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It wasn’t just the Emiratis cheering as the Socceroos exited the 2019 Asian Cup in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Despite over a decade having passed since Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), we remain the unwanted guest at Asia’s biggest football party.
Having hosted and won the 2015 edition of the tournament and used Asia as a vehicle to secure more safe and regular passage to the previous three World Cups, the rumblings of discontent over Australia’s Asian conquest continues to grow ever louder as Football Federation Australia (FFA) fails to capitalise on its relationship with Asia.
And this represents a major threat to Australian football’s future.
The plainly one-way relationship that Australia’s football integration with Asia represents has led many Asian nations – particularly from the wealthy Gulf States – to call for Australia to be removed from the Asian Football Confederation.
With money flowing from Middle Eastern oil and China’s economic boom, Asia has shifted from the periphery to demanding a seat at the table of global football.
Gulf airlines Emirates and Etihad sponsor major clubs Arsenal and Manchester City, Qatar of all places is hosting the World Cup, and players in the prime of their careers such as Oscar moving to the Chinese Super League.
Who says money doesn’t talk?
Comparatively, Australia’s significantly smaller sports market, geographic isolation and lack of private investment in the game resembling that of other countries such as China, South Korea and Japan has resulted in the Asian perception that Australia has contributed little to the rise of Asian football.
The discontent nearly boiled over in 2015 as the Socceroos prepared for the final of the Asian Cup, where AFC President Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa stated that a “desire exists among the confederations of West Asia to evict Australia” from the AFC, and that “the Arabs are not the only ones who are not convinced that Australia’s membership in Asia’s football is feasible.”
And who could blame them?
From Asia’s perspective, we’ve taken so much yet given very little in return.
Now, instead of nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Jordan and China qualifying for the World Cup as Asia’s representatives, an Oceanian nation that identifies itself as more North American and European than Asian is repeatedly taking their place.
As a result, Australia’s intrusion has helped stunt the growth of Asian football and done little to improve the perceptions of the increasing quality and technically skilled players developed by the region.
Mat Ryan of Australia (hidden) celebrates with his teammates following their sides win after a penalty shoot-out in the AFC Asian Cup round of 16 match between Australia and Uzbekistan at Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium on January 21, 2019 in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
By contrast, Australia has benefited immensely from the higher quality and more regular international fixtures – in Oceania, you can only beat the Solomon Islands so many times – and greater access to the world’s fastest growing sports market.
In short, our Asian adventure can be characterised as an example of economic opportunism, rather than cultural and regional embracement.
With a national and sporting history of race nationalism that continue to shape our sporting views today, at every turn our success as a footballing nation is not marked against our Asian counterparts, but against the traditional European and South American strongholds.
Before we can dream of beating the likes of France, Demark and Chile in World Cup Group Stages, we first have to recognise and respect unique talents and challenges of Asian football.
Without a dominant number 9 striker, playing European passing football just doesn’t bear fruit against the organised and combat defences we have seen in the Asian Cup.
In order to move forward, we must gain a better understanding of and accept our position within the football world.
The FFA must lead a reversal of decades of Anglo-based sporting loyalties and strongly push for increased player movement to and from the A-League with Asia’s biggest leagues, promote the importance of performance in the Asian Champions League and continue to help develop and stimulate the growth of Asian football globally.
Players such as Shinji Ono and now Keisuke Honda have had immense impacts on the visibility of the A-League internationally, while visiting Asian Champions League teams repeatedly highlight the technical skill that our players must strive for.
Moves such as Milos Degenek’s to Al-Hilal FC can also lead to such improvements. But at this stage, such moves are too few and far between.
Without adopting a renewed appreciation of Asia, Australian football will again feel isolated.
Fiji, American Samoa and Tonga will be waiting just in case.
Australia’s future is in Asia. However, if we’re not careful, Asia’s future may not include Australia.
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