Photos: Ben Buckley must be feeling disappointed about the failure of Australia's World Cup bid; Daniel Hanna, John McGirr and Martyn Wells of TUFC are also disappointed but do not think it will affect their A-League bid [PlessPix]
I don’t know about you, but I feel just like I did the day Australia were eliminated by Italy from the 2006 World Cup.
That day, a penalty sank us.
Today, who knows what sank us? There are plenty of theories.
But, that empty feeling is the same; that feeling that we still haven’t got something right in Australian football; that feeling that we are naive when it comes to the highest levels of the game.
All that money invested, resulting in just one vote and elimination in the first ballot.
Can you imagine how Frank Lowy feels? Can you imagine how Ben Buckley feels?
Some pundits are saying that England lost their bid because of the country’s media exposing corruption in FIFA. They may have a case.
But, what did we do wrong? We had a strong case, but perhaps the prospect of low revenues from a World Cup in Australia counted against us.
I’d say there is some truth in that argument. After all, the game now is all about money.
We aren’t that popular in Asia, either, where we are seen as arrogant upstarts. That perception of us doesn’t help our cause, especially when our own Confederation, the Asian one, doesn’t support our bid. Nor does it help our cause when a vice-president of FIFA is from Qatar, and when the Oceania delegate - Oceania is our former region and the closest geographically to us at present - on the executive committee is suspended from voting because of alleged corruption.
There will be some in this country today who will have smug expressions on their visages because of this set-back. These people wanted the bid to fail because a World Cup here will have threatened their fiefdoms and interests. Schadenfreude hangs thickly in the air today.
It will be interesting to see what this failure does to football in this country.
How will it affect the A-League, which is in a fragile state as it is.
How will it affect the uncommitted sports fan who is looking for something to believe in and something to follow?
Badly, I would say.
A poor showing at the Asian Cup in January will put us back to square one, back to where we were just before we won that trifecta earlier this decade - World Cup qualification, formation of the A-League, and admission to the Asian Football Confederation.
So, it’s back to the drawing board and, hopefully, lessons will have been learned about the world of football and FIFA, where one cannot take everything at face value and where everything is not always as it seems. It’s a world where people of integrity are not always the winners.
But, I guess that reflects life outside of sport, too.
Congratulations to Russia and Qatar for pulling it off, seemingly against the odds.
*****
The Tasmania United FC group have issued a statement following the failure of the Australia World Cup bid.
It reads:
“Despite the disappointment felt by all [sic] Australians this morning after the announcement regarding hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, TUFC offer their sincere thanks to FFA chair Mr Frank Lowy and his team for their endeavours.
“The TUFC believe the successful future of WORLD FOOTBALL here in Tasmania is assured. This result has increased the determination of the TUFC taskforce to establish, for the enjoyment of all Tasmanians, a Tasmanian based A-League team. Our consultants, thanks to continuing financial support from state government, are close to completing the business case.
“TUFC envisage making a presentation to the A-League early in 2011.”
