some very valid interesting comments made by the one people dislike Robbie Slater on the NRL's new PNG club and its financial support compared to our game !
Like all football fans, I was mesmerised this morning watching
Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich – but got a reality check when my morning slot on Fox Sports News was cancelled because of a Wests Tigers press conference discussing Jarome Luai’s signing with the Papua New Guinea Chiefs.
That’s where football sits, unfortunately, so is it any wonder we’re
without a Home of Football?
All that talk recently, sparked by a
letter from FIFA to Australia’s Prime Minister urging the federal government to invest in building one, really frustrated me.
This, though, sums it all up: $600 million over 10 years for an overseas NRL team, but the global game in Australia remains nomadic.
I understand there are diplomatic and security strategic reasons for the government investing in this rugby league team – but – the disparity, at the same time as this FIFA letter, is something that needs to be called out for football’s sake.
It is an indictment on our sport, which has over 100 years of history. We keep hearing about it being the most participated in sport in the country, but it’s always been a hugely popular sport – it has been since I was a boy.
And yet, here we are.
I’m tired of seeing other sports open up shiny new world class facilities while our Socceroos, playing at the biggest tournament in sport, come home to train on Leichhardt Oval. Ironically, that is about to get a refurbishment, after the Wests Tigers also just got a beautiful new training facility in Concord in Sydney. Manly, another NRL club, is another example of a club that got a refurb with government support.
How are we one of just four countries from the last World Cup, without a home for the No.1 sport in the world? It’s shameful.
Why is it such a big deal? Why am I writing a column on Football360 about it?
It’s not just about the Socceroos having somewhere to play on the half a dozen occasions they’re home a year.
The Emerging Socceroos Championships held last week, run by Football Australia, is another example. They were held at the home of Football New South Wales.
It’s about the Joeys, the national youth teams: having camps, stability, building a culture.
How can you have a culture if you don’t have a home?
It’s like saying you have a family, but don’t have a house. It is like in business, having all these employees, but you don’t have an office – how do you build a culture? You don’t.
Look across Asia now; from the Middle East to closer to home, there’s a centrepiece for each of our continental rivals as part of their investment in football.
Across Asia and around the world, billions are being invested into football – be it for national teams, homes of football, junior development, for example – and the reason is, football is the major sport in those countries.
Here’s the thing: given how competitive the landscape is here, we’ve got to be at our best all the time. We’ve been our own worst enemy to still be in this situation after qualifying for six men’s World Cups in a row.
Mile Jedinak and Tony Popovic at Leichhardt Oval. Photo: Ann Odong
The Socceroos training at Leichhardt Oval. Photo: Ann Odong
For a sport battling for attention, this week’s PNG example a prime one, we need to be united and at our very best.
I believe we are where we are now as a consequence of the two worst decisions in the history of the sport.
Wherever I go in my professional circles, be it at Fox Sports, Sky Racing, or socially, I get asked the same thing by friends from other sports: you actually got rid of the Lowys?
In my opinion, it is the single, stupidest decision the game has made.
Let’s go back to when the game was at death’s door. Frank Lowy didn’t
need to get involved in football. He did it because he loved the game. He’s a football person.
Here, finally, football had someone with leverage in the corridors of power, who could contact Prime Ministers, who had the clout to land the game Fox Sports and Hyundai at a time we were in no position to attract them. As my boss David Malone said at Fox Sports at the time, they were taking a leap of faith. Lowy had that sway on the powers that be.
And what did we do, as a game? See you later.
I’ll never forget what Frank’s son, Steven, said at his farewell press conference.
Be careful what you wish for.
Were the Lowys perfect? Of course not. That’s life. Nobody is. Was the transition process perfect? It caused a lot of issues at the time.
But where are we now, as a game, without their leadership and involvement?
If you’re saying, come on Robbie, why are you bringing up events from six years ago? Well, it’s because, right now, we’re not holding the same sway in the corridors of power.
Look at the fractured nature of the way the game is run; which conversation do they take? Is it with Football Australia? The Member Federations?
The game might be working on building those relationships with the government, but of course governments are going to be more circumspect on allocation of funds. They just need to look at the Australian Professional Leagues and what they did with Silverlake’s $140 million.
And that brings us to the second monumental mistake, in my opinion. The separation of the A-League from Football Australia.
It’s time, five years on, for those who engineered that breakaway to just come out and say: we got it wrong.
But we never heard from Paul Lederer, Simon Pearce, Scott Barlow or Anthony Di Petro.
Why have they been perennially silent?
Just look down the road at rugby league. When something happens in that sport, Peter V’landys is on the front foot, showing leadership, speaking for the sport.
Empty seats have been an unfortunate feature of the A-League season. Photo: Lucas Petrou
No one is taking responsibility for where we’re at, on the eve of an A-Leagues finals series where crowds in the men’s competition have never been more concerning and the A-League Women is – not in my words, in those of the players – needing a reboot.
I don’t just want to point out the problems, but five years on, someone has to speak the truth with the state of things.
We’re not getting the Lowys back, but I want to call for unity, because without that, we will only be able to see a Home of Football and progress for the sport as a fantasy, not a dream to aspire to.
It’s no secret I believe that the game is in a stronger position if the A-League is back under Football Australia under one umbrella, because we are more powerful as a sport when we are united; everyone needs to put their collective hands up and start working together.
Then, only then, will we be able to start to even think about laying bricks at a Home of Football, let alone having one.
Opinion: While Australian sport's news is dominated by Papua New Guinea's rugby league recruitment drive, it is a reality check for football.
football360.com.au
For the record I'm surprised his mention of Lowy but it is valid re turning Pro just that it excluded everyone else in the game for as he says United we are strong but we are not - its a massive scare on our game period and worse so are the whimps who run the FA.
will try again in a few months
