Nick Bendel
The war of the World
December 20th 2009 02:31
Hence, we have a situation in which the FFA is trying desperately to prevail in an extraordinarily challenging fight, while its two main local competitors are trying desperately – if subtly – to ensure its defeat.
At first glance, the round ball game seems to be making a valid point when it says that Aussie Rules and league stand to gain from a successful Australian bid. After all, the federal government would pour money into the infrastructure that they rely on, such as stadiums, training facilities and transportation links. Therefore, Lowy and friends conclude, both codes can expect to make advances that they wouldn’t otherwise make, a point that Demetriou and Gallop calculatingly pretend to accept.
On closer inspection, however, football’s argument collapses, as Demetriou, Gallop and Lowy know full well. For while the AFL and NRL would make a gross gain from the World Cup, they would end up recording a net loss. That’s because although they would take a small step forward, their increasingly strong rival would take a giant leap, meaning that this absolute expansion would result in a relative contraction. In a sporting environment as competitive as Australia’s, it’s less important for governing bodies to increase their amount of pie than their share of pie. For the stronger party will always try to bully its weaker opponents, as evidenced by the AFL’s push into the rugby league heartland of western Sydney. Having dished out an incalculable number of beatings to football over the years, the AFL and NRL are terrified by the prospect of their former whipping boy growing strong enough to give them a taste of their own medicine.
The benefits football stands to gain from hosting the World Cup are colossal. When the Socceroos defeated Uruguay and subsequently advanced to the second round of the World Cup, it gave the code the greatest credibility it had ever experienced – a glow it continues to bask in several years on. Staging the tournament would trump that umpteen times over. With tens of thousands of fans joining some of the planet’s finest athletes in Australia, the excitement generated would be like nothing the nation had witnessed since the unprecedentedly heady days of the Sydney Olympics. Football would saturate the media; football would be on everyone’s lips. In short, it would be the most comprehensive publicity campaign any of this country’s sports had ever enjoyed. Having watched throbbing stadiums cheering on the likes of the Socceroos and Brazil, and having absorbed the monumental interest being shown by billions of people overseas, Aussie Rules and league would inevitably look less attractive by comparison.
That is why the AFL and NRL don’t want Australia to host the World Cup; that is why the FFA does. Most importantly, though, the punters – and thus the federal government – want it. As a result, Demetriou and Gallop have been forced to tread carefully, as they understand that it would be a PR disaster if they were thought to be impeding the bid, or harbouring negative feelings towards it. So, through gritted teeth, they trumpet the official line, proclaiming their support, while agreeing that it would benefit their codes too.
The recent outbreak of dissent from Demetriou and Gallop needs to be seen in this context. By issuing warnings to the FFA about stadium availability and crying foul about disruption to their 2018 or 2022 seasons, they have tested the waters to see how much rebelliousness will be tolerated. They have prodded the FFA, rather than thumped it, because open defiance would be considered unpatriotic. And the two appear to have gotten the balance right, with the general view being that they were not hysterically attacking the bid, but raising legitimate concerns.
Ironically, though, Demetriou and Gallop may have actually strengthened the FFA’s hand. For as Sport: The Australian Disease has previously argued, the only way to snare the World Cup will be to appeal to the emotions of the 24 members of FIFA’s Executive Committee. It won’t be done by telling people that we have the best infrastructure, because we don’t. However, a case can be made for awarding the tournament to Australia on the basis that it’s the only part of the world yet to be conquered by the global game. South Africa will be hosting the next World Cup for emotional reasons; if the FFA can convince FIFA that Australia is a ‘final frontier’ that needs to be snatched from other sports, it may end up doing the same in 2018 or 2022. So when the AFL and NRL attack football, they may unwittingly be attacking themselves.
Regardless, they need to realise that this is a battle they cannot win. The punters want the World Cup. The federal government – which has invested significant financial and political capital in the bid – wants the World Cup. No amount of petty quibbling from the AFL and NRL will be able to destroy that consensus. Consequently, there are only two courses of action for them to follow: praying for the FFA to fail, and preparing to cope in the event that it succeeds.
Should the World Cup come to Australia in around a decade’s time, it could very well prove to be a turning point in this country’s sporting history. Thanks to the years of favourable publicity football would receive either side of the tournament, it could be the moment in which the once derided ‘wogball’ – long identified as a sleeping giant – finally gained ascendancy over its two bigger rivals. And if that was to happen, it would be almost impossible for Aussie Rules and league to ever wrest back control. So disregard all the false smiles and soothing words from Demetriou, Gallop and Lowy. In reality, these three are locked in fierce combat.
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