Another update from the Herald:
Sydney Morning Herald
Time to ride the Marrakech express
By Michael Cockerill
March 11, 2005
Analysis
Football in Australia has had a multitude of false dawns, but this is the real thing.
On September 12, in the unlikely setting of Marrakech, Australia's departure from Oceania and membership of Asia will be confirmed.
True enough, the politics of world football have taught generations of Australian officials to take nothing for granted, and chairman Frank Lowy remains understandably cautious about proclaiming victory - tempting as it may be.
But the reality is this. Unless all the key players had already reached agreement, the proposal would not have gone this far. All that remains is procedure and protocol, and at the FIFA Congress in Morocco in nine months' time that process will be complete.
Lowy, the billionaire businessman who took over a broken-down game almost two years ago, has his legacy. It is the greatest gift the game could ever receive. Economically, politically and competitively, Asia is the promised land. Football in Australia is finally in a position to realise its enormous potential.
A former chairman of the game, Ian Knop, was laughed down when he proclaimed that the game would soon be challenging the combined might of rugby, Australian football and rugby league. Those claims were brazen, and premature, but now they ring true: getting into Asia is that important, and that rewarding.
Participation in the game has never been the problem, capitalisation has. This is the dividend for those who have kept the faith.
For the past four months, Lowy and his chief executive, John O'Neill, have been engaged in shuttle diplomacy from Zurich to Barcelona to Kuala Lumpur to try to make the dream come true. This week the FIFA executive cleared the way.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam and Oceania Football Confederation president Reynald Temarii have all given it their stamp of approval. On March 23, the AFC executive will agree to invite Australia to become a member; on April 12, the OFC executive will agree to allow Australia to leave.
Between those two dates, the Socceroos will play two highly symbolic games - against Iraq and Indonesia - chosen to illustrate the new partnership between Australia and Asia as much as anything else.
That Bin Hammam, a Qatari who many believe may become Blatter's successor, will attend both games speaks for itself.
Australia has been trying, on and off, for three decades to shift its focus to the north. Oceania, formed in 1966, has often been viewed by our administrators as a millstone around their neck.
Over the years, the OFC has grown and developed - it now has 12 members, much improved facilities, and offers direct qualification at every level of the game, both men's and women's, except the World Cup.
Despite Oceania's progress - best symbolised by the emergence of the Solomon Islands in recent years - Australia has continued to look longingly to Asia. But the feeling has rarely been mutual.
In 1974, the then-president of the Australian federation, Arthur George, travelled to Tehran to plead the case for both Australia and New Zealand to leave Oceania and join the fledgling AFC. George remembers opening the door of the meeting-room, and "smelling the animosity".
Before George could get up to speak, a Kuwaiti delegate successfully moved a motion to expel him from the meeting. "At the time Asia was relatively weak, and they were appalled by the thought that Australia and even New Zealand might take their places in the World Cup," he recalls.
Since then, joining Asia has been a motherhood mission of a succession of Australian administrators but has never looked likely to happen.
A former chairman, David Hill, even voted against his own confederation in 1996, opposing a motion that Oceania be granted full status, in the hope that Asia might open the door to an orphaned Australia. Hill lost the vote 170-1.
Throughout these years, Asia has grown strongly and dramatically, so much so that FIFA awarded it the last World Cup. On the field, teams like Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea and China have shown huge improvement, while off the field Asia has become a financial engine-room for the world game.
Four out of FIFA's 15 official marketing partners are Asian companies, and the Asian football economy is worth several billion dollars. Major European games attract audiences of over 500 million viewers on Asian pay-TV, while many European clubs have recruited Asian players to tap into the marketing goldmine.
Until now, Australia has been unable to show Asia that it could add anything to the kitty. Lowy and O'Neill finally made the breakthrough early this year, convincing the World Sports Group - a marketing company which bankrolls the AFC with about $US55 million ($69.3 million) a year - that adding Australia into the mix would increase the value of its properties. Having finally won the crucial economic argument, Australia is now poised to win the political one.
Asia will welcome Australia while Oceania, despite lingering resentment from New Zealand, will allow Australia to leave with its blessing.
Australia has gained so much more than it could have hoped for. It has gained a rock-solid foundation to build the game from the bottom to the top. Its destiny is in its own hands.
PROS AND CONS: WHAT THE MOVE WOULD MEAN
World Cup Asia has 4 spots compared to Oceania's half-spot. Socceroos will play 12-16 qualifying games, compared to a maximum of nine now, only four of which are genuinely competitive. No more play-offs against South Americans. Home matches will be more numerous and marketable, and will be spread around the country. Club commitments will be a bigger issue for European-based players given the increase in matches.
Asian Cup Meaningful games for the Socceroos between World Cup cycles. Asian Cup qualifiers (at least eight matches) and the finals (between three and six matches) will replace friendlies. The qualifiers are a real chance for Australia's home-based players to gain international experience.
Other tournaments Australia will lose direct qualification for youth, women's and futsal (indoor) World Cups, Confederations Cups and the Olympics, and will play through much harder Asian zones to qualify. The benefit is that our youth, female and indoor players will become match-hardened before playing in the finals.
Club football Perhaps the greatest benefit of all. The clubs will sacrifice Oceania's automatic spot in the World Club Championships but regular entry in the Asian Champions League or second-tier AFC Cup would bring in money, competition and exposure
Mike Cockerill is usually spot on about Oz football. Greater times ahead for sure.
