Australia has an international reputation for hosting world-class sporting events. We have held exceptional Olympic and Commonwealth Games, World Chamionships and World Cups.
The organisation has been superb and the action on the field outstanding.
But the missing piece of the puzzle is Australia’s failure to fully capitalise on many of these events away from the sporting action.
In January 2015 the eyes of the world and of Asia will be on Australia for the biggest sporting event in this country in a decade.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup Australia will be played over three weeks in January 2015 in Queensland, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
The Asian Cup is the second oldest continental football championship and is Asia’s equivalent of the Euros. It has a television reach of 2.5 billion people, and is the biggest football tournament ever to be played in Australia.
While lovers of football will see some of the best action the round-ball game has to offer, the Local Organising Committee and State and Federal Governments are focussed on the fact that there has never been a better opportunity to showcase Australia to football-loving Asia.
Football is one of the few sports which links Australia with virtually all of the countries of Asia, where 80 million people were playing the game in 2006 and as many as 380 million will be playing by 2020.
The Asian Cup in 2015 provides a unique opportunity to use sport to drive tourism, trade and investment, business, diplomacy and community engagement.
It comes at the perfect time given Australia’s renewed focus on Asia.
The Federal Government’s recently released Australia in the Asian Century White Paper acknowledges that sport provides obvious opportunities for businesses to develop links with Asian markets.
We want the tournament to open doors for government, to open doors for business, to open doors for tourism and to create new community connections.
The fact that governments have invested in the Asian Cup shows that they understand and are committed to using the opportunities football presents.
But beyond the Asian Cup the engagement opportunity through football arises in a number of different ways that will stand us in good stead to 2015 and well beyond.
Last year Australian national teams played 49 matches against Asian teams.
Australian teams have played in 15 different Chinese cities in the past six years.
Engagement with regional cities in Asia, which might otherwise prove challenging to co-ordinate and organise, occurs as a matter of course in football, providing an opportunity for all levels of government, business, education and other interests to be represented in new, untapped markets.
And as well as our national teams, Hyundai A-League clubs play against Japanese, Chinese, South Korean and other South East Asian club opponents in the Asian Champions League.
This again provides opportunity to welcome and engage with delegations from Australia’s major trading partners such as Japan, China and Korea Republic.
As of January there were 44 Australian nationals playing their football in AFC nations, including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and the UAE.
These players are great ambassadors for our country. While Australians may not know all of our footballers, in Asia they are household names.
An example of the value of our players can be seen from a NSW Government trade mission to China led by Premier Barry O’Farrell. A business breakfast was organised in Beijing during the mission and Australian footballer Joel Griffiths, a player at Beijing Guoan FC, was guest of honour.
As someone at the event remarked: “Joel Griffiths is a big star. To the public in Beijing, he’s as big as Nicole Kidman in terms of famous Australians.”
The mass appeal of football means it is ingrained in Asian culture and often figures of high-standing in Asian society are actively involved in the administration of Asian football.
While these are good examples, these engagement opportunities are not being fully exploited to enable other members of the community to engage with our Asian friends.
Unless proactive steps are taken, Australia will miss the opportunity to fully exploit the possibilities provided through football in Asia.
The AFC Asian Cup will be a “Festival of Football” and be a whole of Australia opportunity to create harmony for the diverse countries who will qualify.
Today at the Lowy Institute for International Policy a workshop will examine further how we can use football to strengthen our relationship with Asia. Sport is a powerful tool for good in the community and we want the AFC Asian Cup 2015 to be an example of how we can maximise the opportunity sport provides.
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