I’ve just spent the last couple of days in Canberra for the World Cup bid launch on Sunday and yesterday’s National Press Club address by Frank Lowy. I have to say I think the bid is on the right lines....if we look at the likes of England hanging their bid predictably and understandably on the face of David Beckham and the US throwing Obama and Arnie (Schwarzenegger not Arnold) into the ring for their bid it made sense for FFA to steer clear of the celebrity route as that’s a battle they will only lose.
Anyone living here would say the best thing Australia has to offer is the country itself....the beaches, the lifestyle, the scenery, the relative safety, the space and just as importantly a sport mad population both from a participation and spectator perspective. Add that to a reputation of running world class major sporting events and I’ve come away from the last 2 days thinking the Aussie bid may just have some legs. I think 2018 will be a stretch to keep the World Cup out of Europe for a third consecutive time but let’s, for a minute, assume England get awarded 2018 that would then, you would think, rule out going to Europe again in 2022. Of the other AFC bids, can Qatar and Indonesia look to host a tournament they’ve only qualified for once between them back in 1938? Japan and Korea Republic hosted recently in 2002 and Mexico have already hosted two World Cups. That leaves the US as major challengers and in a way there are many similarities between the positioning of US football and Australian....both are far from being considered the number one professional sports in their own backyard thanks to hugely popular proprietary football codes and other sports such as baseball, NBA in the US and cricket and rugby league here but both countries boast huge numbers at grass roots level. However, the USA had the World Cup in 1994 and now has a solid domestic league in the MLS even if the World Cup did not provide the stimulus to the domestic league many, FIFA included, hoped it would.
Which leaves Australia, in my view, in with a real shot at 2022 if 2018 goes to Europe. We have a chairman in Frank Lowy with the credentials, the political skills (both within FIFA and outside), the passion for the game I don’t think Obama and Arnie can match and as has been proven over the last two days the fire in his belly to deliver the World Cup as the final part of his legacy for Australian football.
We at FourFourTwo believe all of us should do whatever we can to get behind this bid....after all, as a group of the most committed football fans in this country, we’ve got the most to gain...imagine the World Cup coming here...just for a minute....I dare you?!?!
Imagine if we are awarded the 2022 World Cup next December.....11 years of planning and the excitement building...watching world class stadia be developed or built from scratch in each major city...the sponsors who would begin to consider football a viable alternative...the surge of interest in the game at all levels I believe would safeguard the future of the sport here long before the tournament even kicked off. The whole of Australia would embrace the chance to put on the greatest show on earth in the greatest country on earth and fans from around the world would be willing their teams to qualification for the chance to spend the morning on Bondi Beach before spending the afternoon at a World Cup game....or the chance to watch their team at one of the true temples of World Sport – the MCG.
There are 70,000 people that visit this web site on an average month....most of us will play the game at some level as well, or be involved in a club in a non playing capacity. We will all have work or class mates not quite so committed as us or we’ll have people we know who have expressed a passing interest in our great game. Now’s the time to get those people interested. Now’s the time to get them as excited as we are about bringing the World Cup to Australia. If each one of the 70,000 of you that come here each month could get 15 people to back the Australian World Cup bid FourFourTwo would have generated 1 million supporters!
So let’s give it a whirl....let’s aim for 15 people each from today – tell them to head here to www.australia2018-2022.com.au and tell them to register and then join the FourFourTwo fans group that someone has already set up. If they’re not particularly tech savvy – do it for them!
Rest assured that for Frank Lowy and the FFA bid team to be successful in the FIFA corridors of power he will need to demonstrate that Australia is a country that is both capable of hosting the World Cup but more importantly has a public that wants this tournament more than the other countries involved.
And that comes down to us....it’s the least we can do.
Anyone living here would say the best thing Australia has to offer is the country itself....the beaches, the lifestyle, the scenery, the relative safety, the space and just as importantly a sport mad population both from a participation and spectator perspective. Add that to a reputation of running world class major sporting events and I’ve come away from the last 2 days thinking the Aussie bid may just have some legs. I think 2018 will be a stretch to keep the World Cup out of Europe for a third consecutive time but let’s, for a minute, assume England get awarded 2018 that would then, you would think, rule out going to Europe again in 2022. Of the other AFC bids, can Qatar and Indonesia look to host a tournament they’ve only qualified for once between them back in 1938? Japan and Korea Republic hosted recently in 2002 and Mexico have already hosted two World Cups. That leaves the US as major challengers and in a way there are many similarities between the positioning of US football and Australian....both are far from being considered the number one professional sports in their own backyard thanks to hugely popular proprietary football codes and other sports such as baseball, NBA in the US and cricket and rugby league here but both countries boast huge numbers at grass roots level. However, the USA had the World Cup in 1994 and now has a solid domestic league in the MLS even if the World Cup did not provide the stimulus to the domestic league many, FIFA included, hoped it would.
Which leaves Australia, in my view, in with a real shot at 2022 if 2018 goes to Europe. We have a chairman in Frank Lowy with the credentials, the political skills (both within FIFA and outside), the passion for the game I don’t think Obama and Arnie can match and as has been proven over the last two days the fire in his belly to deliver the World Cup as the final part of his legacy for Australian football.
We at FourFourTwo believe all of us should do whatever we can to get behind this bid....after all, as a group of the most committed football fans in this country, we’ve got the most to gain...imagine the World Cup coming here...just for a minute....I dare you?!?!
Imagine if we are awarded the 2022 World Cup next December.....11 years of planning and the excitement building...watching world class stadia be developed or built from scratch in each major city...the sponsors who would begin to consider football a viable alternative...the surge of interest in the game at all levels I believe would safeguard the future of the sport here long before the tournament even kicked off. The whole of Australia would embrace the chance to put on the greatest show on earth in the greatest country on earth and fans from around the world would be willing their teams to qualification for the chance to spend the morning on Bondi Beach before spending the afternoon at a World Cup game....or the chance to watch their team at one of the true temples of World Sport – the MCG.
There are 70,000 people that visit this web site on an average month....most of us will play the game at some level as well, or be involved in a club in a non playing capacity. We will all have work or class mates not quite so committed as us or we’ll have people we know who have expressed a passing interest in our great game. Now’s the time to get those people interested. Now’s the time to get them as excited as we are about bringing the World Cup to Australia. If each one of the 70,000 of you that come here each month could get 15 people to back the Australian World Cup bid FourFourTwo would have generated 1 million supporters!
So let’s give it a whirl....let’s aim for 15 people each from today – tell them to head here to www.australia2018-2022.com.au and tell them to register and then join the FourFourTwo fans group that someone has already set up. If they’re not particularly tech savvy – do it for them!
Rest assured that for Frank Lowy and the FFA bid team to be successful in the FIFA corridors of power he will need to demonstrate that Australia is a country that is both capable of hosting the World Cup but more importantly has a public that wants this tournament more than the other countries involved.
And that comes down to us....it’s the least we can do.
