Australia to host WC?

[psh03]

The newspaper this morning is reporting that Bob Carr wants to make a bid for the 2014 WC. The venues included 2 in Sydney, Melborne and Brisbane and maybe games in Perth, Canberra and Adelaide.

I think this is excellent news and I hope it goes through. What is disappointing though is that it seems that most games will be played in the east coast metropolitan centres. Perth definitely deserves to have some of the big matches as they have the best support for soccer in this country. Newcastle too should have some games and Wollongong aswell. Why does every thing always have to focus around Sydney?

[FANTA]

cos sydney is the best city in the world and has the best stadiums in australia, except for the MCG.

but this will never happen because australia are peasants in the football world and we're just trying to host it because we're too shit to qualify.

i don't even want australia to host the WC because we just don't deserve to.

newcastle and wollongong, have you seen the stadiums there ? i have been to both marathon stadium and WIN stadium and they are both of the poorest quality. especially newcastle with their concrete seats and rickety old shed roofs on the hill. not to mention the sewerage stench and the redneck locals who wouldn't even know what the world cup is. i know they have until 2014 to do them up but they still wouldn't be worthy of holding a WC match.

the only stadiums i can think of right now that could are:

SCG
stadium aust.
SFS
MCG
colonial stadium
canberra stadium (even though the pitch would be quite small)
the gabba
suncorp stadium
the waca
adelaide oval

places to stay away from:

tasmania
newcastle
wollongong

we have some fine stadiums but NO, NO, NO to the WC.

[Looney]

Can you imagine what would happen if WC fever hits town? Australia qualifies then the newly initiated public expects the Socceroos to win the WC 'cause we've won every other world cup. And then there'll be those ppl who suddenly decides they're the local authority on anything football (like Bruce MacAveney or whatever his name, you know that guy from Sportswatch on 7?). Australia can't host the WC until we're ready for it, and at the moment we're not ready IMO, tho 2014 is pretty far away. And in any case this sounds like an ego trip for Bob Carr who thinks that once he handled the Olympics he can handle anything.

[psh03]

We know what it is like when WC fever hits town. It is the only time in four years you'll see Harry Kewell in the green and gold.

I have to say Stadium Australia is the worst stadium I have ever been to. You are so far away from the feild you end up watching the whole thing on the large TV's anyway. The same goes for any cricket field like the SCG and MCG etc. WIN Stadium is getting better with the northern stand and the rumour is that the Western Stand has asbestos and will be replaced. It also has the best location in the world. In any case they could be improved if we did win the rights. Newcastle deserves games due to it's size and the fanatical sporting public. They had the next biggest crowds after Perth so some of them would no what the WC is. How many people show up to NSL games in Sydney? There is also that Stadium on the Central Coast which no-one uses.

I think your right Looney about Bob Carr but outside of Europe there are limited options for hosting such events. Most South American countries are hovering near bankruptcy and would be unable to afford it. China, the US, Mexico(?) and South Africa are the only nations other than Australia who I think could run it outside Europe.

[FANTA]

bob carr is just using this as an election stunt and nothing more. john howard isn't really that enthusiastic about the idea and if you don't have federal backing FIFA will take one look at our application to host the WC and throw it away.

we can't even qualify for the bloody confed. cup. australia is shit and that's the bottom line. just because we have a few fancy stadiums doesn't mean we should host it. we simply do not deserve to host it at all.

WIN stadium, marathon stadium and north power stadium on the central coast are NOT worthy of hosting a WC game. especially marathon. man, have you ever been there ? it's a total dump of an area and the stadium is SHIT. SHIT with a capital S-H-I-T. i don't know the exact capacity of these stadiums but it wouldn't be over 30,000. and that's not good enough. i don't know how you can say these total dumps are better than our famous cricket grounds and stad. aust. :confused: :confused: :confused:

BUT, as for aust. being ready to host the WC, i certainly think we are. we did a magnificent job of hosting the olympics - well, sydney did anyway -, and if one city can host the olmpics, which by number of competitors, sports, and countries is far bigger than the WC, then certainly our whole country could easily be able to host the WC - which is just 1 sport and 32 countries. we would just need to maybe build 2 or 3 more stadiums to accomodate this and stay away from the filth in newcastle and wollongong.

aust. COULD host them but i don't want us to because of the simple fact WE DON'T DESERVE TO !!!! we're just trying to get a free ticket into the WC because we know we're too shit of a country to get there ourselves.

[psh03]

The reason I said those stauims were shit is because you are sitting 50 metres or so away from the feild of play. At win stadium you are right on the sideline where you should be. It would need an upgrade to accomodate more spectators but even today I would rather watch a game at WIN or the SFS than an oval shaped feild where the players are mere dots. Paramatta stadium is also a better alternative. Refering to Newcastle and Wollongong as filth is hardly fair either. It is no wonder Sydney is fast gaining the reputation as the New York of the south, a city which is hated by everyone except those who live there.

I agree with you though that Australia's support of soccer hardly warrants us winning the WC rights but Japan is not a major soccer nation (although they can at least qualify) and they won the rights. FIFA want some sort of rotation system for the cup amoung the continents and outside of Europe there are not many options. The WC bidding has more to do with tourist promotion than the national teams inability to qualify.

[Looney]

I meant that Australia wasn't ready for the WC as in the public are still "footy" nuts who thinks "soccer" is boring and stupid, with lots of diving. In Japan and the US it's different, at least there was the J-League and more registered players than Australia has ppl respectively, plus they were huge markets, 1st and 2nd biggest economies in the world, I think that's why FIFA hosted the WC there. If we hosted the WC then the media would all think it's Australia's turn to win the WC or something.

I reckon Australia and NZ will joint host the 2018 or 2022 'cause of the rotation thing. I hope the AFL and rugby people will have a better idea about the WC 'cause at the moment the round ball game is just a passing interest to them. Maybe a better national league would help....

But South America will probably host another WC before us simply because they have the culture, the stadiums and the ppl would rather not eat than pass up a WC.....

Parra Stadium isn't bad, but it looks kinda dodgy, and do we really want the rest of the world to see Parramatta? The only stadiums that are really WC grade would be SCG, SFS, "Telstra" Stadium, Lang Park, MCG, Colonial and possibly the GABBA? And that's only terms of facilities and not atmosphere and other stuff.

[psh03]

You are right that Japan and US economies are bigger but interest in the soccer is probably similar. A WC in South America makes sense but when you consider the number of people now out of work struggling to make a living in Argentina since their economy began to collapse it becomes difficult to justify the huge sums that would be spent on such an event. Brazil is getting to a similar situation and they were worse off to begin with.

I think a better national league would help. But most Australian's don't give a toss about Australian players until they "make it" to the Premier League in Britain. They need to change the culture which promotes the NSL as a developmental league for European clubs. It is disgraceful that they allow players to leave their clubs in the middle of the season and even the playoffs to go off and trial for some no name English third division side.

[Looney]

I know, it's a disgrace, it's sending the message that we're about Conference grade. We have to change the image soccer and it's administration and league in this country before a WC can be hosted.

[psh03]

Problem is that it is one of those which came first the chicken or the egg type questions. How can interest in soccer be spread to wider Australian audience? I think what is crucial is a sucessful national team. Who gave a shit about Rugby Union in Australia before we became a successful team? No-one ( I still don't). Now they can even attract crowds to super 12 matches. I am hardly advocating that we start holding up that elitist private school past time as the model and we should certainly have more than 3 teams in the club competition, bu the wallabies success has increased interest in Rugby. If the socceroos start winning it will encourage interest in the domestic competion. They need competitive matches. Why did they pull out of the Italy game??

[Looney]

The Socceroos always pack at least 70000 in a WC final phase qualifier. The problem is we can't freakin' get into the WC!!!

[nerazzuri]

if Aust host the WC 2014. the soccer population will be bigger than AFL

[Looney]

Only for a month tho, there has to be a long term fan base IMO.