Soccer World Cup bid

[auscyclefan94]

I am definetly not a soccer fan but I would really like for australia to get the chance to host the great sporting event. But when I see a presentation like this, I become very sad.

- Is there someone better than Phillip Noyce to direct a video that represents australia and our bid for the WC?
- Secondly, the video makes no sense. We have an animated kangaroo stealing the cup from fifa, taking it around the country and then having Paul Hogan (crocodile dundee) take it off the kangaroo. It is stupid! Then we have our bogan PM who is somehow worse at acting than running the country potraying australians as a bunch bogans!
- Finally, I question why we have bid for this event. Overall Australians do not care about Soccer. Such a big event should go to a country who is enthusiastic about the sport. Our national competition is a joke especially when the avearge crowd is 8,800 people. And that number is on the decline. Also some of the clubs are going broke because of the lack of support.

Anyway, could people please post videos of other countries bids and this is also a place to discuss the 2018 and 2022 soccer world cup bids.

 

[Ferminal]

The other 2022 bids are all on the FIFA site.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/bidders/live/index.html

Australia is a chance but only if it gets through the first round (ridiculous of Qatar takes votes). I think the US will beat us, but you never know.

To answer your questions

- What was bad about the directing?
- I'm not sure what the problem with the video is, it's supposed to be gimmicky. At least that grabs attention, very short grabs in order to not lose anyone through boredom. Only easily embarrassed Australians feel the need to roll their eyes and turn away (myself included).
- How are the attendances at A-League (or the quality of) games at all relevant? How many people attended professional athletics, swimming, cycling, gymnastics meets etc prior to the Olympics? What do you think of the South African PSL prior to 2010, or the MLS prior to 1994? K-League and J-League <2002? Do you think those leagues were good enough for their countries to host a world cup?
- Clubs in sports competitions all around the world struggle financially from time to time. Leeds, Portsmouth anyone (clearly financial troubles in a few EPL clubs will jeopardise the English bid )? Some of your precious VFL clubs have been going broke for decades, it says nothing about the wider appeal of the sport.

Your comment that "no one cares about "Soccer"" is hilarious - maybe you should research your claims further:

http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/377069/ERASS_Report_2009.pdf

Participation rates:

Football (Outdoor): 5.1%
Netball: 4.0%
Basketball: 3.9%
Cricket (Outdoor): 3.2%
Australian Rules Football: 2.8%
Rugby League: 1.5%
Hockey (Outdoor): 0.9%
Rugby Union 0.8%

So many people "don't care" about Football that it happens to be the #1 team sport in the country! Somehow we have managed to host Worlds events for Netball, Cricket, League, Hockey and Union with such low levels of people caring about the sport. There are only half as many organised cyclists as there are organised Footballers - but we still managed to host a successful World Championships!

The reasons why Australia is bidding for this event are very clear.

 

[movingtarget]

Embarrassing Video

Three minutes spent on the aboriginal dreamtime. Relevant ? An aging Paul Hogan who is probably hardly recognised by anyone now, outside of Australia. Cliche piled on cliche. A total missed opportunity. The prime minister droning on about nothing in her usual boring fashion. It's like an eighties tourism video. Did not achieve anything towards helping the bid. I heard that Clinton made a bit of a hash of the US bid also by talking for too long. Football is a huge sport in Australia at the junior level for boys and girls but it has never evolved at the senior level and I am not sure it ever will. Rugby League, cricket, Rugby Union and AFL are just too popular. Basketball and baseball is in a similar situation in a Australia. Cycling is probably the exception. Small amounts of competitors at the club level compared to the other sports but at the world level we keep getting results. Odd but good for us cycling fans !

 

[auscyclefan94]

Yes soccer may be popular at grassroots but I had a read of the articles on the world cup and a fair majority said they don't care about soccer. People do not watch soccer. 8.8 thousand people is abysmal crowd numbers.

Phillip Noyce is an average director. Could of got a quality director to do a better video.
After I posted the thread I saw all the other video's and they all were much better than ours and it was actually on the topic of soccer.
If people are not supporting the national league in australia then that indicates that people do not care about soccer. People do not care about it. It is a fact. It is supply and demand. Little demand for it over here but then they are bidding for the world cup? There may not be very many "organised cyclists" but that does not mean there is not the support and interest for the event. Organised cycling is very very expensive but recreationally it is super popular and that also affects the interest of the sport. You need to look at the different variables and reasons why that may come up. Look at race. Italian and greek kids will mostly play soccer and nothing else. It is in their blood and it is shown by their families Then when you look at white australians, they are brought up with AFL, Cricket, basketball, Athletics, Swimming, Rugby, etc. I think heritage has big effect on that statistic. If it is so popular at grassroots level then why isn't it being watched by all the kids and their families who play it. Most non afl playing kids have some sort of interest in AFL. Most non soccer playing kids do not have some sort of interest in Soccer. Argue for soccer all you like but people do not care for soccer.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I love in these videos how we always have to cater for the minority groups! We always must include them otherwise we are being "exclusive"!

 

[The Hitch]

This is a very painful day for me as I despise the roll the soccer world cup has in the modern world. Claims that football is the main weapon against poverty and war.
The millions diverted from much needed healthcare in south Africa ( and people that died as a result) so that the gods of football can live in 7 star hotels.
Blatters claims that he should be given a nobel peace prize (this despite the fact that he had brought the world cup to a continenet ridden with slavery, and then proceeded to complain that $500 000 a week starlet C Ronaldo was a SLAVE, because he couldn’t get out of a contract he had signed) . I could go on.

The main aim is obviously for England not to under any circumstances get the bid. I don’t want to be paying higher taxes for this. Football is already reported ad nauseum here. The England manager is known as the other prime minister. If England wins this, we might actually have a coup de ta, and switch the prestige of the 2 positions around. Also England is hosting the Olympics. I already have heard crap about how the Olympics will be a minor warm up for the main course in 2018. As a sporting fan, the Olympics where ALL athletes go through years of far more work and dedication than footballers, for one shot at Olympic gold, is more important than a media orchestrated fenzy where only specific athletes are allowed to enter, and their enterance is based on their nationality. If they lose the bid, I think England might be content with the Olympics, rather than see it as the warm up.

I hope Spain get it. Spain because they are, even more loco in a bad way on the subject of football. They see winning the world cup, not as a sporting success but as a geopolitical event. According to them, it single handidly united spain, got Catalans and Basques to aknowledge they are Spanish. They still go on about it 5 months later on the radio, on tv, in the papers.

The country is currently in recession, but apparently its all right because the world cup made everyone happy and forget that they couldnt pay the bills. Spain is in a recession, with extreme hardship and huge unemployment and yet Mondays “El clasico” where the average footballer earns more a day than the average Spaniard does in a year, was all over the front pages. If Spain thinks football is more important than life, let their extremely poor economy fund a world cup. They clearly want it.

Unfortunately, I think England are heavy favourites. Even Russia would be better than this.

As for 2022 I just hope the US don’t get it. Its good to have at least one major major country, see other sports as more important.

Oh and the fact that Putin NOT being present at the Russia bid is seen as a MASSIVE BLOW to Russias bid, shows just how FALSE, Fifas claims to be a force for good in the world, really are.

 

[Ferminal]

Yes soccer may be popular at grassroots but I had a read of the articles on the world cup and a fair majority said they don't care about soccer. People do not watch soccer. 8.8 thousand people is abysmal crowd numbers.

Phillip Noyce is an average director. Could of got a quality director to do a better video.
After I posted the thread I saw all the other video's and they all were much better than ours and it was actually on the topic of soccer.
If people are not supporting the national league in australia then that indicates that people do not care about soccer. People do not care about it. It is a fact. It is supply and demand. Little demand for it over here but then they are bidding for the world cup? There may not be very many "organised cyclists" but that does not mean there is not the support and interest for the event. Organised cycling is very very expensive but recreationally it is super popular and that also affects the interest of the sport. You need to look at the different variables and reasons why that may come up. Look at race. Italian and greek kids will mostly play soccer and nothing else. It is in their blood and it is shown by their families Then when you look at white australians, they are brought up with AFL, Cricket, basketball, Athletics, Swimming, Rugby, etc. I think heritage has big effect on that statistic. If it is so popular at grassroots level then why isn't it being watched by all the kids and their families who play it. Most non afl playing kids have some sort of interest in AFL. Most non soccer playing kids do not have some sort of interest in Soccer. Argue for soccer all you like but people do not care for soccer.

What's race got to do with anything?

Once again your thoughts are misguided.

When the World Cup was last held in our time zone, it was the 2nd highest rating program of the year, and the highest rating sports program:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_television_ratings_for_2002

To give you some perspective, the Rugby World Cup dominated ratings, and received great crowds at all the big games when it was hosted here. This is despite overall lackluster (by your standards) support for Rugby both at provincial and international level. No one watches the Rugby or Cricket world cups when they are held outside Australia/NZ, hardly anyone supports local professional teams, yet we have supported these events well before, and we will support them well again when they next return to our shores.

Likewise, the Commonwealth Games were massive in Melbourne 2006, yet according to the TV ratings their support is rather poor when held offshore.

I'm still yet to see you devise an argument that suggests it would be a bad idea, from Australia's point of view to host the Football World Cup.

 

[Anonymous]

- What was bad about the directing?
- I'm not sure what the problem with the video is, it's supposed to be gimmicky. At least that grabs attention, very short grabs in order to not lose anyone through boredom.

I disagree. I turned off after 3minutes, i couldnt take any more of it. It seemed pointless, particularly poorly animated, some appaling acting, and an exploration of every australian stereotype it could come up with. More worryingly after three minutes there hadnt been a single sign of a football.

I turned off. Im sure others will as well.

even the video from london who were simply bidding to be a host city is better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vev5R7q0UQ

 

[Ferminal]

Oh and the fact that Putin NOT being present at the Russia bid is seen as a MASSIVE BLOW to Russias bid, shows just how FALSE, Fifas claims to be a force for good in the world, really are.

Hey come on, Sepp likes the one party style of governance just as much as Vlad. It would have been a good time to exchange tips.

 

[Ferminal]

I disagree. I turned off after 3minutes, i couldnt take any more of it. It seemed pointless, particularly poorly animated, some appaling acting, and an exploration of every australian stereotype it could come up with. More worryingly after three minutes there hadnt been a single sign of a football.

I turned off. Im sure others will as well.

I couldn't stand it either, but we aren't the FIFA Ex Com.

 

[Anonymous]

As for the bids. I think they will go England and Qatar. A blend of old style, tradition with modern day asia. And theres no doubt qatar would put on an amazing show.

My concern would be that most of englands stadia are terribly out of date. Man city, sunderland, arsenal have great modern stadiums and also of course wembley. But beyond that some major upgrading would be in order.

 

[yourwelcome]

It is stupid! Then we have our bogan PM who is somehow worse at acting than running the country potraying australians as a bunch bogans!

I guess that's a job demarcation issue for you?

P.S. + 1 to all that The Hitch wrote earlier. I was watching some of the FIFA goings-on earlier in the week and honestly, if you think the UCI is corrupt, they are little kids compared to the greed, corruption and sleaze of FIFA. Perhaps Putin stayed home because even he has some vestigial moral standards.

 

[Anonymous]

I am definetly not a soccer fan but I would really like for australia to get the chance to host the great sporting event. But when I see a presentation like this, I become very sad.

- Is there someone better than Phillip Noyce to direct a video that represents australia and our bid for the WC?
- Secondly, the video makes no sense. We have an animated kangaroo stealing the cup from fifa, taking it around the country and then having Paul Hogan (crocodile dundee) take it off the kangaroo. It is stupid! Then we have our bogan PM who is somehow worse at acting than running the country potraying australians as a bunch bogans!
- Finally, I question why we have bid for this event. Overall Australians do not care about Soccer. Such a big event should go to a country who is enthusiastic about the sport. Our national competition is a joke especially when the avearge crowd is 8,800 people. And that number is on the decline. Also some of the clubs are going broke because of the lack of support.

Anyway, could people please post videos of other countries bids and this is also a place to discuss the 2018 and 2022 soccer world cup bids.

Yea, it was a bad video. It didn't once mention Fosters (Australian for beer). I also don't think having the kangaroo stealing the cup and then taking it to Australia is all that great an idea considering the founding fathers of your country. And did Paul Hogan get a face lift?

 

[Archibald]

Yes soccer may be popular at grassroots but I had a read of the articles on the world cup and a fair majority said they don't care about soccer. People do not watch soccer. 8.8 thousand people is abysmal crowd numbers.

Argue for soccer all you like but people do not care for soccer.

did you pay attention to how many people turned out to watch Australia v Uruguay?? Aust v Iran even more years ago?

Did you notice the thousands that watched the world cup at venues such as Fed Square? or other venues around the country during the last two world cups??

You obviously have no idea about what's going on regarding the interest in football. While the A-league struggles for being the sunday park comp that it is, there are far more folk heading to pubs that are tuning into the european leagues on saturday and sunday nights...

 

[Francois the Postman]

Take a look at the lost of candidates.

Close your eyes.

Then think of the countries most likely to throw a lot of sloshing dough at it.

Look again.

Bingo!

Russia and Qatar. Grass still green.

 

[Ferminal]

Take a look at the lost of candidates.

Close your eyes.

Then think of the countries most likely to throw a lot of sloshing dough at it.

Look again.

Bingo!

Russia and Qatar. Grass still green.

I must admit the first thing I thought of both of those bids was the dodgy oil money backing both of them!

Congrats to both though. I don't see too many problems with Russia, but it's a bit hypocritical of me given I'm fuming of Qatar.

Interesting hosting in a country with 2million or something people, the amount of hotels, transport and other infrastructure needed will be enormous (in relative terms). They say the stadiums will not become white elephants - but what about the rest? Air-conditioned stadiums - great, what about the training grounds, what about the fans? No drinking (they will surely make some concessions you would think)? Football team is a joke (trust me, we've played them), even with foreign players.

Luckily it's 12 years away so things can change, Qatar could be a much different place come 2022 (for better or worse).

Personally I would have put Qatar as 9th out of all the bids there, my order would be something like:

Russia, US and England all close. Then Portugal & Spain, Australia, Belgium & Netherlands, Japan, Korea.................. Qatar.

 

[Cobblestones]

I was watching some of the FIFA goings-on earlier in the week and honestly, if you think the UCI is corrupt, they are little kids compared to the greed, corruption and sleaze of FIFA.

+1 to that. Fat Pat McQuack and Verdruggen are nothing compared to those sleazeballs. Also doping in soccer is a much larger problem than in cycling because as of now, it's entirely unacknowledged and unreported.

At least it gives the cycling fans something to look down on.

ETA: so it's Russia and Qatar. Interesting choices.

 

[Archibald]

BBC sports news correspondent James Pearce on Twitter: "Remember that Fifa inspection team described Qatar World Cup as "high risk"."

suppose they'll play the matches at night due to the heat, and so that they can be viewed live during the afternoon in europe...

 

[Race Radio]

How are you going to fly hundreds of thousand people to Qatar? Where are these people going to get a drink!?!?! who wants to watch a soccer game sober?

The good news is that the reports that it gets to 120 degrees in July are wrong. It only gets to about 110....it is the humidity that makes it feel like 120.

Right now Verbruggen is so jealous of Sepp. Hein is a amateur compared to that guy.

 

[Race Radio]

By Steve Goff

According to FIFA evaluations, Qatar's bid to host the 2022 World Cup is of "high risk" from an operational standpoint, an assessment that should boost the American efforts to win hosting rights to the tournament. FIFA's executive committee will select the sites of the 2018 and '22 World Cups on Dec. 2 in Zurich.

In documents filed by FIFA's inspection team, Qatar is a high risk in team facilities, a medium risk in seven other categories, including stadium construction, transportation and accommodations. Overall, FIFA listed Qatar's operations as "high risk."

All other 2022 candidates -- USA, South Korea, Japan and Australia -- are considered low risk. Among the 2018 bids, Russia is a medium risk, while England, Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium are low risk.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2010/11/qatars_world_cup_bid_concerns.html

 

[krebs303]

ZURICH (AP)—FIFA sent the World Cup into uncharted territory Thursday, handing the 2018 edition to Russia and going to Qatar in 2022.Russia, Qatar get World Cups in 2018 and 2022

 

[Benotti69]

fifa is nothing to do with sport it is a money making machine for a few people.

the Swiss government should really be embarrassed by Switzerland being the home of dirty money.

personally i dont understand why anybody would want a fifa event in the country.

and yes as others have said, fifa make the uci look like kids stealing sweets...

what's the average age of the people who decide these? Blatter is hardly likely to be at a world cup in Qatar!

 

[Escarabajo]

And we thought the UCI was corrupt. I think FIFA's corruption makes the UCI look like an amateur in the business.

 

[The Hitch]

Well. Im relieved the world cup isnt coming here. Russia, meh i can take that.

Dont know what Quatar will look like. You have for 18 the biggest country in the world and for 2022 a very small country. Looking at quatars sporting history (paying african runners to change citizenship) we might have a "rest of the world" representing the hosts in 2022

what's the average age of the people who decide these? Blatter is hardly likely to be at a world cup in Qatar!

He has a far better chance at being at the world cup in Quatar, then he would, had Russia not recieved the 2018 world cup

Also, is it optimistic to think that there might be a doping scandal in football by Quatar

 

[The Hitch]

I must admit the first thing I thought of both of those bids was the dodgy oil money backing both of them!

Congrats to both though. I don't see too many problems with Russia,

With regard to the high risk thing being mentioned in Quatar, the question is posed, do the butchers of Beslan have any quarrels targeting tourists, seeing as they have no problems targeting children.

Also i would cite racism as a problem. Its quite severe in Russia. Some clubs dont accept black players. There are hooligans and there are neo nazi gangs.

Also i dont know if maybe Russia wont have some problems getting the stadiums built. Probably not though.

Edit: it makes me feel sick when i see on the news that Englands bid spokesmen were the Prince and David Beckham.

I thought the Fifa delegates were supposed to base the decision on factors including economy, security, stadiums, transport etc, important factors.

And yet they are basing their decisions on who has the biggest celebrities.