As recriminations continue about how we were knocked out of the first round with just one vote, and how a little known desert state in the Middle East won the right to host the football world’s most prized event, perhaps our bid committee should have listened more closely to what the Australian people thought of our chances.
Reaction among online news site readers to the early morning announcement on Friday that FIFA had snubbed Australia and handed the World Cup hosting rights to Qatar ranged mostly from not being surprised by the outcome to being critical of the Australian bid.
So how did our goal to host the World Cup become a poisoned chalice?
Rod of Melbourne did not think Australia ever had a chance of hosting the Cup, writing on the Herald Sun: “We are not a soccer-loving nation and our bid was a joke. FIFA saw this, and acted accordingly. Australian soccer needed this bid like a drowning man needs an oxygen tank.”
In a post to ABC Online, Peter focused on the allegations of bribery and corruption that surrounded the FIFA voting process: “It seems that Australia had neither the influence nor the money to ‘purchase’ the votes it needed. Disappointing, but hardly surprising.”
Herald Sun reader, Guy of Epping, concurred: “We were eliminated in the first round with one vote. We were never going to win. FIFA is all about money, politics … and money. None of which were our strengths.”
Craig of Loftus, posting on the Daily Telegraph, was grateful that Australia had failed in its bid for the Cup and thought the exercise was a waste of taxpayers’ money: “Great news. Who wants that game here anyway? Thanks Julia Gillard for wasting $45 million on a pipedream.”
Realistic was one of many commenters who criticised Australia’s official video and presentation aimed at winning over the FIFA committee. He wrote to the Herald Sun: “If anything, that promotional video showed FIFA exactly why we shouldn’t host the World Cup. There were more beaches and coral reefs on show than actual soccer. And the animated kangaroo - who’s our target audience? Five year-olds? Let’s just hope the money saved by not hosting the 2022 World Cup will be put to good use.”
S Realm of Melbourne, commenting on SBS Online, agreed the presentation showed Australia in a poor light as a potential World Cup host: “FIFA obviously still regards Australia as a backwater. We hurt ourselves showing cricket and AFL in the sporting montage. The ‘no worries’ slogan was a waste when there have been few worries in the past and none on the horizon. Australia offered FIFA nothing - no message, no legacy, anything, not even our stadiums to showcase the game. All we showed was a nice holiday.”
Not Fair of Endeavour Hills wrote to the Herald Sun of the humiliation of the loss: “I can deal with losing because that happens, but to get one vote out of the 22. What the hell? Thanks a lot.”
AP of Kallangur, posting on The Courier-Mail, called for Australia’s diehard soccer fans to stop whingeing about the loss: “We lost. End of story. Get over it everybody. Maybe our presentation should have been more about football and what we can do as a country to promote football worldwide and not about how many bloody movie stars/celebrities we can show off. Like Qatar did! As awesome as it would be to have a World Cup here, we will never get one unless we open our eyes and stop acting like spoilt little kids when we lose.”
Undeterred by the failure of the 2022 bid, Herald Sun reader Adrian felt Australia should not give up trying to host the Cup in the future: “I’m sad we did not win, but congratulations to Qatar. I think our bid team did their best. To (Australia’s bid chairman) Frank Lowy and (Football Federation Australia CEO) Ben Buckley, thank you for taking on this journey, even though we didn’t get the right result. There will be another time and eventually we will host the World Cup.”
Such optimism should be admired. But next time it might be worth gauging the Australian people’s support and opinion before suffering another spectacular loss.
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@AndrewCatsaras Agreed. Kills more people than AIDS. Yet tolerated. Meanwhile: Good Insiders piece again Andrew.
RT @JamieTravers: I'm in Europe and don't care for Eurovision, why is my twitter feed filled with Aussies recounting the bloody thing!?
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