Australian Football in the Next Ten Years:
by Anthony Ferguson
The Weekender: I reckon this blog is the only place you'll get an opinion piece of football in Canberra or Australia, anywhere in the Canberra media on a weekend. Feel free to contribute. With close to 2,000 readers a week, haveagoyermug:)
This week former Canberran and ANU favourite Anthony Ferguson takes a look at where Australian football could be in ten years time. Fans of football may remember Fergo's previous posts TEN YEARS AGO on the ozfootball site.
Australian Football in the Next Ten Years
by Anthony Ferguson
There is no denying the immense progress made by the game in Australia over the past half decade. From the Howard Government’s heartfelt contribution to the coffers, the resurrection of Frank Lowy as a guiding light, and the establishment of Football Federation Australia, the gap between the National Soccer League era and the A-League is a gaping chasm.
While it is important to remember and learn from the past, which was by no means all bad, by the way. Let us not forget that some NSL clubs had strong support and several grand finals drew crowds in excess of 40 000 people.
Nor should we ever discount the efforts of the pioneering Socceroos or the fact that our national team has arguably been a competitive international side since the mid-1980s.
It is equally important to take stock and see where we stand today, with our Socceroos an established marketing force, enjoying huge local support and a growing presence in the Asian region. With our A-League growing steadily and sensibly modeled on other regional success stories.
So without losing sight of the importance of our history, perhaps it is possible to look ahead to the potential developments of the next decade. The next ten years will determine how big a slice of the Australian sporting marketplace football can cut itself.
Firstly on a local level, there are indications that the game has finally got its house in order. What we need to envisage now is a greater collusion between the national governing body and all of the State based organizations. While self-governance is a necessity, there must be a synthesis between all governing bodies.
The Football Federation Australia should look toward monitoring and encouraging the development of every aspect of the game, from junior small sided football to amateur, social and State Leagues, through futsal and all other forms of the indoor game, through beach football, schools football, women’s football and any and all other forms of the sport. There should be an ethos of mutual support and appreciation. There are signs that this is happening and this is a good thing.
We have progressed from the days of relying solely on SBS television to market our football. Today thanks to the impact of technology we can appreciate that tens of thousands of Australian football clubs and associations have a presence on the Internet.
The advent of a generic football magazine like Australian 442 is another important step on the road to establishing a firm presence in the Australian sporting milieu. In this regard it is gratifying to see that the magazine has recently incorporated a lengthy section on State football across the country.
On that note perhaps one area in which the FFA could progress the game on the local front is to create an inter-State competition along the lines of that witnessed in the AFL and ARL. NSW versus Victoria for example could become an annual event on the sporting calendar.
On the other hand, perhaps this is not the way to go. Maybe our energies would be better focused on creating a viable knock out cup competition, along the lines of the English FA Cup. This topic has been a bone of contention for Australian football fans for many years.
The concept of a national knock out cup has excited generations of Australian football supporters, but it is still no nearer to realization than when it was first attempted in the late 1970s. Back then the old Australian Soccer Federation threw its fledgling National League clubs into staggered draw with select State based club sides. The competition lasted two or three seasons before fading from view.
Now the FFA is mooting the potential resurrection of the cup concept, and a new generation of fans are seemingly willing to jump on the bandwagon. However, the old problems of economy and tyranny of distance still conspire against the concept. The authorities would have to come up with a workable plan to make such an event economically viable.
If it is to succeed, two things would need to happen. Firstly, they would have to remove the current format of playing the knockout cup as a pre-season tournament. This detracts from the quality of the event and leads clubs and fans to treat it as merely a series of warm up matches.
Secondly, they would have to combat the Australian tradition of staging a knock out series culminating in a Grand Final to decide the country’s national champions, as opposed to a straight league format.
The current structure would clash with an FA Cup style completion and will be very difficult to remove as it is now part of the Australian sporting psyche. From memory I believe the last time the national league was decided on a strict points basis was 1987.
On the international front, the Socceroos have managed to successfully integrate themselves into the Australian sporting zeitgeist, largely on the back of a successful qualification and subsequent glorious campaign at the 2006 World Cup Finals.
I think the events of Germany 2006 brought home to many non-traditional football fans the fact that the football World Cup is a ‘real’ World Cup. There are no makeweights in the finals of international football.
The move into Asia has been of enormous import to the future of the game in this country and was long overdue. I believe we will witness a huge improvement in the playing stocks of many national teams across the Asian region over the next decade, and this was certainly evidenced during the 2007 Asian Cup.
The advent of our move into Asia means that our national team now has two significant competitions to compete in over the traditional four yearly cycle of international competition. More meaningful games and no more empty international calendar years, this can only make us stronger.
On that note how gratifying it is to watch the Socceroos go head to head with such strong opponents in what is only the First Round Group of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers.
Our qualification for the tournament will go right down the wire and we will have to work hard and play exceptionally well over 12-15 matches to get there. This is so much better than a stroll through the comparatively weak Oceania region with two potential big matches every four years.
While I admire the FFA’s bold attempt to bid to host the 2018 World Cup Finals, I think it may be a bit premature. We need to get our nationwide infrastructure in place before we can truly compete with the likes of England, the United States and China, for example. Looking around the nation I cannot see enough quality stadia currently in place to warrant hosting the World Cup.
On the other hand we certainly have the finances and the capacity to make it happen. Perhaps a more realistic short term aim would be to bid for the World Club Championships and the Asian Cup. Two tournaments I am confident we could easily host immediately.
On the international front, we should look towards either qualifying or seriously contending to qualify for every World Cup Finals series from this point on. It will certainly not be easy and we will not always achieve it. But it must be a set goal. Similarly we should look to win every Asian Cup series and always be serious contenders.
In international terms, we would do well to study the success of the United States, another frontier society and former British colony where the world game has had a long running battle to establish itself in the face of some at times hostile opposition. Yet the Americans have qualified for the past five World Cup finals in a row, notwithstanding the one they hosted.
The A-League itself appears to have been set up in a financially viable manner, and I am confident that the FFA has a sensible plan in place to ensure its continual growth in the marketplace.
I trust they have studied closely other successful models like Japan’s J-League, and while I feel that two new teams should have been allowed in for next season, I will trust the FFA’s judgment on the issue.
What we should be looking for ten years down the track is a 16-18 team A-League Premier Division, and the prospect if not the reality of the creation of a second tier league below it.
Eventually, a promotion and relegation system will be vital to the lifeblood of the game. The Asian Confederation will be looking to us to help grow the quality of the game in the region.
Finally I believe we will witness a much greater recognition in Australian football in the wider business community, and of the fantastic opportunities afforded by Asian Club completion and the Asian Champions League in particular.
The Australian business community needs to get its head out of the sand and appreciate the fantastic football related economic possibilities right on our doorstep.
To that end I hope we will witness a much greater effort to market their capabilities among all of our A-League clubs, and at the same time I hope to see a much broader global sporting perspective and less “footycentric” bias from our mainstream media.
It’s time for some of these people to take a reality check. While there will always be room for all major football codes in Australia, and the AFL and ARL have their social and historical place in the pantheon, some of the haters out there need to learn their place in the scheme of things when they knock world football, because let me tell you boys, not only are you not in the same ball park – you’re not even in the same universe.
That aside, these are some of the things I anticipate in Australian football over the next decade:
• A greater appreciation of the game’s history – in terms of online and hard copy literature, and possibly the creation of a physical museum of memorabilia and a Hall of Fame (if these things do not currently exist).
• The A-League season will revert to a winter competition in line with much of the globe (to make us more competitive in the ACL)
• The A-League will have at least 16 teams by 2018, and a Second Division will be on the immediate horizon.
• Australia will have hosted or be preparing to host the Asian Cup, the World Club Championships and one of the underage World Youth Cups.
• An A-League side will win the Asian Champions League within the next five years.
• Australia will win the Asian Cup within ten years.
• The Socceroos will have qualified for at least one more World Cup by 2018.
• The game in the Asian region will get even stronger. Along with the traditional powerhouses of the region (Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Australia), I expect new powers to arrive or rediscover former glories, such as Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, North Korea, UAE, New Zealand, India, China and Uzkekistan. China will be a massive regional football power and Uzbekistan will qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
• The infrastructure of the game will have improved tenfold.
• Foxtel will lose its exclusive rights to the Socceroos and the A-League. Seriously, this must be the only country in the world where you cannot watch your national team or national league on free to air television. Not even a highlights package. We have to stop cutting off half our market.
• There will still not be a proper national FA Cup competition in place.
In conclusion, it does look like the game has finally got its act together. The future looks bright and while there will obviously be setbacks, the only way is up.
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