great post. I love fozzie's articles and opinions, but as you said, he simply doesn't give enough (if any) credit to sports which are in all fairness part of Australian culture and history. I personally only had the occassional fleeting interest in football till that wonderful day in november 2005, and i love the game even more now than 5 years ago. During that time iv'e managed to convert many of my friends to the world game, ranging from a country town bloke ( hardcore rugby league supporter) to guys that played union at private school. football is a bug, it can't be a coincidence once you start truly watching, you can't look away. Brushing off the other footy codes as a waste of time isn't going to help our cause, we need to respect them and their place in the sporting landscape for mainstream sports fans to respect, and hopefully therefore follow football. sorry if this is slighty off topic...
Richard Hinds is one of those 'new-breed' of Aussie journo's like dan Silkstone that have successfully managed to branch out from their number one sport by catching the football bug and are able to write intelligently (or in this case humourously) about the world game without coming off like a complete tosser. Now if only Bec Wilson would hurry up and die the sports world would be a happy place again seriously: Has anyone ever in there history of existence read a R. Wilson article on ANY sport that has been positive at all? No wonder football fans hate her, when she turns her spiteful pen against the very sport of the world, a sport that has laboured under some terrible journalistic opinion piece attacks, she deserves every piece of hate mail she receives! I just wish she'd hurry up & draw then publish a cartoon of the prophet mohammed!
Yawns- so we spent some money- and?......... http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/revealed-the-public-cost-of-failed-cup-bid-20110126-1a5fr.html
Mate get with the program, its the day after some good news for football in Australia, the newspapers HAVE to do this so they can feel Australian again after giving so many column inches to the wogs game! Never mind that in 2010, the Federal govt increased the ongoing grants to both the AFL and the NRL from A$700m to A$750m per annum**..A$50m is still more than the A444m spent on the World Cup bid..typical Aussie sokkah bashing media, no out right accusations, just smearing away do drag the sport down **IIRC FFA's grant went from A$300m to A$350m p.a., but I stand ready to be corrected
Who would've guessed? http://au.sports.yahoo.com/news/art...nts-to-scrap-expensive-air-conditioning-plan/
I really think this WC will be moved. Once all the people who got the bribes are gone this will eventually be moved to the US or Australia o rmaybe even China.
I'd love to agree with you but for such a small country supporting God knows how many sports globally what did you expect? Of course they're going to cater to the bigger sports. It's up to people like you and me and Osieck and players to alter that. Once that happens the dollars will come flying from every direction.
I hope FIFA, for the love of humanity, moves World Cup 2022 to another country. The fact that Qatar was awarded to host it in the first place still boggles my mind!
The fact that they got the most votes is the very thing that is mind boggling. Getting votes is the process, which I understand. The rationale behind the votes is what is mind boggling. Are you keeping up? Didnt think I had to S P E L L it out for you, but I suppose your attention span and intelligence is very limited.
No I did not. General common sense says that world cup shouldnt be held in a country like Qatar where the hot humid summer prevents teams from playing competetive football, and as another member pointed out Qatar does not have the infrastructure or technology to cope with that problem. Try to keep up.
No one outside FIFA read the bid books because they were never released. I can claim to have read more of the technical reports than some FIFA exco members admitted to doing. You are correct that Qatar finished on top on the only criteria that counted, although my own analysis of the technical reports suggest that was the only catergory they were top in.
What am I trying to keep up with. All I asked you was if you read the book. You said no, so i'm not surprised why yo usiad you were still boggled by it all. Keep up lad. I asked a simple question. I need not hear the drivel of a response.
Still barking? Let it go old man. Qatar is the worst place to host such an important world event, and I dont have to spend all my time (Im sure you all the time in the world behind a monitor but I dont) reading bidding books to form an opinion. Glad there are talks of moving it to another country.
FIFA might need to give a refund...oh how I'd love to see the day.... http://www.news.com.au/sport/footba...as-world-cup-bid/story-fndkzvnd-1226721002197
Of course they say, "NO!" http://au.sports.yahoo.com/football/news/article/-/18988387/australia-wont-be-compensated-fifa/
I think Lowy should put on his big boy pants and move on. Australia were last, as in they would not have got it even if Qatar weren't in the running. Everyone's just been waiting ever since the bid for any reason to cry more about it. In the context of FIFA nations, Australia is considered a smaller country. They won't get anywhere whining. And europe should get over it and deal with a mid-season break.
but when precious TV dollars are involved...FIFA and their sponsors definitely stand up and take notice...as I'm sure that you know your Mr. Murdoch has more than just a couple of lawyers at his disposal. Blatter is anxious to "put this to bed". But I suspect that it's going to get very messy... http://www.socceramerica.com/article/53799/world-cup-conundrum-is-huge-political-test-for-gul.html