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This all starts a long, long time ago … actually not too long ago, but it all begins when England lost their 2006 World Cup bidding vote to Germany. The English were suitably outraged. How could they lose to Germany?
England is regarded as the home of football, but obviously still not worthy of hosting the World Cup for a second time by FIFA on that faithful day.
England’s team started on a longer term plan that would give them the World Cup at its next opportunity. Similarly, Australia too started their journey but in a completely different manner. The key words here today are football development.
England’s football development was based on a more global level; developing a lot of Asian nations in football but also other disadvantaged nations around the globe. Australia’s journey was in developing their own region’s footballing landscape.
Many years later both nations have developed their football/international football immensely. England has done more work for the game than almost anyone, while Australia’s Football Association (FFA) has developed the game down under at an unbelievable rate (the growth rate for the sport has been 60 per cent).
Australia are now ranked 21 in the world, ahead of the US, South Korea and Japan, who have all hosted World Cups previously. They have also done a considerable amount of work for football in New Zealand (who are next door to Australia) and also Oceania.
They have joined the Asian confederation and are now the highest FIFA ranked Asian nation, giving Asia considerable strength in terms of its confederation.
When the World Cup technical committee arrived, Australia was given the best accolade possible by Mr Nicholls, the bid team chief. Australia was ready in every way to host the World Cup in 2022.
Australia’s other rivals such as the US did not fair so kindly. The US was criticised for not only the lack of legacy for the sport but also the lack of infrastructure for the World Cup, in order to deal with the expected crowd numbers at the designated venues.
The US had huge problems dealing with the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games; there was mass transport chaos and crowd issues. Athletes were sweating whether they would even make their events.
It seems more than a decade on nothing has changed, but the population has increased.
Qatar, on the other hand, has not only failed in its development of football but also the very technical requirements of hosting a World Cup. Its lack of tourism venues also stands out like a gaping hole. How a nation whom the Olympic committee deemed could not host a one-city event such as the Olympics, is planning to host a multi-city event such as the World Cup, I think also raises more questions than answers.
England’s World Cup analysis, meanwhile, was also praised, its only issue being the available accommodation in host cities, something which is easily fixable. Russia, on the other hand, although praised for their own football development, was found wanting in terms of infrastructure for hosting the World Cup.
Mr Nicholls again told Russia it must begin construction of the stadiums immediately, if it is to succeed. With what transpired in South Africa and what is transpiring in Brazil, I doubt FIFA wants any further headaches with infrastructure.
The fact that the European bid is for 2018 means Russia is in serious trouble with being able to compete with England’s already available stadiums and international football development. Russia simply does not have time on its side and Spain/Portugal’s image has been severely dented by the vote swapping scandal with Qatar.
Australia and England have shown they have the most committed people to the sport. Both have developed the game immensely, and Australia’s gotten the game to huge heights in terms of players and participation without a World Cup, with plenty of opposition from rival sports.
The World Cup will leave a lasting legacy in terms of assisting the A-League to reach its desired heights. South Africa has a far worse league and a far lower ranked national team, yet they’ve hosted the football World Cup and the MLS was non-existent before the 1994 World Cup, yet Australia has managed to develop their professional league on their own. Remember, the average crowd figure for the MLS is around 16,000 for a population of 300 million people.
In 2007/08, Australia had close to 15,000 average for the season. Due to a lack of funds available to the FFA, the growth in crowd figures has stagnated. What can the US blame their crowd figures on? Lack of funds?
No. Never hosting a World Cup? No.
Come to think of it, there is absolutely nothing. Football is the ugly stepchild of American sport and always will be a second class sport that doesn’t raise an eyebrow.
Before the USA hosting announcement was made in 1988, the US team hadn’t qualified for a World Cup since 1950 and the US certainly did not have the level of football participation that Australia has.
Football is the number one junior sport in Australia, coupled with that the fact that hosting a World Cup would also benefit New Zealand, which is right next door to Australia.
The Asian markets of India and China can also be developed by the hosting of the event in Australia. Both these nations are currently unable to host the World Cup due to their teams being of such poor quality and one of the nations even having corruption scandals time and time again.
A prime-time hosting of the event may prepare one of these nations for the 2034 hosting job.
The legacy for Australia, New Zealand and Oceania is clearly there and the World Cup will be in the prime television zone for Asia, so that FIFA may develop its fastest growing region.
Similarly, England’s role in developing world football through its initiatives in less fortunate nations and through its EPL should not go unrewarded. England deserves to host the World Cup in 2018 as Australia deserves to host the World Cup in 2022.
We can only hope Australia and England are given the nod together for their respective editions. Anyone else and major questions will be asked of the FIFA committee members.
They will both be fantastic World Cups, that are major major events on both countries’ calendars and FIFA can look forward to massive celebrations in both nations if they are given the go ahead.
It’s a good news story that football really does need at the moment: The home of football and the upcoming world power in football would be a fantastic endorsement for FIFA and football.
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