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Australia's Brett Holman, center, celebrates with fellow team members Harry Kewell, left, and Mark Bresciano, right, after scoring a goal during the World Cup Group D soccer match between Ghana and Australia at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, on Saturday, June 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Australian football’s date with destiny looms large on the horizon now that the 2010 World Cup is over. On 2 December, FIFA announces the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. Should Australia land the 2022 World Cup, it’ll be a game changer for the sport in this country.
Forgetting the inevitable and enormous wave of patriotic fervor and party atmosphere that would accompany us hosting teams and fans from 31 countries around the world (just ask South Africans what that’s like), there would be a huge economic benefit.
According to the business information research and analysis group IBISWorld, a World Cup on our shores will result in $35.56 billion of spending across our economy, compared to the estimated $9.1 billion of spending during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Not a bad return for the $11.37m of taxpayer-funded money being spent to bid.
According to Simon Hill of Fox Sports, “South Africa welcomed nearly 400,000 visitors during the World Cup – in total, the tournament’s contribution to the nation’s GDP was 93 billion rand ($14 billion) – enough to add half a percentage point to its annual growth (estimated to be three per cent this year).”
And unlike the 2000 Sydney Olympics, those benefits, economic and otherwise, will be spread across the country, from Adelaide to Townsville.
But the benefits will be more intrinsic to Australia’s sporting prowess leading into and following the World Cup.
For the FFA, it will provide the chance to create a 12-year blueprint to drastically alter the structure of the game, invest in youth development and solidify the structures around the A-League and state leagues, with the ultimate goal of being in a position to follow the example of Uruguay, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England and France and win a World Cup at home. In fact, the number of countries to win at home should act as even more of a spur to use this opportunity to invest in the possibility of winning a World Cup.
If you want proof of the unifying power of sport and the difference an investment in hosting major events can make, look to the new world champions, Spain, with decades of regional divide being replaced by the united celebration of their sporting successes.
So often the underachiever, Spain is now, arguably, the number one sporting nation on the planet.
In addition to their European and World Cup football titles (not to mention Barcelona’s recent success at club level), Spain is champions in basketball (winners of the 2006 FIBA World Championship’s and silver medalists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics), tennis’ Davis Cup, and silver medalists in men’s field hockey – successes in arguably four of the most global sports.
Rafael Nadal is the world number one in tennis and rattling off Grand Slams; Alberto Contador is set to claim his third consecutive Tour de France; Pau Gasol has established himself as a key ingredient in the Los Angeles Lakers’ NBA dynasty; Fernando Alonso has won two Formula 1 championships this past decade and could have had more; and Jorge Lorenzo is well on his way to the MotoGP title.
Spain is reaping the rewards of the huge investment and spending that went into the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, in terms of facilities, infrastructure and youth development (several government and corporate funded scholarships, etc). It’s also the inevitable result of increased interest in sport from youngsters and their parents that comes with hosting such a major sporting event.
Following their World Cup victory, Spain has conquered the final (and most difficult) sporting frontier.
The expression “last frontier”, used so fervently by Craig Foster (who else?) and others, is fitting in Australia’s case.
Australia has conquered so many of the sporting world’s frontiers; from numerous Olympic disciplines, the America’s Cup, rugby World Cup, hockey World Cup, Davis Cup, Formula 1 and motorbike world championships, etc, etc.
And even in those frontiers that remain elusive, in the far reaches of the sporting world, Australians are close to conquering them or increasing in competitiveness – think the Tour de France, American motorsports, basketball and more.
But the football World Cup is the one that counts the most and will be the most difficult to win for a country hamstrung by its stunted history.
It won’t be easy.
Look at Holland; a nation that revolutionised how the game was played in the 1970s and has been lauded for its youth academies, which have produced an endless stream of talent, yet has never won a World Cup.
Stephen Samuelson, sports editor of smh.com.au, recently wrote a controversial piece summed up best by its title: “AFL is a dead-end sport that hinders us on global stage.”
While I disagree with his dismissal of the importance of the AFL to Australian society and culture, he is right to suggest there is more to gain in terms of Australia’s international reputation and prowess by producing the next Tim Cahill, Mark Webber, Cadel Evans and co, rather than channeling funds and focusing only on our domestic codes and producing their next crop of stars.
Hosting a World Cup will help provide that impetus and investment for football in Australia; a goal to work towards in developing the game so the Socceroos are in a position to challenge for the World Cup come 2022.
And as IBISWorld, South Africa and Spain have proved, football won’t be the only winner.