- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The tooth fairy is alive and well in Melbourne. I read with a little amusement the story in the press from AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou, that he felt no joy when Australian lost its campaign to host the 2022 Football FIFA World Cup in Australia.
He felt “incredibly disappointed for the individuals involved.”
Was that before or after the AFL commissioners cracked open their third bottle of Moet and Chandon to celebrate the FFA’s ongoing misfortunes?
Demetriou even went so far as to call the FIFA World Cup executive committee “a disgraceful rabble.”
As a “tough talking” CEO – that’s the buzz phrase of the 21st century – Demetriou made it clear to all and sundry living in Keating’s arse end of the earth that he is not happy.
He also has to make it abundantly clear that he will not tolerate that sort of treatment of Australians, especially when he runs the game that made Australia what it is today.
Demetriou chiding the FFA is a bit like a tiny ant biting a giant elephant’s foot.
If FIFA wanted to cause AFL some hurt by granting the 2022 World Cup to Australia, they would have. The fact is that FIFA considers the AFL such small fish in the world of sport that it didn’t even bother.
I would have imagined that whether the World Cup was granted to Australia or not, it wouldn’t have made that much difference to FIFA.
They had much bigger fish to fry.
FIFA would have also been well aware of the billion dollar compensation package that the tough talking CEO had negotiated for his team and the promised upgrade of AFL ovals thrown in. Except, of course, for Etihad stadium, which is totally off bounds to any FIFA event.
So if Australia were granted the FIFA World Cup hosting rights of 2022, the AFL might have even gained more from it than the FFA. FIFA are not silly enough to want help the AFL get along, are they?
The way that the AFL had positioned itself for compensation, the anti-football nationalistic sentiment that was dredged up by the AFL press and FIFA’s total indifference to the other sporting codes in Australia, meant that the Australian World Cup bid never really had a chance anyway.
And why come out with that sort of statement four months after the bid winners were announced and Australia humiliated with one vote.
If Demetriou is genuine in his concerns, wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to have made those statements back in December last year.
Demetriou doesn’t say much in public without the AFL’s Public Relations department approval, and besides, it is the opening round of the AFL season, isn’t it.
Is this just more AFL sabre rattling to get AFL fans to come to games as their season kicks off?
The great general Demetriou giving the almighty FIFA a big kick up the backside. What a boost for the AFL troops as they march into the MCG to witness the Swans battle their demons.
Maybe Demetriou is concerned about the slow start to the AFL season, with attendances for the opening round way down on the last couple of seasons.
The AFL’s Market Research department might be telling him that a lot of football fans, who also follow AFL teams, might have been put offside by the AFL’s perceived opposition to the football world cup bid.
Maybe these football fans who have some interest in AFL, might not be so keen on AFL now as they were before the World Cup bid.
Maybe Demetriou is trying to win them back. And, rest assured, he will do everything in his power to get the attendances and ratings up this year.
The AFL media department and the AFL marketing department are telling him it is a very important year for the AFL, as they argue their case to get a billion dollars out of the Australian media market.
It’s a billion dollars, quite frankly, that Australian media just don’t have to spare right now.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.