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As long term fan of Australian football – and follower of football in general for even longer than that – I’ve noticed something about our support for the world game.
It’s a thing that’s surrounded the entire code in this country for the entire time the game has been here. And it has lasted well and truly longer than its used-by date – an inferiority complex.
It has been spurred by the decades of failures in making World Cup tournaments, the inadequacy of local competitions during that time, the inadequacy of the old confederation (Oceania) and the game being poorly administered.
And then the inevitable collapse of the NSL and the doubts surrounding the foundation of they A-League.
This doubt is what makes Australians a little more unsure of their support of the national team. It makes people view the A-League as an inferior to everything else league – despite its rise and rise – and worst of all it makes Australians doubt their compatriots who play the game.
It’s an inferiority complex based on history rather than logic.
We’ve constantly heard (from two cent web professionals) that the A-League is the worst competition around, that the quality is so inferior to everything in the world, that Ange Postecoglou is not up to it and that only Tim Cahill is good enough to score goals for the Socceroos.
But the stark reality (driven now by the Socceroos conquering Asia) is that these kind of doubts are wholly and completely unwarranted.
I am a seasoned fan of Australian football and in my eyes – as in most dedicated football supporters’ eyes – we see it differently. We have faith in the process and although we know anything and everything can be done better, we know that the development of Australian players from youth to professional is indeed adequate.
We watched as Ange Postecoglou revolutionised and reshaped the entire A-League from top to bottom and we know that Australia’s domestic league is a more than adequate standard for our players new and old.
A-League clubs hold the upmost professionalism in largely every facet of the game. The difference between A-League clubs and the rest of the world is one thing – money.
But money doesn’t mean you can’t hold professional standards and money doesn’t stop our systems of development from holding high standards. Money does lots of things but money cannot buy these qualities.
There’s a point where our mainstream will need to give up all qualms concerning Australian football and just accept the fact that at the end of the day, Australia is pretty good at the round ball game.
Having a AFC Champions League trophy and a Continental Cup within the space of 12 months speaks for itself.
Certainly I don’t see England making any revolutionary inroads or any real exerted effort to such dominance of their continent. If we’re going to compare ourselves to England, it’s that kind of comparison we should be making rather than one based solely on money.
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