The minor Sydney FC shareholder has been dismayed by the recent comments by controversial AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou who suggested last week the AFL competition may have to shut down for an entire season due to issues over stadium availability.

This claim was swiftly refuted by Football Federation Australia. The national body have consistently said six to eight weeks would be the maximum timeframe for potential World Cup stadiums that host AFL games.

However, the alarmist comments have been big news here and overseas.

The star of hit TV show Without A Trace, who's been based in the USA since the 1980s but is a regular visitor back to Australia, says the overall benefits to Australia of a World Cup will far outweigh any short-term reshuffling of fixtures in other football codes.

La Paglia says such arguments are unfathomable particularly with the obvious economic benefits to the nation.

"We're going to bring massive amounts of people that are going to inject massive amounts of money into our economy. Which part of this is bad so far? What? I don't get it," he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"Since when does a sporting body dictate to the government what is best for the country in terms of economy, PR and putting Australia on the map?

"If anybody has any doubts, send them a tape of the 2000 Olympics, second to none anywhere in the world. I don't get it.

"If you become isolationist, you really have no friggin' clue what's going on in the world. Secondly, it stops the cultural and emotional growth of the country."

He added that the AFL need to think long-term and understand there will be significant benefits for all Australians - including the AFL.

For instance, some World Cup fans may wish to see an AFL game as part of a unique sight-seeing experience. Who knows, given the large crowds they pull, some may even become fans of Aussie Rules?

"I think most football supporters in Europe will be like 'what the hell is AFL?'" added La Paglia.

"No disrespect to AFL, it's an institution in this country. It's a respected sport and it should be. But you have to understand the benefits, the long-term benefits that will help all football codes.

"Number one, all the stadiums will be improved, retro-fitted and will help them in the long run. So you have to shut down for six months and you have to play in another stadium.

"That's a short-term problem that will give you long-term benefits, far into the future."

He added: "You can't get stuck in a kind of myopic, circular, small thinking."

One man with a unique perspective on this issue is Scott Munn. The Melbourne Heart CEO -  whose club is set to join the A-League as Melbourne's second franchise from next season - was instrumental in setting up the Gold Coast's new AFL franchise.

Munn says sanity should and will prevail.

"I've worked for both Andrew Demetriou and Ben Buckley and they are both outstanding sports administrators," he said. "I'm sure over time a solution will be found and we'll be able to host this incredible event."

The spat has reinforced La Paglia's beliefs that Australia's tyranny of distance has contributed to what he calls "an island mentality".

"I often say to people, and don't get me wrong, I love Australia, but it's an island and sometimes it has an island mentality," he said. "This stuff is what reinforces my belief that there's an island mentality.

"If they're threatened by the idea it may push soccer up into a position where it threatens their code, once again, they need to have more confidence in their own code.

"AFL and NRL have been around for 100 years or so, it's not going disappear, not at all. Unless they act like twits and then it might. If you're an AFL fan, you're an AFL fan. If you're a rugby league fan, you're a rugby league fan.

"There's no reason you can't cross over and watch the other sports. But what's good for the street is good for the neighborhood.

"These guys have to get out of their own little world. We're talking about the nation of Australia and establishing ourselves, as we did with the Olympics, as a cutting-edge, up-to-date, progressive country.

"To do anything other than support that bid reinforces that we might possibly be a backwater. But I think some people like that idea.

"They want to keep it all 'the way it was because I liked it' but it's like, ' come on guys, they know damn well, on so many different levels, it's a huge benefit to all the codes of football'.

"And more important, it's important to the country."