Anyone been watching the World Cup? I’m not a great fan of the game. In fact I’m not a fan at all. I’ve often seen soccer (er…sorry…football) on television and wondered at it’s appeal. Now don’t get me wrong, I respect the game and the position it holds as the pre-eminent sporting pursuit in the world but I’m afraid as a spectacle it leaves me cold. Hey, that’s just me. I prefer a bit more gravel in my sport. I’ve tried watching it….bunkered down in bed late at night watching replays of the English Premier League but I’m afraid five minutes of kick to kick and I’m reaching for the remote. Sorry guys. I’m just not into soccer (sorry, football).
It’s a pity as I really like the idea of the World Cup. A real World Cup. Last night Sweden played South Korea and a few nights ago Serbia played Costa Rica. And that’s just a few of the unusual match ups you see on this colossal sporting stage. Iceland, Panama…just a few more national football teams that you won’t regularly see on television anywhere much. It’s a global celebration. But…I haven’t seen any of it.
Respected cycling commentator Matthew Keenan made the claim on Twitter the other night that the Socceroos (the cringe inducing nickname for our national team) was the country’s most important sporting outfit. I initially bristled at the thought as many non-soccer fans probably did. More important than our cricket team?! Phooey! Surely not but to some extent, after I had thought about it I concluded that he was probably right. On the international stage at least. He was pointing towards the fact that the team is very multicultural, not something that I enjoy seeing raised. All these boys are Australians and pretty proud ones from the interviews I’ve seen with them. Who cares where their parents came from? I do agree though that the Australia versus France game was probably a bigger advertisement for Australia than anything else we can put together. Our name, culture, image, mixed with the collage of sporting prestige that accompanies such an event, showcased in a match against one of the best football teams in the world. You can’t buy that sort of publicity. And, despite a 2-1 loss the boys played well…so I was told! But do Australians really care?
I saw a poll on the channel nine website this morning asking how interested people were in watching the world cup. Of course a channel nine poll is hardly scientific and I wouldn’t be basing serious research into the popularity of the game here on anything it reveals but it was notable that 60 percent of respondents stated they have no interest in watching this glorious sporting extravaganza. And I can believe it.
It really hasn’t caught on this time. Yes there is some hype and Australian fans ensconced in Kazan, Russia, the Socceroos base for the tournament have apparently drunk the town dry much to the delight of the proprietors of the local public houses. But there is not much excitement in the streets. The Geelong versus Richmond AFL game last Sunday afternoon seemed to garner more hysteria and the build up is beginning for the next Rugby League State of Origin match and even the beleaguered and maligned Australian cricket team is receiving it’s share of publicity as it stumbles through another series of defeats in a pointless One Day series in England. It must make soccer (football!) authorities in Australia bemused or frustrated or both. The game has never really caught on here.
One would think Australia would be a hotbed for association football. A nation founded as a British colony that eventually embraced and lionised great British sports such as cricket, Rugby League and Rugby Union. Yet soccer really got left behind and that is puzzling. The game of Australian Rules football, our own native game eventually rose to be the king of the pack yet soccer, despite generations of immigration from countries that adore the game can barely make inroads on the national sporting scene despite some latent popularity.
Soccer fans in Australia often seem puzzled at this lack of traction and indeed it is remarkable. The “World Game” as they like to call it here bristles in it’s inconsequential status, in perpetual bewilderment that the fire the game lights around the world seems to be smothered by retardant Downunder. I have no answers.
Australia has a middling population and a cut throat attitude to getting eyeballs on screen when it comes to sport. Perhaps soccer has missed the boat. Perhaps it’s adherents are happy watching midnight screenings of the Champions League and the game in this country can go to hell. Soccer is up against it in Australia. The local league has heavy competition from very good products and the cultural milleau seems set in regard to sport. Perhaps one day we will see the Socceroos do more than just make up the numbers at a world cup and actually contend. Perhaps then we will see football become more than just a passing interest to the 60 percent of Australians who can’t be bothered watching. Maybe I could watch more than five minutes of the game. Maybe.
Good luck to the Socceroos as they continue their odyssey in Russia.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 