For a blog that started off as political commentary, there's been a lot on sport here lately. Forgive me, my few regular readers. It's because the political scene is so depressing! The lure of recent sporting events is irresistible by comparison.
Last night I caught the replay of the Australia / Uruguay game on SBS. I was interested to see if my recollections were accurate. In the main, they were.
The SBS commentators deserve a medal for restraint. A few jaded comments regarding the whistle happy referee, and one observer got a little anguished at the Uruguay coach throwing the ball into the back of an Australian player, but that was it.
Or am I missing something? Perhaps eratic refereeing is normal for the code.
One thing that didn't come across on the TV was the crowd noise; noise made by 82,000 people who'd seen enough disappointment to last a lifetime. Ignoring the disgraceful booing that occurred during the Uruguayan national anthem, I think it is the crowd's reaction to the night's proceedings that will stay with me.
So the big question is ... will this win, the change of qualifying region, and the World Cup appearance really push out the other football codes into oblivion, as has been suggested by the code's diehards?
It won't in the short to medium term. In a couple of generations time; maybe. The situation was best summed up by Richard Hinds in today's SMH ...
The sport's simplicity and, in the age of the so-called soccer mum, comparative safety had captured a lot of hearts and minds long before Wednesday's victory.What has been missing was the next link - a local competition where youngsters could see decent matches and follow potential role models. The new A-league could bridge that gap.
Anyone who has followed the struggles of the AFL in Sydney can tell you that junior participation rates aren't necessarily an indication that a sport will win solid support in the grandstands.
The AFL boasted in 2004 that it had 20,000 registered juniors in Sydney - most in the Auskick program. Yet, as the Swans well know, giving out backpacks and balls is one thing; having that interest converted into attendance at matches or even the purchase of a club cap is a task that requires years of commitment.
Support of a sporting code is a cultural thing, learnt while young. The tragedy of the game in Australia was that even those who had the culture wouldn't attend. The clubs were dominated by ethnic groups who were too often inclined to use the game to play out ancient grudges to the detriment of the game. With the A-league, that situation has disappeared.
So what will happen now? Can the soccer minnow Australia keep the good players here to make a viable, high standard competion? Perhaps not.
Soccer's greatest advantage, its global appeal, is also a weakness at home because only a handful of the national squad play here.Most of the heroic Socceroos had barely scraped the grass from their boots before they were flying back to their European clubs. The likes of Harry Kewell might return to play for Sydney FC in their sporting dotage. But most are far too well-paid elsewhere to become local role models in their prime.
It's doubtful that there'll ever be enough money in Australia to keep the elite players here, or even that they will get as far as playing with the A-league before being being scouted by the rich overseas clubs.
For soccer tragics, now that Australia is in Asia, there'll be a lot more meaningful international matches to keep them happy, a local competition free of ethnic tension, and perhaps a less difficult path to future World Cups.
For myself (and others), my first sporting love will always be the AFL (or the ARL, ARU, marbles, whatever), but the past week has proven to me (and a lot of them) that the game should not be dismissed as I was (they were) prone to do before.
A lot more people will be willing to take an interest. A good result for the code, I think.
Update: Oh, I almost forgot ... I still think penalty kicks suck as a way to sort out a tied match!
I always said that the 'traditional codes' such as AFL or NRL have nothing to fear from world football (ok let's call it soccer for convenience :) )
You can't wipe out 100 or more years of tradition in one month. There has been some paranoid nonsense from some commentators that should know better that the traditional codes are under threat from this soccer global jaggernought. Absolute nonsense.
Just look at Ireland which has been to a few world cups, has players in the EPL but as far as I know the only threat to Gaelic football is to its players from some over-enthusiastic Australian tackling! ;)
However what the A-League and World Cup qualification has done is to finally put an end of Australia seeing soccer as a second-rate code played only by ethnics. Is an international game played by Australians.
Welcome back, Guido! I was concerned you had heart failure in the last five minutes of the game.
Yes, I think you're right. More than enough room for everyones' sporting interests.