Australian soccer receives massive boost

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clarkey

clarkey

Club Legend
Nov 4, 2001
1,585
2
Melbourne
AFL Club
Hawthorn
I know there are those on this board who believe soccer is no threat to Australian football, but the following article should be of concern:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Socce...-to-join-region/2005/03/23/1111525222039.html

The AFL and other organisations have long dined out on the failure of Australian soccer to get its act together. This latest announcement is a huge boost to soccer in many ways. It will mean increased revenue, better players and the holy grail, a decent chance to qualify for the World Cup.

It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
 
The earliest that the Socceroos can get to a world cup is 2010, 5 years away, and leading up to that there will be half a dozen qualifying games.
These are all one off events, that will attract a crowd that promptly disappears.

On the domestic scene, I don't see it as a threat as soccer is played in the summer, so that Aussies who like more than one sport will be able to get their footy fix all year round.

On participation numbers, it's well documented that soccer has twice as many people playing as the three other football codes combined, and they don't even count soccer's equivalent of Auskick. This has been going on for the past few years and has not affected footy crowds, memberships or sponsorship.

If anything, it's the netball that has the most to lose, as more girls are dropping out of netball for womens soccer.
 
I wonder if Australia leaving Oceania will be a real kick in the guts for soccer in the region. Although our neighbours might find it easier to get a side to the World Cup, might there be less money and interest in the sport with the relative big gun of Australia out of the way? Presumably Oz will stop playing the big 20-0 games against local small nations. Not sure what effect it will have on them.
 

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Ocenia will not survive as region without Australia. Although Australia has been accepted into Asia it has not been rubber stamped yet. What you will find is that all of Ocania will join Asia and it will become the Asia Pacific region.
 
Actually it will not be just a one off event, not with the possibility of A-League clubs attending Asian Club Championship events - more friendlies against Asian teams - and even the possibility of hosting Asia-related soccer events.

Not a one off event at all. It is indeed a massive boost to Australian soccer. I tend to think the only negative for Oceania is that it will kill off any chance of them ever making the World Cup ever again - besides that though Oceania can look forward to, for example, qualifying tournaments where they don't actually know which teams will make the final, especially not now that New Zealand have become so utterly useless.
 
I meant that each qualifying game for the World Cup will be a one off event, that will be well attended as an "event", then forgotten.

There is more information now in the papers about what membership of the Asian Football Confederation involves, and it is not just the World Cup qualifiers every four years. As you mention there is also the possibility of an Australian A-league team playing in the Asian Champions league.

There is also the Asian Cup, with qualifiers starting in January. This will also involve one off qualifiers. So it looks like there are going to be a lot of qualifiers at the MCG.

I don't think this will affect attendances at footy games at all, especially in Victoria where the footy roots are very deep. Sydneysiders are more fickle though.

The Australian sports sponsorship dollar may move towards soccer, when Australian companies see that they can reach an Asian audience of millions.
I mentioned on the other forum that the 2004 Asian Cup final was watched by over 800 million viewers in 60 countries. This would be an advertising bonanza for Australian companies dealing with Asia.
 
If we ignore the fact that the better side on the day doesn't always win in soccer, oceania will be dead. It will never get a direct entry, and will have to play the 5th asian or south american side. They will get slaughtered every time. This will hurt soccer in the pacific, as there will be no opportunity to play quality opposition. Hurting soccer anywhere is a good thing imho, especially in an area AR is trying to move into.
 
I imagine they'll be seeking to increase the Australian public's awareness of the big Asian teams, so that in 10 years or whatever, people will regard them with the respect they presumably get in Asia.
 
Goat said:
I imagine they'll be seeking to increase the Australian public's awareness of the big Asian teams, so that in 10 years or whatever, people will regard them with the respect they presumably get in Asia.
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Thay'll have a hard enough job seeking to increase the Australian public's awareness of the Australian teams first.
 
This wont have any impact in aussie rules. As wwas mentioned before the two sports are played over different seasons. plus, i believe that no other sport cross over into Aussie rules better then soccer. I play Both soccer and aussie rules and in my opinion the games are very similar. training in both deffinately improves your skills in both games. So, i dont think there is competition in australia between the codes. If people are smart enough they will see this as an opportunity for cross code co-operation.

Whose going to want to watch Melbourne v Zhuangchong? It's not like they're playing Manchester United or Real Madrid. How many people in Australia could even name, say, the Japanese champions? Not bloody many.
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In regards to this. the important thing for aussie soccer here, is not in domestic leagues or asian club games. The importants here relates to the world cup and the national team. So, the japanese domestic title holder is a totally moot point. Oh, and FC Tokyo is leading the J league for the time being.

Cheers,
Paul
 
CalgaryBlue said:
plus, i believe that no other sport cross over into Aussie rules better then soccer.
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Many of the people I played gaelic football with will disagree with this statement.
 

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Soccer is alright,but what it needs is the following-7 more players per team a different shaped ball,different posts and contact.add those and you've got the makings of a beautiful game.hang on,that sounds familiar......
 
Belicose said:
Many of the people I played gaelic football with will disagree with this statement.
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I personally think a game with the best elements of Gaelic and International Rules would be the easiest way to go, as most countries have plenty of rectangular grounds available, while not too many countries have ovals.
 
If you want to see one reason why Clarkey posted this thread originally -

Go to "Soccer is still running last" on the main AFL board
Then find post no 146 by "Grunty" who incidentally has just posted here.
If all goes to plan lots a money coming to the Australian roundball game eventually.
Be aware they are getting their act together led by Frank Lowy who is no loser.

However it also gives time for the AFL led currently by AD to further cement our sports position in Australia.
 
Hi Kokoda, my post was in reply to another one on that forum. The ideas in the post are not original as it's mainly taken from recent Sydney Morning Herald and Age articles.

As I said footy can learn some things from soccer, especially by eliminating the 'snouts in the trough' syndrome.

The last bit about insuring against a terrorist attack 3 years before the incident just blew my mind when I heard it, and showed me the kind of person Lowy is.


I'll post it again.

Soccer in Australia has never had the luxury of huge income streams to promote and develop the game like footy. Only footy with its TV revenue and sponsorships could throw $40 million at the Sydney market to get the Swans going, or the proposed $20 million to start a new team in Sydney's West.

Soccer has never had amounts like that, yet they have managed to make soccer the number one participation sport in Australia through an army of dedicated volunteers, working on shoestring budgets.

This is one thing footy could learn from soccer, as we now have too many snouts at the footy trough. It is amatter of opinion who has the biggest snout, but you know who I mean.

Acceptancce of Australia into Asia is not just a sporting move. It is primarily a business move. The Asian Football Confederation have invited Australia to join on the advice of their own sponsors, the World Sports Group, which sponsors the AFC to the tune of $70 million a year.

The World Sports Group has seen the economic potential of having Australia in the Asian Group.

The new income streams from the Asian connection will start to flow from next year, when Australia start to play in the Asian Cup qualifiers. These will be broadcast live to most of Australia's main trading partners around Asia, so will attract a number of big sponsors with an eye on the Asian markets.

From Next year, for every four year period Australia will be involved in a number of Asian qualifiers and competitions, all of which will be broadcast live around Asia to an audience of hundreds of millions.

AFC World Cup qualifiers
World Cup
Asian Cup qualifiers
Asian Cup
Olympic (under 23 ) qualifiers
2008 Olympics
East Asian Cup
Confederations Cup qualifiers
Confederations Cup

And club competitions:

World Club Championship
Asian Champions League

THe TV and sponsorship revenue from all of these will guarantee that Australian soccer will have enough income to further develop soccer in Australia.
If Australia gets to the World Cup via Asia, we stand to gain around
$40 million in sponsorships and participation fees just for getting there, and more if we win any games.
The prize money for the Asian Cup is close to a milion dollars for the winner, and half amillion for second place.

It does not matter if we have to play some Asian minnows on the way, as this happens in all confederations. Even France or England have to play Andorra or Liechtenstein at some time.

For years, soccer in Australia was ruled by a bumbling pack of self seeking clowns, who took the game to the brink of ruin.

But two years ago, Lowy, the second richest man in Australia and the head of the $38 billion Westfield empire took over the reins of Australian soccer.

Lowy was the man who was astute enough to insure his property in the New York Twin Towers against a terrorist attack, three years before the 9/11 attack.
Lowy is a winner, he does not countenance failure.
 
But two years ago, Lowy, the second richest man in Australia and the head of the $38 billion Westfield empire took over the reins of Australian soccer.

Lowy was the man who was astute enough to insure his property in the New York Twin Towers against a terrorist attack, three years before the 9/11 attack.
Lowy is a winner, he does not countenance failure. The man is a typical arrogant Jew.

Lowys Westfield Corp pumps in a lot of money to the Liberal party so is it no wonder that Howard and his cronies (also from NSW) have promised soccer 15 yes $15 MILLON of OUR tax dollars to get the foreign game off its arse .
A typical Howard vote buying and Sydney centric decision dont expect the Rodent to start supporting Australain football any time soon afterall he didnt even bother to turn up to one GF..
 
Howard pumped $15 million into Football because he knew it was not good for Australia's image internationally for its Football Federation to go down the drain and be banned from FIFA. Howard knows the only sport through which Australia can build international links on a truly global scale is Football. A ban from FIFA would've meant we couldn't do that, we wouldn't be able to qualify for the World Cup or play any internationals. Howard's a canny operator, he knows in the area of sports this country has to look further afield than 10 or so Cricket/Rugby/Swimming nations. You can't build links with Asia though these sports or Australian Rules. It has to be Football and Howard made the right choice to ensure that Australia is able to forge these links through sport.
 
finders said:
dont expect the Rodent to start supporting Australain football any time soon afterall he didnt even bother to turn up to one GF..
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Yeah, he should clearly be pretending to support a game he has no interest in, like Keating did.
 
Ray Nolan said:
Howard knows the only sport through which Australia can build international links on a truly global scale is Football. It has to be Football and Howard made the right choice to ensure that Australia is able to forge these links through sport.
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Didn't stop us all roundly booing him and breaking into "Johnny's a ********er!' at the Iraq match though. :D

That was great to see. Many of the ultra right-wing Bay 23ers don't the front of us were not at al pleased by it either. :rolleyes:

JF
 
JF_Bay_22_SCG said:
Didn't stop us all roundly booing him and breaking into "Johnny's a ********er!' at the Iraq match though. :D

That was great to see. Many of the ultra right-wing Bay 23ers don't the front of us were not at al pleased by it either. :rolleyes:

JF
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Hmmm, guess I'll stand out then when y'all boo him at the WCQ then! ;)
 
Why even bother about soccer? You can't do anything about it anyway! Why not be positive and positively promote australian football. For those who want to die of boredom watching 'pussyfoot' rules soccer - for god sake let them! The only reason the soccer fraternity have progressed in this country is because of the large immigrant intake where that game [the world's shame with the rioting it promotes], is the only choice! Also over the last 20 to 30 years female teachers have almost exterminated male teaches from schools. From a woman's perspective it is much easier to demonstrate the comparative effeminateness and simplicity of soccer. But any male with even average levels of testosterone.....and ability to make a
choice....are you kidding?
 

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