Cup, our boasting rites will remain hollow." "I’m uncomfortable with Australian football being our major football code. " "... we have so many of our outstanding youth playing domestic Aussie rules, they are denied the opportunity of playing, and perhaps adding lustre to, other football codes..." "... athletes playing rugby league, but you can’t help but feel sometimes their talents are being wasted in a sport that doesn’t really do much for Australia on the international stage." "Even rugby union struggles to justify its supposedly true international footprint." His conclusion reaffirms the contention of the article: "We really are the land ‘Down Under’... Whether this situation will continue into perpetuity remains to be seen" It is not hard to determine the motive behind this article, read between the lines. Sheek's chief criticism is the apparent "international flow-on" lacking in our popular sports: "Basically because we get no international flow-on..." Incredulously Sheek then goes on to dismiss out of hand the "international flow-on" from Union and League, desperately seeking consistency in his arguement. Cricket does not even rate a mention.

"The thought of Australia ditching it’s own code so that we can become just another soccer nation is pretty sad." Who has suggested that? The FFA? No... FIFA? No Any of the HAL clubs? No. Think you're believing too much of what is written on a sports blogs. RL in the northern states and AFL in the southern states will be strongest for many years to come...l'm happy for football to be in 2nd place in each of those regions and have a strong competitive Socceroos and domestic league...hope that's not too frightening.

agree with you Simon on every point

I'm English and I've grown to love Aussie Rules. The thought of Australia ditching it's own code so that we can become just another soccer nation is pretty sad. Love the fact that we can enjoy 4 codes of footy.

OK so in other words you cannot apply the principle consistently. "Being good at sport is relevant to most Aussies, so that’s the context in which the statement was made." Like it is somehow irrelevant to people living in other countries? Australia may punch above its weight, but it is not the only civilisation to enjoy sport. Most Russians, Chinese & Americans would have something to say about 'no WC win = hollow sporting achievements'.

Rugby is no.1 code in Wales, NZ and SA and no.2 code in England, Scotland, Ireland, Argentina, France, Italy. Rugby League is not no.1 code in any country apart from PNG. All of these above mentioned countries are very competitive - not all world cup winners or potential to be but upsets can occur very easily as demonstrated by Scotlands defeat over Australia last year and occassionally over South Africa, Ireland have come good and would be a good shout in the next world cup aswell. I genuinely beleive next years world cup winner could come from one of 7 countries. (NZ, AUS, SA, ENG, FRA, IRE, WAL) the potential for upsets in it are massive. Personally i only consider our two nation football teams as the socceroos and the wallabies.

That's right BigAl, We all enjoy the company of like-minded people. Well, sensible people like to mix with other sensible people.....

Baz35, Give yourself an uppercut, what are you trying to prove here - that you're a tough man hiding behind the veneer of anonymity? If you don't like the theme of my post you don't have to read it, just move onto something else.....

BAT, I didn't respond previously simply because I find the question irrelevant. When posting I wasn't thinking of how other countries saw themselves, only Australia. To be honest I don't care if my statement is relevant or not to any other country. I suppose one thought is that each country sees themselves differently, prides themselves on different things. Being good at sport is relevant to most Aussies, so that's the context in which the statement was made.

In ref to something Midfileder expressed - That they (AFL players) do not desire to show themselves off o/s is to their credit and only highlights the internationalist cringe, of many who seem to see this as the only bench mark to success from my reading of many posts here. The potential for AFL players to do so is always available if they choose, in crossing codes for eg, to express this desire. Some choose to stay in the same town and job or profession all their lives, some travel extensively and experience all manner of career and life changes. I would not begin to try and qualify or quantify an individuals value based on this - would you? An irony is that we in developed countries often travel in search of an experience more 'real' than what is to be found at home, which is at times more evident in those so called under developed insular cultures. Many visitors to our country include Australian Footy as being integral to the unique culture they experience here. To globalize the code could well dilute it forever as well as compromise it beyond recognition however if at anytime we experienced a sudden World craving for our game, then so be it. Either way it is of great worth culturally to most Australians. Once I would have included atttending a big Soccer game in England, say Chelsea v Manchester, as part of my unique cultural experience when visiting that country however, these days Soccer is hardly exclusive to England given the globaliszation of this brand. The (Soccer) League on offer in England is dominated by players from other countries today, from what I have seen, a testament to this brave new world of generic culture perhaps and hardly a true reflection of the 'Albion' experience anymore. That this matters one iota is philosophically a very moot point indeed.

Lazza Firstly, variety is the spice of life - I believe. You are obviously a rationalist come facist who would culturally cleanse the Australian sporting landscape in the interests of Soccer, while I am not. Cricket, I don't follow it and know many others who don't either. It is however an historically significant cultural institution and deserves to be so, despite a waning interest amongst todays generation. It along with other sports may die a natural death by attrition and who knows, Soccer may as well one day; I live in hope ( tongue in cheek). Australian Football, I think you will find is one of the most supported codes of all in this country and at all levels of the game, so what that it is not glabal? I am sure Soccer had humble beginning also Lazza and it is certainly a mystery to many like myself, that it is supported as broadly as it is however, despite it's status, I would never wish it to be undermine in the way you would lesser sports i.e as Aust Football. As far as my knowledge of indig sports go, I am not sure exactly what point it is you are trying to make here, other than to be ignorantly dismissive of respective sports being integral to cultural identity. I am NO expert on these indig sports, to be sure, however I have travelled extensively throughout Canada, Ice Hockey being part of our family culture, so I am more than familiar with the game and its history. I also know quite a good deal about La X having mates who played it in Melbourne as well as in Canada. My knowledge of the Gaelic codes is due to my strong Aust Irish roots and guess what, I know much more about all these codes than I do the roond ball game, shock horror. What a sterile and culturally stilted life those of your persuasion would have us live Lazza.

It depends on whether you want us to be seen as open and forward-looking, or insular and closed-minded. Even American sports do not show the same outward paranoia and insularity, or seek to exclude others from their game. Football ought to be seen as a unifying force, not as a divisive one. Other football codes in this country can be too, if they were not fighting a pathetic "culture war" of their own against "alien" games. And don't get me wrong, I love watching all of them.

To be fair, Sheek did say that he is "uncomfortable with Australian football being our major football code" and then went on to say those athletes playing AFL and Rugby League would be better placed playing soccer, RU or basketball. So I'm not quite sure this was just a simple lament at how sad it is that the world not is not exposed to our local sportsmen. And I'm not sure anyone has displayed 'insecurity' on either side of the debate, by the standards of The Roar this has been a positively civilised discussion!

This is how I read the Sheek's article too Midfielder, but according to some followers of other codes, they read as all other football codes should stop & we should only play & follow Football (soccer) because it's the world game. And they call us insecure.

Sheek, The premise of your argment suggests that we all should play soccer as it is the biggest football code in the world. Rugby union is only seriously played as a first choice sport in a handful fo countries and very few have it as their number one game. An AFL fan might lament that the world does not play Aussie Rules and we dont get to see the fantastic athletes in NFL and the NBA competing in Australian football. Nor the flair of the South Americans or from the latin world. RL fans could lament if rugby union players switched to rugby league to make it a bigger game and the stars of the NFL played rugby league. Then truly you would have the best going at it internationally. The desire for a monopolistic sporting culture would soon dissipate as people realised what a boring world that would be.

Farqwar, most people I know who are arddent supporters of RL played Socer in their childhood. I am talking here about support in terms of spectator support and media ratings. It is interesting to compare countries of similar populations - Australia against Holland. Average crowd figure for NRL is almost same as the average crowd figure for Soccer in Holland - around 15000 - 16000 mark. Ditto Italian league - 22k mark. Now in Pay TV around 60 of the top 100 rating programs are in RL. In fact many people think that Fox will collapse if not for RL. Why RL is still short changed in media money is another question. As for participation most people people playing Soccer in Sydney because the mums perception of injury free sport. I have come across many people who were not allowed to play contact sports by their mum. Curiously enough both Robbie Farah and El Masri were actively discouraged by their parents from playing this soprt. Regarding culture, a whole lot of migrant communities ardently support RL - for example Lebanese and Italians are in the core of Parramatta supporters. There is also institutional bias against RL in many institutions. I had a chat with some students in elite Kings school and was surprised to know that RL is the sport they follow in terms of viewing even though they are not allowed to play that sport. Also one should remmber that actually large sections of the population has only a passing interest in football codes - even in Europe. For any football telecast there will be a large section watching a lot of other programs - music, movies etc.

Wonders aloud how some folk can deny what the WC is and it's size...and for what purpose ... Also bravo to Sheek for an excellent article... The essence of what Skeek was trying to say is ... it is a pity those great AFL stars in particular and to a lessor extend the RL stars never get to show themselves overseas. As an aside there is nothing like a international match to see how good someone is.... I have seen a number of players play great in club land and in grand finals and fall apart in a international...

With those sort of comments, you won't win many English friends. However it was controversial 3rd goal.