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Some football fans may have been hoping David Gallop’s first press conference as FFA CEO resembled a rally at the Zeppelinfeld with Gallop’s spray-tanned face screaming about the glory of the world game and declaring war on all other football codes.
Others may have wanted him to become Bryan Mills, the vengeful father in the film Taken played by Liam Neeson, threatening Andrew Demetriou and the future NRL CEO with:
“I have a particular set of skills. Skills I’ve acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you stop taking all our young players now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you.
“But if you don’t, I will look for you. I will find you and I will kill you.”
Instead Gallop chose to become more like a Settler of Catan from the Germanic board game; a fairly benign chap interested in discovery, settlement, and gradual expansion, while living in peaceful co existence with his neighbours.
I was glad because war mongering (or “dick measuring” as Bryan Mills would have described it) among the football codes – talk of code rivalry and “sleeping giants”, comparing TV deals, TV ratings and game attendances – makes me a little nauseous.
It was a shame that Gallop as NRL chief felt he had to stifle his glee when John Aloisi converted the penalty that put Australia into the World Cup in 2005. Many NFL, AFL, and rugby fans probably found themselves doing it also.
And I’m sure there were plenty of diehard NRL supporters in Sydney and AFL ones in Melbourne who thought they could only celebrate their cities’ premierships in the alien code in secret.
It’s time for real sports fans to embrace all codes.
We all have our prejudices against the games we didn’t grow up with. The disparaging comments about rugby and league players as brainless battering rams; AFL as aerial ping-pong; football as a goal free non-event involving diving prima donnas.
The skill required to play a code we think we despise only becomes apparent when we try to play it ourselves. In a casual game of soccer I was exhausted after ten minutes trying to get around defenders, and hobbled for a couple of days.
More importantly we can only really appreciate it after seeing it live. Growing up in Melbourne, I had limited exposure to the rugby forms and what I saw on television was (with the exception of David Campese’s goosestepping) slow, boring and too ground based.
It only took one game – when I wandered into Olympic Park during the Storm’s inaugural year – to be converted to both league and union.
Rather than declaring war they should be helping each other out. I suggest that each club member of a football code be given a honorary temporary membership with another code so they attend games of the alternative brand and learn to appreciate it.
Even if they don’t become full converts they may at least become TV fans of the game.
I want to see a game of soccer – my least preferred form of football – but to my shame I still haven’t got around to it. I know the A-League suffers in comparison with the overseas competitions but I also know that TV rarely gives justice to the speed, skill and atmosphere of the sports it presents.
Perhaps my prejudices are still there, and I fear being crushed by an angry mob or set alight with a flare!
Gallop mentioned a cluttered market in his address, and there will always be some level of competition between the codes as they search for new hearts and dollars.
But I think they can all co-exist and prosper. Soccer has to compete in all States against all codes but it is has the summer to itself. Presently, the NRL and AFL dominate in different States.
The fear of other codes intent on expansion is understandable.
History shows original inhabitants have good cause to fear a new arrival. The Australian Aborigines and assorted native birds and mammals when the First Fleet stopped by in 1788, for instance. Or the poor citizens of the Polish town of Wielun when Hitler’s screaming Stukas dropped in to start World War Two.
Newcomers can take your jobs and leave you destitute. But they can also create jobs and enrich everyone’s existence. I thank the Italians everyday for decent coffee and salami.
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