From: timh@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Timothy James Hatfield)
Subject: Aussie Soccer - Change of Luck ??
Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 12:49:11 GMT


With at least a small amount of bandwidth (earlier this year) devoted to the
debate on Oceania's qualifying methods for the World Cup, I reprint without
permission an article on this subject from today's Sydney Telegraph Mirror:


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			"BLATTER PUSHES AUSSIE CAUSE

A senior official from soccer's world governing body admitted yesterday the
Socceroos should not be made to travel around the world to reach the World Cup.

FIFA general secretary Sepp Blatter, in Sydney for Friday's world youth
championship draw at Darling Harbour, said informal talks had been held with
the Asian Confederation to make Oceania part of its group.

'Whatever the result of the discussions with Asia, FIFA hopes to have a
solution to the Oceania problem in time for the 1998 World Cup', he said.

'The current draw is not a good system and we realise there must be a better
way of arranging qualifying groupings to eliminate the present horrendous
travel.' 

Under the present system, if Australia beat New Zealand in the second Oceania
round in May, they would have to play the runners-up from North and Central
America and, if successful, a top South American team to qualify for the finals
in the United States.

Blatter had high praise for the progress of Australian soccer, citing the
efforts of the under-20's in Portugal and the Olympians in Barcelona, which
both came fourth.

'Australia is the only country making the pace in Oceania and the gap is
getting bigger', he said.

'New Zealand have now been matched at age levels by smaller countries like Fiji
and Tahiti which shows the development progress in the region.

'But we have to look at how Australia can be part of a bigger football region.
Their game is good for Oceania but Australia will find it hard to progress.'

Blatter said violence would not mar the world youth titles.

He said he was optimistic crowd aggression would not mar the event as it did
the last time the titles were held in Australia in 1981.

Blatter also challenged Australia to apply for the 2002 World Cup.

He said although applications would not be accepted until 1994, some countries
had already indicated their interest in the new-century World Cup and he didn't
see why Australia should not join them.

'Australia is very important to FIFA. If Sydney can plan for the 2000 Olympics,
then the World Cup is open to them', he said.

'Japan is interested, so is Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and Brazil - so why not
Australia ?' " 

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A couple of quick points on this. Firstly, the push to include Australia in
the Asian Confederation is a welcome move that is long overdue. Australia is
well and truly up to the standard of, if not better than, a large portion of
the countries in the Asian group - Australia's inclusion would, I feel, benefit
both Australia and Asia. My own theory for this one is that both Australia AND
New Zealand, clearly Oceania's top 2 sides, should be included in the Asia
group playoffs which would ultimately contribute 2 (is this number correct ?)
of the representatives at the World Cup finals.

My other point concerns the 'challenge' from Blatter for Australia to think
about applying for the 2002 World Cup. With no disrespect to him or FIFA (I
heartily agree with everything else he said in this article), HE MUST BE
JOKING !!! Hosting the world youth championships is one thing, something that
Australia is quite capable of, the World Cup is another thing altogether. I
would like nothing better than having the World Cup finals here in Australia,
but there are several reasons why I feel that this is an absurd suggestion:

1. "The tyranny of distance". There is a big difference between Sydney's 2000
Olympics bid and this suggestion for a World Cup bid. Followers of the Olympics
will travel ANYWHERE as has been proved for all of this century - all Olympics
so far have basically been "sellouts". What is more, with Sydney's offer of
free travel and accommodation for all athletes/team staff, distance ceases to
be a factor in the Sydney Olympic bid. In contrast, soccer fans will NOT travel
to the ends of the earth to follow their national team (some will I admit, but
certainly not all), so the rest of the attendance for the event would have to
be found among the local supporters of the game, which simply doesn't exist
in large enough levels in Australia. Of course you have already seen the
doubts being expressed by many about support for the '94 finals in the USA -
which is only across the Atlantic from Europe ! The problem would be 100 times
worse if the World Cup came to Australia. 

2. Australia, quite simply, is not ready to host the World Cup. At present thereare only a handful of stadiums in all of Australia that seat more than 50,000
people and these are all in the same city (Melbourne). What is more, without
trying to flame Melbourne here, is that they are all Australian Rules Football
grounds which would be unsuitable for soccer - both in structure of the ground
(spectators too far away from the action since the grounds are round rather
than rectangular) and in condition of the playing surface (Aussie Rules is
rough and chops up the ground a fair bit...) Even when Sydney builds its
proposed 90,000+ Olympic stadium, other venues would also have to be found to
host the World Cup games.

Anyway, those are my thoughts/comments for the time being, any Australians
(or anyone else for that matter) are welcome to reply. I just thought that
some of you may be interested in hearing about this.

See you all later,
 
-- 
Tim Hatfield (B Sc)      _--_|\  | "Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark 
EX-University of Sydney /      \ |  Lord more clearly seen than in the  
timh@extro.ucc.su.oz.au \_.--._* |  estrangement that divides all those who 
ak530@po.cwru.edu             v  |  still oppose him." Haldir, Lord Of The Rings