Football Federation Australia is failing Australian Soccer

By George Hazim and Luis Ascui

Following on from the Socceroos 2022 World Cup campaign, the time has come for Australia to capitalise on its success, albeit temporarily. 

As Australians we should bask in the glory of the performance of Graeme Arnold and his heroes. 

It’d be unpatriotic if we didn’t! 

Just ask the AFL, they’re great exponents of what it means to be patriotic.  

It thinks patriotism resides only for them.  

If contempt was an award, then the AFL would be a contender especially with its attitude toward the Socceroos, Australia’s pride and a potential history making moment. 

At 6.00am on Sunday December 4, it decided to ambush the Socceroos, and announce its 2023 season fixture - at the time Argentina and Australia were to start.  

It’s indicative of the AFL’s arrogance.

As much as mediocrity permeates through its ranks, so does jealousy and insecurity - but that’s a story for another day. 

For all Australians, the time to bask in the glory of the Socceroos, especially when the spoils of achievement are fresh in our mind, is now.  

The Socceroos performance suggests football in Australia looks bright, but is it?

The 2006 Socceroos should’ve been the catalyst for Australia to develop world class stars and grow the game.  

Instead, Football Federation Australia (FFA), the governing body overseeing Soccer, sat impaled on the fence of mediocrity content with the acceptance of ‘the almost, and we did our best’.

But is our best really our best, or is it an excuse to gloss over the failure of support and investment made to develop the game and help make the Socceroos a football force?  

It’s a combination of both and more, and why the performance of the 2006 Socceroos has been a lost opportunity.  

Sixteen-years on, the Socceroos of 2022 find themselves repeating history, with the same outcome, same hero-worshipping, same sense of admiration and a feeling of hollow pride with no real hope or promise of anything changing. 

Throw in vested interests, governing bodies, self-interest, power plays and greed, and no clear strategy to grow Australia as a football nation – are crippling football in Australia. 

The FFA along with its State-based entities have a lot to answer for.  

How they run and develop the game and their failure to capitalise on the successes of the Socceroos, requires a clean out of the talentless men and women responsible for overseeing it.

Football in Australia has advanced no further in 16-years than what it had prior to 2006.

Recently, Melbourne’s Age newspaper cited the top 5 sports played by Australian children, and football was their preferred sport. It beat, tennis, golf, basketball, hockey, Australian Rules and cricket.

Football should be one of the top 3 funded sports in Australia given how popular it is amongst Australia’s youth.

To attract investment and direct it into football, there must be a rethinking of Australia’s attitude toward the sport.

The game is more than just about flares. It’s about passion, patriotism, adventure, energy and excitement.

Australia’s media must portray Football for the game it is and not as a sport where hooligans congregate.

The glowing haze of the Socceroos should consume us for that little bit longer, but so should pragmatism, and why Australia has to make a decision about how it sees itself as a football nation?  

Or does it want to continue being good but not outstanding and Is near enough good enough, or is near enough now the time to launch a new era of football in Australia and lay the foundation for genuine future football success?

It’s an important decision that must be made.

The Socceroos should be exalted as heroes, not just for fuelling the nation’s sense of pride but being expected to go into battle with the odds stacked against them and receiving very little support. 

And that’s been the story of Australian football for decades.  

Our sports men and women are continually asked to go into battle with handguns when the opposition have genuine heavy artillery. 

The expectation they’re asked to shoulder is incongruous to the level of investment made to ensure they can not only compete but do so on a level playing field while we bask in their heroics. 

Regardless of how gallant the performance of the Socceroos was - near enough continues to be an acceptable result. 

But it shouldn’t. 

If the game is to prosper, and Australia capitalise on the achievement of the Socceroos, then how football in Australia is developed and the stars of the future nurtured, must see the slate wiped clean. 

A new strategy is required, and the Federal Government must be integral in its implementation.  

The time has come for it take control of a problem that has allowed elements to prosper at the expense of the game’s prosperity. 

It must strip the FFA of its powers and have it accountable to a Federal Government Football Commission reporting directly to the Minister for Sport, giving government greater oversight and development of the game rather than allow vested interest to hinder its development.

Children and their families must no longer be expected to pay thousands of dollars to play football to subsidise clubs.

Soccer was once a working-class game but that’s all changed. It’s now for the elite given the exorbitant costs for juniors to play.

Football even outranks tennis a game many perceived for the wealthy.

The government must engage children and their families and not risk losing them forever.

And it must fund a genuine Football Academy where the nation’s youngest stars can be nurtured.

Australia is a sport loving nation that appreciates the sacrifices of its sporting heroes.

We need to support their sacrifices` and turn Australia into a feared football nation or accept near enough is our best and failure is an acceptable place.