Not jumping aboard the Soccer bandwagon

Football, round ball style, has taken Australia by storm, however Justine McCullagh-Beasy reports, it is only bandwagon support that will fade away after the prestigious World Cup tournament.

The Socceroos have made the World Cup and in doing so have been greeted with a rapturous reception.

All of a sudden Australia is Soccer hungry, craving for success after so many years of mediocrity. But how devastated would the country have been had the Socceroos failed to defeat Uruguay and secure a spot on the world stage?

The disappointment would have been minimal, and the defeat whispered about on one page in the newspaper. Instead, they won evoking massive media coverage encouraging those who had never taken an interest to suddenly become Soccer mad.

Tonight they are expecting 90,000 spectators to turn up and watch the Socceroos warm up against the Greeks. Spectators, not die-hard fanatics, roughly half of those attending the game will be there out of interest not because they are desperate for a Socceroos victory.

Soccer, or football everywhere bar our shores, is the world game. Yet, that isn’t enough for it to become our game. On Australian soil, AFL dominates and will continue to prosper despite some suggesting Soccer will eventually precede it.

For the AFL is unique. It involves marking, kicking and handballing the most peculiar shaped ball on the planet as well as heart, skill and ferocity. Many argue that Soccer requires skill so much harder to obtain than the AFL, but it also involves more off field brawls and money throwing as players are rewarded a ridiculous amount of cash for kicking around a ball.

And who can honestly say that walking away after an hour and a half with a draw brings with it a deep satisfaction? An abundance of Soccer matches result in nil all draws, further enhancing the point that Soccer, although skilful, fails to deliver a sense of fulfilment after a fan leaves the arena.

Who wouldn’t prefer an AFL goal fest?

Congratulations to the Socceroos on making the World Cup, but the draw suggests Soccer’s rapid rise in this country will soon decline as the Brazilians make light work of the boys from OZ.

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