Was the bid a mistake?

[Giants FC]

At the moment it's hard to avoid the thought that it would have been better for football/soccer in this country had the FFA never bid for the World Cup.

What has the bid achieved? It's burnt bridges with other codes and their supporters. The public goodwill that came through the 2005 qualifier and the 2006 World Cup campaign was gambled on this bid.
The A-League has been neglected, the lack of promotion resulting in falling attendances, with pissed-off club owners having to dig deeper into their pocket to make up the financial shortfalls.
And the credibility of the game in this country, with this decision and rumours of corruption and the like, has taken a hit.
And the government has blown nearly $50m of taxpayers' money, and no doubt will be wanting answers.

This isn't the end of football/soccer in Australia. Far from it. But it's a blow - a self-imposed blow - and it will take time to rebuild the game from it.

 

[VikingSven]

I think the biggest issue will be the amount of political capital used up during the bid. The government might not be so forthcoming in investing into (or bailing out) the sport once again. The cold, hard fact that $45 Million was spent for a single vote isn't going to die quickly.

 

[00Stinger]

It was a mistake on FIFA's behalf to award the tournament to Qatar.
I think everybody in Australia could have accepted the defeat if the US was the winner. But Qatar...WTF??
Qatar has a population of 1.5million people, they will not have enough accomodation for the approx 1.5million people who travel to the world cup. The country is the size of Melbourne and the weather hits 50 degrees. This is no place for a tournament to be held.

I commend the FFA for trying to get the WC, in the end it will be FIFA who loses out when the Australian and US public shun away from soccer again as it seen to be a corrupt organisation. Russia and Qatar have bought themselves this event and that is the biggest farce.

However on a last note @ SA 2010 the three biggest travelling supporters were US, england and Australia. So why would FIFA want to hold the WC in these countries when it knows they will be the only supporters who will definately travel in big numbers to the tournament?

 

[Zidane98]

At the moment it's hard to avoid the thought that it would have been better for football/soccer in this country had the FFA never bid for the World Cup.

What has the bid achieved? It's burnt bridges with other codes and their supporters. The public goodwill that came through the 2005 qualifier and the 2006 World Cup campaign was gambled on this bid.
The A-League has been neglected, the lack of promotion resulting in falling attendances, with pissed-off club owners having to dig deeper into their pocket to make up the financial shortfalls.
And the credibility of the game in this country, with this decision and rumours of corruption and the like, has taken a hit.
And the government has blown nearly $50m of taxpayers' money, and no doubt will be wanting answers.

This isn't the end of football/soccer in Australia. Far from it. But it's a blow - a self-imposed blow - and it will take time to rebuild the game from it.

Australia has put in an excellent bid and we are better off for the process. It is something that had to be done and we will learn from in the future.

I don't buy all the garbage about the FFA neglecting the A League etc etc.
Hosting the World Cup was only ever viewed as a bonus to the FFA - never something that was essential.

 

[mustapha]

However on a last note @ SA 2010 the three biggest travelling supporters were US, england and Australia. So why would FIFA want to hold the WC in these countries when it knows they will be the only supporters who will definately travel in big numbers to the tournament?

I've never thought of that before. Could that have been a consideration? Will these fans be as eager to follow their teams in Qatar?

 

[mustapha]

I don't buy all the garbage about the FFA neglecting the A League etc etc.
.

Not sure about that. THe lack of promotion and mind boggling fixture selction this year has not helped the A League. Maybe the FFA were spreading themselves too thinly. We will see now that the bid is out of the way

 

[EnglishWarrior]

The best thing that could happen would be for England and the US (and hell yeah Australia too) to go it alone and start up a breakaway from FIFA. The organisation is beyond corrupt. **** Blatter, **** FIFA, they absolutely destest the anglo-speaking world.

 

[00Stinger]

I've never thought of that before. Could that have been a consideration? Will these fans be as eager to follow their teams in Qatar?

Not many fans will be going to Qatar. By giving it to Qatar FIFA are basically saying 'Screw You' to the fans. hey as long as my pockets are lined with Arabian oil money, do I care about the normal punter?

 

[Redb#]

At the moment it's hard to avoid the thought that it would have been better for football/soccer in this country had the FFA never bid for the World Cup.

What has the bid achieved? It's burnt bridges with other codes and their supporters. The public goodwill that came through the 2005 qualifier and the 2006 World Cup campaign was gambled on this bid.
The A-League has been neglected, the lack of promotion resulting in falling attendances, with pissed-off club owners having to dig deeper into their pocket to make up the financial shortfalls.
And the credibility of the game in this country, with this decision and rumours of corruption and the like, has taken a hit.
And the government has blown nearly $50m of taxpayers' money, and no doubt will be wanting answers.

This isn't the end of football/soccer in Australia. Far from it. But it's a blow - a self-imposed blow - and it will take time to rebuild the game from it.

The bid was most definitely premature. A desperate attempt to turbo charge the game in Australia before it's time.

Despite the enthusiasm for the Socceroos (nationalism) and high participation rates, the game has not reached mainstream Australia as a spectator sport. AFL, NRL, Cricket still dominate the consciousness and this came through in the bid.

Not so much that these sports were highlighted, but and I'm using Simon Hill here, there was not enough assoc 'football' in our bid, too much about postcard Australia.

The A league is the veritable canary in the coal mine. The crowds even for the Melbourne sides are low now.

In any case, the legacy argument and potential corruption when against the bid anyway.

Qatar may have only 1.6M people, but it was very much viewed as reaching out to the Middle East (and rich oil barons).

China will likely be next (2026) and then it will rotate outside of Asia according to many.

Maybe in 30 years, Australia might be ready, who knows.

 

[tonk]

Australia has put in an excellent bid and we are better off for the process. It is something that had to be done and we will learn from in the future.

I don't buy all the garbage about the FFA neglecting the A League etc etc.
Hosting the World Cup was only ever viewed as a bonus to the FFA - never something that was essential.

How exactly is the nation "better off" after flushing 45 million bucks of our money down the toilet? 'We will learn from in the future"? huh??? That is the dumbest thing I have read on BF for ages and that is saying something.

 

[mojito]

At the moment it's hard to avoid the thought that it would have been better for football/soccer in this country had the FFA never bid for the World Cup.

What has the bid achieved? It's burnt bridges with other codes and their supporters. The public goodwill that came through the 2005 qualifier and the 2006 World Cup campaign was gambled on this bid.
The A-League has been neglected, the lack of promotion resulting in falling attendances, with pissed-off club owners having to dig deeper into their pocket to make up the financial shortfalls.
And the credibility of the game in this country, with this decision and rumours of corruption and the like, has taken a hit.
And the government has blown nearly $50m of taxpayers' money, and no doubt will be wanting answers.

This isn't the end of football/soccer in Australia. Far from it. But it's a blow - a self-imposed blow - and it will take time to rebuild the game from it.

Roar regular I see ....just seen the same comment here.

As nice as having a WC in our own backyard would have been, first priority should have been establishing the A-league further and make it a profitable enterprise.

Next order of business for the FFA....sort out the Rovers FFS.

 

[Clay Davis]

Australia has put in an excellent bid and we are better off for the process.

How are we better off? $45 million dollars could have paid for 100 houses. A new hospital.

These things are an epic waste of money. Govts should shun FIFA and expect the World Cup to pay its own way. Not embrace the corrupt cronies.

 

[Ted38]

It was a mistake from the outset driven by the passion of one man who managed to convince the government and others that it was a possibility.
How could anyone involved with the bid think that Australia had a chance when dealing with the bunch of cronies and crooks that are FIFA all they are interested is how much money the WC can make.
What a disgraceful waste of money that could've been spent on far more important and worthwhile things.

 

[Munro_Mick]

Australia has put in an excellent bid and we are better off for the process. It is something that had to be done and we will learn from in the future.

I don't buy all the garbage about the FFA neglecting the A League etc etc.
Hosting the World Cup was only ever viewed as a bonus to the FFA - never something that was essential.

And yet it's widely regarded that the A-League has been left on the vine too long.


re the 'excellent bid',

Personally I reckon in a massive world game big money economics perspective that a 1980s style time warped 'no worries' (chuch another shrimp on the barbie) bid was really going to struggle to cut it.

And the Asian Confederation, with 4 members bidding - - perhaps it was a mistake to so clearly identify Australia as 'Australasia' in the whole 'last frontier/last continent' push.

Surely that showed Asia nothing more than that we are a 'member of convenience' and still identify ourselves as a stand alone continent and more part of Oceania than anything.

That said, being fair and all that we had a 'nice' bid......but, nice and 'no worries' doesn't push through 5 layers of concrete!!!!

 

[mighty tiges]

Missing out on the WC will hurt the weaker clubs in the A-league. Nth Qld could go as soon as the end of this season. GCU although propped up by Palmer should go just because it's dead weight and an embarrassment which drags down the overall crowd averages.

China will likely be next (2026) and then it will rotate outside of Asia according to many.

Maybe in 30 years, Australia might be ready, who knows.

China or any Asian country can't host 2026 given Qatar (a member of the Asian Confederation) is hosting 2022. We got screwed more than just losing 2022. We can't bid for 2026 either now. With the 2030 WC centenary most likely going to Uruguay/Argentina and 2034 probably heading to North America or back to Europe it's hard to see us getting another shot until 2038-2050. So a 20-30 year wait to bid again.

 

[Munro_Mick]

It was a mistake from the outset driven by the passion of one man who managed to convince the government and others that it was a possibility.
How could anyone involved with the bid think that Australia had a chance when dealing with the bunch of cronies and crooks that are FIFA all they are interested is how much money the WC can make.
What a disgraceful waste of money that could've been spent on far more important and worthwhile things.

agreed on this front,

Lowy was driven - - fine,

but, his organisation - the FFA - was immature, should've focussed on running an Asian Cup first or the like - - - was way to 'new' to the Asian Confederation.

And on the domestic front, the FFA was not equipped to handle the domestic sporting landscape given the need to hold the event in June/July in such a competitive and established sporting landscape.

The result being, clumsiness by the FFA burned bridges severely - - there's no two ways about it. What also burned bridges was over zealous pro soccer supporters who very much got the cart before the horse and effective showed their true colours.

Elements of the bid were far from excellent.

 

[mustapha]

Missing out on the WC will hurt the weaker clubs in the A-league. Nth Qld could go as soon as the end of this season. GCU although propped up by Palmer should go just because it's dead weight and an embarrassment which drags down the overall crowd averages.


China or any Asian country can't host 2026 given Qatar (a member of the Asian Confederation) is hosting 2022. We got screwed more than just losing 2022. We can't bid for 2026 either now. With the 2030 WC centenary most likely going to Uruguay/Argentina and 2034 probably heading to North America or back to Europe it's hard to see us getting another shot until 2038-2050. So a 20-30 year wait to bid again.

How set in stone are these FIFA rules? Months ago we were worrying about satisfying the criteria of having only one city with more than one stadium. Today Qatar won their bid with seven. Unfortunately we would never have the clout to challenge these rules. Maybe if we were the only Asian bidder and had the whole confederation behind us. I can't see us being a priority for the AFC before China. Japan and Korea had the obstacle of the recent 2002 World Cup so their bids could also be more likely in the next 20 years. As you said we are looking at least a 20-30 year wait. If only the USA got up.

 

[Chaz Pendlebury]

It would be absolute madness to bid for this thing again until:

1. an objective process is instituted that clearly defines criteria BEFORE bids are assembled
2. the existing stadia meets, or almost meets, the requirements

If we are to bid again, outside of the fanciful event that soccer actually has contractural access to the adequate stadia, an independent body should be formed to manage the bid in the interests of all.

Lets hope though that this acts as a cleansing for this nation and at least in part purges us of the Great Cringe which has been such a driver of much of the bid and was symbolised in the God-Awful final presentation video of shallow 80's cliches!

 

[mcgarnacle]

for all the arguments that Australia was the bid and nation that would organise and stage the best event, naivety of FIFAs objectives and backroom dealings cost us the bid.

 

[mcgarnacle]

Missing out on the WC will hurt the weaker clubs in the A-league. Nth Qld could go as soon as the end of this season. GCU although propped up by Palmer should go just because it's dead weight and an embarrassment which drags down the overall crowd averages.


China or any Asian country can't host 2026 given Qatar (a member of the Asian Confederation) is hosting 2022. We got screwed more than just losing 2022. We can't bid for 2026 either now. With the 2030 WC centenary most likely going to Uruguay/Argentina and 2034 probably heading to North America or back to Europe it's hard to see us getting another shot until 2038-2050. So a 20-30 year wait to bid again.

Australia shouldnt have bid this time around, and shouldnt bid until it:
a) has a growing domestic football scene;
b) has the respect and support of the Asian Confederation.
c) has serious financial clout
d) potential for growth

unfortunately, neither will happen in our lifetime, let alone all 4.

then again, it can be argued that Russia wouldve come in at the bottom of the list too.

so the only reason i can come up with is that the body isnt that good at BJs.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

I do agree we tried faststreaming the growth of the game. And people may say some of us soccer fans showed our true colours but so did AFL followers who saw it as a complete threat to their sport, such touchy little bitches you narrowminded types can be. We'll benefit from the humuliation with any luck, I feel sorry for Frank, he obviously wanted to try one last great swindle in his life after getting the game back on its feet in this country.