The great debate: Is football now Australia’s national sport?
The great debate: Is football now Australia’s national sport?
Well, I care about it just as much as all the other national sports!
What's with the surge in calling soccer "football"?
Well, that is its name. What we call football is rugby.
Football. Can't use your hands. Hence FOOT
Rugby. Can pick up ball.
Rugby union. Rugby league. Etc.
Soccer was used to differentiate between Football Rugby and Football Soccer
Soccer is derived from Association, and since Football Ass sounds...not great, Football Soccer became the name.
So, Soccer is proper.
Source: Yank
It has always been called football. Maybe not in your circles, but within the football community that has always been a common name for the sport. It is also consistent with international standards as FIFA, all continental governing bodies and the overwhelming majority of national member federations use the term.
The operative word is "now"
Let's revisit in a month.
The click bait is strong with this one.
Football has been (one of) our national sport(s) for a century.
Soccer, not so much. Of course there's a surge in interest when we're hosting a big soccer event, or when our national team is doing unusually well. But it's still soccer, and it's hard for that to compete against sports that aren't notoriously full of cheats and insulting to fix that problem.
Not in a million years.
Noone aspires to play in the A-league. Until we get a league that gives the European leagues a run for the money this statement isn't really true.
We can't even beat the Chinese or Saudis in getting almost retired players over because we can't match them. And also without youth development academies it's just not going to work. Ask China and soon to be Saudi Arabia how splashing a wad of cash is going to work without spending money on grass roots development.
We just don't have the local talent to be able to create a competitive league, the majority of us can't play at a high standard and the very few that do understand that they need to ply their trade overseas to be successful.
Without a successful league the rest is moot, popularity is based on club games not an once every 4 years event.
Noone aspires to play in the A-league.
Noone aspired to play in the A-League. He succeeded, too!
We can’t even beat the Chinese or Saudis in getting almost retired players over because we can’t match them.
In terms of money, yes. Most nations around the world cannot match the spending of Saudi Arabia at the moment, which is why players like Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar are playing there. Chinese domestic football has collapsed financially and is no longer relevant internationally.
We just don’t have the local talent to be able to create a competitive league, the majority of us can’t play at a high standard and the very few that do understand that they need to ply their trade overseas to be successful.
This is the case for most domestic leagues around the world. The best players move to the top European leagues and everyone else stays at home. It's not unique to Australia and it's certainly not evidence of whether or not Australians enjoy football more than any other sport, which is the point of the article.
Funny you mention him, but it was probably the best he could do. He had only one year in the premier league in his entire career. Until we see players that have the middle of their careers in a league it's all moot.
Domestic leagues are important due to accessibility. You're not going to have as much of a following if you can only watch it on tele at stupid o'clock.
That's half the reason why the NRL and AFL are popular, you can go to a game after work. We are the best in Aussie rules because we're practically the only country that plays it and similar to rugby league with the super league at a lower level to the NRL. We are the best of the best in those games.
Football? I would rate A league on the level of EFL league 2. Certainly not one of the top leagues in the world. People want to watch the best and their support is reduced by not being one of the best.
I see more people with EPL/La Liga etc shirts than local teams around town. That alone says something.