Search for a Scapegoat

[Pessimistic]

Soccer hates the english - and we are associated.

We might never overcome that

Sepp "Soccer originated in china and was later organized in england and scotland"

Didnt he hear the aborigines invented wogabaliri ?

 

[Pessimistic]

espcially the bit about supporting the giants(lol)

an entity, more soulless, then the faceless men, of the Australian labour party

leave it out - its 4:30 in the morning. It seems our PM judged the situation well

 

[Munro_Mick]

LIke the Republic, I liked the subjective notion, but, the objective model was......frankly,....objective, (objectionable)

and so, the WC bid has fallen flat - and from the subjective front - I feel offended that Australia was 'rejected',

from the objective perspective, it's more of an 'I told you so',

from a pragmatic perspective - well, FIFA is BIG business and it's hard to deny them to follow the money train.

And, I genuinely feel sympathy for the people who put their heart and soul into it.

 

[mustapha]

Qatar had 11 votes in the first round. That means that 11 members had been convinced that it was sensible to host the worlds biggest sporting event in this tiny country in sweltering in 50 degree heat. 11 members decided to completely ignore the concerns raised in FIFAs own technical report. THe amount of money that the Qataris were throwing around must be staggering.

Ben Buckley could have walked into the final presentation holding hands with Vlad, Gallop and a topless Elle Macpherson. It would not have made a difference. In hindsight we could never have won this bid. Could anyone have beaten this bid? We just don't have that amount of cash to throw around.

THe latest from Foxsports news (an emotional Andy Harper so I'm not sure of the reliability) is that Qatar are going to attempt to move the world cup to January to avoid the heat. Given the events of today, this previously unthinkable idea would not surprise me at all. Screw that I want to see them fulfil the promise to air condition open roofed stadiums.

I'm also looking forward to them bringing peace to the middle east.

What an interesting few days. At least with this bid done, the FFA can starting putting some focus on the A League (some basic promotion and a sensible fixture would be a good start).

 

[Bombers_Forever]

FIFA is inherently corrupt, Qatar are better networkers and the Asian confederation didn't back Australia.

Simple as that.

Summed it up in one

 

[Munro_Mick]

Qatar had 11 votes in the first round. That means that 11 members had been convinced that it was sensible to host the worlds biggest sporting event in this tiny country in sweltering in 50 degree heat. 11 members decided to completely ignore the concerns raised in FIFAs own technical report. THe amount of money that the Qataris were throwing around must be staggering.

Ben Buckley could have walked into the final presentation holding hands with Vlad, Gallop and a topless Elle Macpherson. It would not have made a difference. In hindsight we could never have won this bid. Could anyone have beaten this bid? We just don't have that amount of cash to throw around.

THe latest from Foxsports news (an emotional Andy Harper so I'm not sure of the reliability) is that Qatar are going to attempt to move the world cup to January to avoid the heat. Given the events of today, this previously unthinkable idea would not surprise me at all. Screw that I want to see them fulfil the promise to air condition open roofed stadiums.

I'm also looking forward to them bringing peace to the middle east.

What an interesting few days. At least with this bid done, the FFA can starting putting some focus on the A League (some basic promotion and a sensible fixture would be a good start).

Given Australia came stone motherless last, knocked out in Rnd 1 with 1 vote - - - Australia was therefore beaten by the FIELD, and not just Qatar.

That Qatar got 11 votes in Rnd 1 and ultimately won illustrates rather well that :
A - 'no worries' just seriously doesn't cut it on the world stage
B - that Qatar was well 'sold' (or 'bought') from the outset
C - that when talking about a FIFA WC being worth 95% of FIFA's 4 yearly revenue, point A is reinforced
D - that whilst we may not think much of Qatar, it IS however part of the Middle EAst, and that region is MASSIVE in respect to Europe/Asia/Africa and world relations.
E - and for all that we may think it too hot there - - that region, and harsh climates are home to millions and millions,
F - and perhaps winter in Australia wasn't that appealling.

What MUST be very, very clear - - even to the mungbeans like Craig Foster - - is that the AFL and NRL will have had nothing to do with it.

Afterall, the FIFA technical report made zero mention of the Govts MOU and rival codes,

and when I say 'zero mention' - I mean it (look at the FIFA tech document and the 'current use' of stadia would mention cricket, soccer and that was it - - Australian Football and Rugby League had dropped off the face of the planet,..........which reminds me of something David Gallop said almost a year to the day ago when he rejected the FFA's resched proposals (commenting the support couldn't come at any cost).

So, from that perspective - - perhaps a lot of people got pushed to the point by the pro-soccer whining such that pleasure might (sadly) be taken in the pain of others.

 

[Fastback]

Paul Hogan - the tax evading wax dummy looked tired and disinterested in the pres, maybe he had just been to court?
Seriously though, this takes me back to ~1992 when Atalanta were announced for the Olympics. We are overlooked because we are such a minnow in a political/geographical/world sense, but surprisingly to some can organise the best world events, obviously not a prerequisite...

 

[Munro_Mick]

Clearly Australia lacked support from the Asian confederation.

At the end of the day, is that really surprising??

Australia is in Asia, no, it's in Oceania, no, it's in Asia and yet Australia was trying to promote the 'last continent' (Australasia) as the 'last frontier' when,.......we were seeking Asian support???

Do the other members of the Asian Confed really accept Australia as a full blown member of 'Asia' or was Australia just accepted as part of WC slot management??

 

[mustapha]

Given Australia came stone motherless last, knocked out in Rnd 1 with 1 vote - - - Australia was therefore beaten by the FIELD, and not just Qatar.

.

You don't think that part of the strategy of the other bidders was to eliminate Australia early ( i.e. eliminate a threat)? This is not just a popularity contest where the Exco members vote for their favourite bids. They have spent months agonising over voting scenarios that would see them coming out on top. The fact that we got one vote is no reflection on the quality of the bid. Qatar out negotiated/out bribed everyone. We were just the first part of their superior strategy

 

[mustapha]

Clearly Australia lacked support from the Asian confederation.

At the end of the day, is that really surprising??

Australia is in Asia, no, it's in Oceania, no, it's in Asia and yet Australia was trying to promote the 'last continent' (Australasia) as the 'last frontier' when,.......we were seeking Asian support???

Do the other members of the Asian Confed really accept Australia as a full blown member of 'Asia' or was Australia just accepted as part of WC slot management??

We are probably not fully accepted yet. We have only been there for a very short time.

 

[Zidane98]

You don't think that part of the strategy of the other bidders was to eliminate Australia early ( i.e. eliminate a threat)? This is not just a popularity contest where the Exco members vote for their favourite bids. They have spent months agonising over voting scenarios that would see them coming out on top. The fact that we got one vote is no reflection on the quality of the bid. Qatar out negotiated/out bribed everyone. We were just the first part of their superior strategy

There were rumors going around that both of the Japanese & South Korean bids done deals via Bin Hammam to ensure they were not knocked out in round 1 so they could save face. I believe Bin Hammam promised votes from the Qatar/Latin voting bloc in the early rounds which would then be switched to Qatar in the later rounds, thus eliminating one of either Australia or the USA first up. Unfortunately the 7/8 exco members who wanted Qatar dismissed weren't strong enough and lost out in the end.

 

[VikingSven]

We are probably not fully accepted yet.

The question is will we ever be?

 

[usalion]

I voted for fIFA being corrupt, because I truly thought that a couple weeks out from the vote when the whole mess was being picked over with the suspended delegates.

Obviously, Asia didn't support Australia, but then, the Asia representatives were South Korea, Japan and Qatar- who clearly voted for themselves. Can't remember who the other two members are, but who did they vote for?

I'm curious as to where Australia's vote actually came from- not being funny here, but which delegate do you think voted for the Aussies?

Also, Qatar clearly knew the political ropes- give credit to Bin hamman there....but then again, what happened to the Spain-Qatar alliance?

A sad day for football.....

 

[RooHooDoo]

The bid needed less Julia and Hoges and more dope and Hookers.

 

[stuart27]

Alright gang, we need to get rid of all the oil by 2022 to really screw these bastards. Everyone go out to your cars, set the engines to idle. Then we play the waiting game.

Honestly, I think Asia just gamed us. They wanted their established members to save face so sacrificed the new kid. Fair enough, if we couldn't get the support from the rest of the world to force Asia behind us, why should we assume that we'd be their highest priority should it come to voting?

That and FIFA are a pack of corrupt bastards and Qataris are snakes in the grass.

God damn I hope we end up playing them in the Asian Cup Knockouts. Smash the bastards.

 

[mighty tiges]

FIFA was always corrupt but it's official now. So much for the technical and evaluation reports .

Sydney-centric bid - all celebs were from NSW and mostly old hat ones and virtually all bid promotional events were held in Sydney. So typical of the FFA to think Australia ends at Picton when Soccer should not be a sport that suffers from historical interstate rivalries.

Too much messiah talk surrounding Lowy and his supposed negotiating clout. One vote FFS!

Lack of transparency and details from the FFA while the bid was being put together which caused unnecessary division and also shut out the public from truly embracing the bid along the way until the final days.

The FFA showing visiting FIFA delegates a stadium (Etihad) that wasn't part of the bid .

Soccer zealots and those in the Sydney media for mouthing off for the past year about the evil AFL. And right on cue there's another paranoid idiot who has just rang into 3aw. I didn't realise the 22 FIFA delegates were on Demetriou's payroll .


Next time (2038 at the earliest) we need a stronger argument to put to FIFA than just "we haven't had it before". Obviously some BS about "world peace" needs to be in there .

Trying to compete for star/celeb power doesn't work for us especially when we use 1980s and 90s has-beens .

Don't submit a bid when other Asian nations are bidding. Bloc votes are important to survive the early rounds of voting.

Make sure the Oceania confederation delegate isn't stupid enough to get himself suspended from the vote .

Make sure the ASEAN delegate isn't a backstabbing weasel who voted against an ASEAN members' bid.

Make sure we check before submitting the bid that any of the bidding competitors don't have unlimited pockets to bribe and promise a fantasyland.



How about we just all agree to make Craig Foster the scapegoat for just being an utter tool and still publicly calling Australians ignorant even post the bid announcement .

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

FIFA is inherently corrupt, Qatar are better networkers and the Asian confederation didn't back Australia.

Simple as that.

^ Pretty much.

Asian confederation is the big one. Australia needed them to at least get into the 2nd round of voting. Japan & Korea also bidding as separate bids stuffed things up because they were never going to get it after co-hosting in 2002.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

I'm curious as to where Australia's vote actually came from- not being funny here, but which delegate do you think voted for the Aussies?

Beckenbauer (Germany)

 

[Munro_Mick]

The question is will we ever be?

FFA need to put in hard yards,

both domestically and within the confederation.

Australia has to convince Asia that it's not just a marriage of convenience that Australia is part of the Asian confederation.

Hosting the 2015 Asian Cup you'd have to think would be a step in the right direction.

 

[AG]

I blame Craig Foster.

 

[mustapha]

Next time (2038 at the earliest) we need a stronger argument to put to FIFA than just "we haven't had it before". Obviously some BS about "world peace" needs to be in there .

:.

We need to declare war on New Zealand.

 

[TP86]

Qatar's investment in networking and face-to-face opportunities with voting nations - hosting the meeting of african federations in angola for instance - footing the bill on numerous occasions when they had no reason to be there other than political negotiation.

That and Bin Hammam's politcal clout leading Qatar as the strongest Asian bid among a nowhere near unified confederation.

It's safe to say that Australia were more than tens of millions short of matching Qatar on the first count, and more than hundreds of personnel in the right places short of matching them on the second count.

Bid/presentation/government/domestic codes is all superficial - but it's also what we'll hear a lot about.

 

[Pessimistic]

FIFA hates english. dont discount that fact

Our vote came from canada. they probably voted for england too.

England voted for the US

Only the US with multinational sponsorships available got any traction

 

[Munro_Mick]

FIFA was always corrupt but it's official now. So much for the technical and evaluation reports .

Sydney-centric bid - all celebs were from NSW and mostly old hat ones and virtually all bid promotional events were held in Sydney. So typical of the FFA to think Australia ends at Picton when Soccer should not be a sport that suffers from historical interstate rivalries.

Too much messiah talk surrounding Lowy and his supposed negotiating clout. One vote FFS!

Lack of transparency ........

......How about we just all agree to make Craig Foster the scapegoat for just being an utter tool and still publicly calling Australians ignorant even post the bid announcement .

Tend to agree,

but, isn't the next 'opportunity' going to be 2034. i.e. the new pseudo rotation is that a host confed can't bid in the next 2, so, Europe can't go again until 2030, and 'Asia' until 2034. Thus meaning, the 2026 will be between what's left,.....Africa and America's.

Do you reckon FIFA might just kill off the 'rotation' thing!!!

 

[Joe Mama]

As the old saying goes "Money talks and bullsh!t walks", that's the reason why we lost, nothing more, nothing less, and that was the reason why Atlanta won the 1996 Olympics and not Athens & Melbourne, because we were simply out played, we were the pawn and Qatar was the king.