“But also, there’s Bali, which has a stadium that could be upgraded to World Cup level, then there’s Surabaya, Bandung, Balikpapan, Semarang, Makassar, Manado, Medan, Pekanbaru, which has a really nice stadium.”   

Jakarta's Bung Karno Stadium hosted the 2007 Asian Cup Final and holds a staggering 100,000. Indonesia also recently hosted the Asian Games, successfully too, while the largest Australian embassy in the world is in Jakarta.

With Indonesian President Joko Widodo fully onboard with the bid, it has the political imprimatur of the nation’s most influential politician.

And with the sport-loving Australian PM and Widodo likely to meet twice more before the end of 2019, you'd hope a joint World Cup bid will be on the agenda.

“I think they could host a World Cup on their own, but having Australia and the quality of our bid working with them, would be just a fantastic opportunity for both countries to work together,” said Gaspar.

Gaspar, a recipient of a sports award at the Australia Indonesia Awards 2017, was the first Aussie to play professionally in Indonesia.

He played there for seven years from 2005, including with powerhouse Persib Bandung and with Persia Balikpapan. 

His respect in the country translated into a role as an executive committee member of the Indonesian Players Union, where he is also a life member.

The former Hajduk Split youth team player says Indonesia has the scale, with a population of around 260 million.

As we’ve seen from many major European club tours from Chelsea, Arsenal, Juventus and Manchester United, it’s a nation utterly obsessed by the world game.

Handily, too, it has a President who is fully supportive (one of the reasons why Indonesia’s World Cup bid was scuppered in 2010).

And a joint bid, say proponents, reduces the awkward question of how many automatic host spots go to ASEAN if they were successful with their multi-nation bid.

FTBL saw first-hand the mesmerizing passion of fans across ASEAN, not just in Indonesia.

The 2018 Suzuki Cup - dubbed the region’s World Cup - saw some huge crowds in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Hanoi.

The region is 600 million strong with football on the up in terms of quality.

“I was there in 2007 when they had the Asian Cup with four countries hosting including Indonesia,” Perth-based Gaspar added.

“I thought Indonesia had the biggest buzz of the four host countries [Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were the other three].

“I’ve lived in Indonesia for a long time. It is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is set to be a top-four economy by 2050.

“So the way the economy is growing, they could probably do it on their own. But they could learn from the Australians. It'd be a perfect combination. 

“And traveling Indonesia to Australia and vice versa it’s not far, Bali to Perth is just 3.5hrs while Perth to Jakarta is four hours.

“And for Aussie and world fans, the cultural experience traveling from Aceh to Papua and seeing how diverse it is.

“There’ll be issues along the way with any joint bid but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives.

"It's a perfect idea." 

Stadium and travel infrastructure should not be a problem for fans jetting from one venue to another, says Gaspar.

The cavernous Gelarno Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta is the showpiece but there’s much more.