OZ world cup bid

[ejb]

And the one I really feel sorry for is Frank Lowy. Sure he is rich guy, but football is his true passion, and he has spent a lot of his time promoting Aussie football, getting us to AFC from OFC as well as reforming Football in Australia, not to mention the blood sweat tears he spent on this bid, and only got 1 vote out of it. Without him, football won't be what it is today.

Why feel sorry for him?

He is trying to push his love of soccer onto Australia and frankly he is wasting his time, we don't care.

He is free to promote it as much as he likes but I don't feel sorry for him.

ejb

 

[Must...Fly!]

Why feel sorry for him?

He is trying to push his love of soccer onto Australia and frankly he is wasting his time, we don't care.

He is free to promote it as much as he likes but I don't feel sorry for him.

ejb

That's a very very harsh comment about Frank Lowy. He's not trying to push anything on anyone, all he tried to do was get the worlds biggest sporting event to come play in Australia.

 

[ejb]

That's a very very harsh comment about Frank Lowy. He's not trying to push anything on anyone, all he tried to do was get the worlds biggest sporting event to come play in Australia.

I dont think it was harsh at all.

I was responding to a poster saying he felt sorry for Frank Lowy, I merely put forward a viewpoint.

As I said he is free to promote soccer but along with baseball and basketball I dont think we Aussies care much for other people's sport.

ejb

 

[Must...Fly!]

As I said he is free to promote soccer but along with baseball and basketball I dont think we Aussies care much for other people's sport.

?

The ticket sales for South Africa 2010 would beg to differ with Australian's not caring for soccer?

I'm an Australian and I enjoy my soccer, as I enjoy my AFL (although my like for that has decreased significantly in the past 2 years, as they do nothing but stuff around with it).

I fail to see how it's not a key part of our sporting landscape though. The socceroos are very popular, and the A-League is going okay, as is the W-League, and soccer is the number 1 sport in terms of youth participation.

I'm not trying to be a bigot or anything, but to say it's "other people's sport" is wrong, imo.

 

[ejb]

?

The ticket sales for South Africa 2010 would beg to differ with Australian's not caring for soccer?

I'm an Australian and I enjoy my soccer, as I enjoy my AFL (although my like for that has decreased significantly in the past 2 years, as they do nothing but stuff around with it).

I fail to see how it's not a key part of our sporting landscape though. The socceroos are very popular, and the A-League is going okay, as is the W-League, and soccer is the number 1 sport in terms of youth participation.

I'm not trying to be a bigot or anything, but to say it's "other people's sport" is wrong, imo.

I agree that soccer is very popular amoungst children, I played when I was a kid, but it has never crossed over to a main stream sport. A league is doing OK, but is OK enough to warrant spending $45M of tax payers money, I dont think so. This was another Rudd program designed to get him on TV.

A few thousand people traveling to SA to drink and make a fool of themselves does not mean soccer has entered the big time in Australia, most of those would travel to turtle races in Timbutu if they could drink and yell out aussie aussie aussie.

ejb

 

[Must...Fly!]

I agree that soccer is very popular amoungst children, I played when I was a kid, but it has never crossed over to a main stream sport. A league is doing OK, but is OK enough to warrant spending $45M of tax payers money, I dont think so. This was another Rudd program designed to get him on TV.

A few thousand people traveling to SA to drink and make a fool of themselves does not mean soccer has entered the big time in Australia, most of those would travel to turtle races in Timbutu if they could drink and yell out aussie aussie aussie.

ejb

I disagree with your second point...but I don't think it's $45mn spent on getting soccer more popular.

It's a $45mn bet with a better than 1 in 5 chance at landing the worlds biggest sporting event.

And that $45mn was spent over 3 years on a team employing 25 highly specialised people. It wasn't expensive or over-exuberant imo, it was money well spent.

It's a pity it didn't come off, but we'll move on and maybe get it some time in the future.

I would compare it to one thing - the 2010 Australian Grand Prix cost the Victorian Government about $42mn. Put it in that perspective, and to have a shot at it was money well spent.

 

[drron]

Well another who played soccer as a youngster(and now needs a knee replacement because of it),but thinks like ejb that it has not become mainstream in Australia.My priorities are NRL,Rugby,NFL,AFL and soccer just edges out Gaelic football.
I doubt we ever had a 1 in 5 chance of winning.
The $45 million was merely a downpayment.At the very least there was the success fee for the lobbyists if we had won.The final spend on the World Cup if it came to Australia would have been many multiples of $42 million i would believe.
And the number of young Aussies going to Africa for the World cup is no measure of the sports popularity.There are always numerous Aussies at Pamplona but bull fighting just doesn't rate here.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Qatar may as well now bid for the next Winter Olympics!!!

 

[oz_mark]

Qatar may as well now bid for the next Winter Olympics!!!

That would be cool

 

[samh004]

Qatar may as well now bid for the next Winter Olympics!!!

I’d love to see that

 

[straitman]

That would be cool

Pun intended of course :!: