Why Is Soccer On The Decline in Australia?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a Socceroos squad containing the likes of Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka, and Harry Kewell made it through to the knockout stage, where they were only beaten by a 95th minute penalty against eventual winners Italy.
Now, Australia's men's national team is only the fourth highest ranked AFC nation in the FIFA World Rankings, and is in danger of falling behind both Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the imminent future.
So in this documentary, HITC Sevens takes a closer look at some of the reasons behind the decline in Australian soccer, the Socceroos' struggles, and what can be done to fix it.
There is a huge bias against football in the Australian media, the A-league had a great chance to grow around 2014-16 and they pushed a hooligan agenda HARD. And since the media in this country has a bigger interest in AFL/Rugby, the coverage is really poor too. Fans are everything
Ahh, I knew about this because of the walkouts caused by the demonic witch by the name of Rebecca Wilson who rots in hell right now.
100%.... in Australian media football/soccer are treated like 2nd class citizens and most times is reported on negativly.... against the likes of AFL and NRL...... even tho it's the most participated in sport ..... still a very good video especially to see the thoughts from an outsiders perspective on the state of the sport here
Agree and the hooligan agenda pushed all the AFL style fans away and in Melbourne they would love a second team to support that isn't rugby league. Fa need to tap into having a second code. People in Melbourne support their teams
Man, calling football fans Hooligans and rugby isn't, is fucking hypocrisy. Wtf happened there?
@@hijisfriend9030 You've clearly never been to a NRL game mate lol, Rugby crowds are quite mellow.
as a young player in australia the cost of playing at high level is a serious problem. It can cost up to 5000 aud per season to play in an academy. this means that most academies are full of spoilt players who can barely play. most u16 division 1 teams would be easily able to compete with most of these teams.
Precisely why I play in the Church league, and even that is expensive.
I completely agree. After five years in NPL, I realised that no matter where I was, it was simply more valuable to have connections with people, rather than skill. Many teams I versed and played for did not have the ability that I had seen previously playing at that level. They simply just had the money and knew people connected to the club. Often, you'll find the people on the committee playing their own family and friends in important matches, rather than the players who actually have good ability. It is disappointing, but soccer is so incredibly corrupt in Australia.
@@Mxrsden The "who you know" aspect of getting to an academy level and beyond is a serious roadblock for talent here, I agree.
Why are the players paying to be in the Academy?
If they were scouted by the club then it should be the Club paying the transfer fees and other costs.The whole point for the club is to create a product to sell onwards.
My son plays at Eintracht Frankfurts Academy in Germany and we paid €50 for club annual membership. Everything else is free.
@@volkiracause the clubs have no money. Clubs in our second division charge ridiculous amounts to their junior players so that they can pay their senior players.
The biggest thing is that we already have football games. We have AFL and NRL which are by far the most popular sports in Australia.
@Mans Aray most kids start of playing but when the boys get older and testosterone hits that’s when they pick up an AFL or Rugby ball instead
@Mans Aray The high participation rate is a fallacy. It is not 10yo children picking the sport because they love it, but mothers pushing their kids into football because it is less of a contact sport. It is delusional to say that the high participation rate is a sign of popularity.
@Lalll-qn5fnirrelevant boring declining sport 👎🏻 no one cares
@@daleviker5884It's a good starting point for a lot of kids. The oval ball is a little more difficult to control for under 8's.
Thanks Alfie for making this video about Australia. I thought since last November that we weren’t going to make it, thankfully due to the teams heroics throughout the playoff matches we’re in another World Cup. I know that failing to qualify might of made those in charge to fix the problems at large, however I’m very happy that we qualified. There’s another issue that Australian Football must fix, and that’s making sure that our own talent doesn’t slip away. Currently Christian Volpato from Roma (who’s lived his whole life in Australia) is leaning towards Italy over us. The same goes with Scott Chiperfield’s (Socceroos legend) son “Liam” who wants to play for Switzerland it seems. I’m realistic with our chances in the World Cup and we’ll most likely finish dead last in our group, yet I still feel that there’s some chance we’ll make it haha. Australia are used to the region and played in Qatar for most of their qualifiers due to Covid. Last time a World Cup was in an Asian country teams who were used to the heat such as Brazil and Turkey did well. Australia can tactically frustrate teams as well with their organisation and physicality. This was demonstrated against Peru recently, as well as France and Denmark in the 2018 World Cup. We’ll have to see what happens, go Socceroos 🇦🇺🦘🟢🟡.
"Currently Christian Volpato from Roma (who’s lived his whole life in Australia) is leaning towards Italy over us." I wouldn't be too concerned about that given that Australia has a better shot at making it to the World Cup at this point than Italy.
Honestly, I'm a rugby union fan from Portugal and I'm quite aware of how dead that sport is in Australia. Compared to rugby, that was quite popular in the 90s and early 00s, soccer in Australia never really had a "popularity fase" so I think they're actually doing very good considering the circumstances. Plus, the AFL and the NRl are just very well made leagues, you only need to see the play offs of each league to understand the appeal. The A league is still way behind but it can be improved. There is still a lot of time
Suffering rugby union and soccer fan from Australia brother, Força lobos!
Rugby union in Australia is getting OK results but it needs decent administration. Support juniors like they used to is a must. It's still a major sport in Australia
The NRL also poaches a lot of Union players. If you saw the state of origin the other week a handful of those players played Union but all got offered professional nrl contracts when they were in High School. Rugby Union just doesn’t have enough money to compete with league.
@@flanno8284 and that is what the ARU must stop
@@alanbstard4 nah league is so good, it's niche, basically just played here on the east coast of Australia and in the north of England, I love it
Graham "jobs for the boys" Arnold is a huge problem, he is mediocre. When we have a manager who is either European (Hiddink), or has proven his worth in continental competition (eg Postecoglou), the team is far more successful at international level.
The national league is self defeating, the salary cap leads to huge player turnover (often within the league) and not attracting outside players (outside of marquee signings who have had wildly varying levels of success) has meant that it has stagnated badly
The Socceroos are so Sydney-centric as a footballing body.
Would be so great to have Ange back (don't know if it will happen anytime soon, though).
Fun fact about Postecoglou; when he was a player at South Melbourne (who currently sit atop the Victoria Premier League) back in the day, the side was coached by none other than the great Ferenc Puskas - who AP counts as his biggest football-coaching influence.
South won one NSL title (1990), one NSL Cup (1991), and three Dockerty Cup (cup competition based in the great State of Victoria) trophies with Puskas as coach.
Day 4:
A detailed look at the state of Crotone would be nice, going from Serie A in 20/21 with a 20 goal a season striker to Serie C by 22/23. Two relegations in a row, something surely has to be wrong at that club.
Who was the striker?
@@21hazza Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo, better known as Simy.
Scored 20 Serie A goals in 38 games in 20/21
@@21hazza probably Simy
Sunderland vibes. Although kinda more expected
@@Alex-xn2pj Fair, i actually used to have a friend from Crotone. Is would make a interesting video
As an Aussie with a young one trying to get ahead in football is near impossible. You are 100% accurate with the state of our youth development and national League. It's an absolute joke here.
And why in France, there is so much talent coming from Ethenic /Africain back ground ? If they have to paid so much fee, they would not turn up to club . They do have and received financial support from club and Federation for developpement something that is Australia we need desperately. No enthousiam, No passion, No beleive, No Football culture, No confidance , Anotherword, No ideal at all here in Australia and we have been told so many time that think will change !! That was 40 years ago
@@eddybulich3309 literally most of them are born in France what are u on about
Scouts need to pay attention to school football over club football due to its financial gap. AFL under 18 teams rarely scout outside of school teams and it means that the best players are seldom covered behind a paywall.
A brilliant video, Alfie. I live here in the UK and will now use this video to explain why we are so shit at Football.
The highest participation rate in Australia, yet zero significant pathways for youth to develop into world class footballers... you explained the conundrum perfectly.
Excellent vid
As an Aussie who remembers watching our first World Cup in ‘74 and our progress from there, you’ve definitely hit the nail on the head
Yes our peak was in 2006 but even then our best were already in decline
Still waiting for the next crop of amazing talent and the way football is treated in this country, could be waiting for quite some time
Thanks again for such a concise and thoughtful critique of the woes we endure 👍
Hey Alfie, great video as always, just letting you know however at around 27:00 that we are currently working on adding a second division in the next 5 years or so
a 2nd division is not going to do much, the issues are much deeper than that
I'm from Australia and it's good to see this video finally made. Really good point on the cost of playing and the nepotism involved
Also you mentioned that we qualified for the WC by beating Peru in a penalty shootout. Last time we were even closer to being
eliminated. Right at the end of extra time against Syria in 2017, they hit the post from a free kick and we would've been out
on away goals.
As well as the improvement of other nations like the ones you mentioned. The "minnows" have invested a lot too and have really reduced the gap between us & them. I'm talking about those you might not expect too much from, like the South East-Asian nations like Vietnam & Thailand
On the lack of games. The league only has 26 at the moment, not including a couple of more for finals (playoffs)
and the youth league is only 8, that's actually so embarrassing, just like the fact that we still dont even have a
domestic transfer system....
Just a mock league then.
Is away goal counted against Syria (I watched that game (and then against Honduras) live)?
@@isaacfung622 Yes, we would've been knocked out if they scored, away goals counted in both ties
You absolutely nailed it, Alfie!
This video explains everything I have said what is wrong with the game in Australia for so long. For me the biggest problem of all is the pay-to-play system our youth academies have in place. It is such an expensive sport to play & you automatically weed out the kids with the greatest potential of making it in the game. Scrap and & it’s a massive step in the right direction. That’s how you ultimately increase the chances of developing more technically & tactically gifted players all round.
By producing more better quality local players you improve the standard of the domestic scene & the chances of exporting more players abroad, especially to Europe, a thousand times over. Hopefully all those potential superstars will be in the national team & kick serious butt on the international stage.
Ultimately everyday Australians, and especially corporate Australia as a whole, love their sporting teams to be winners & will only get behind them if they are proven & consistent winners on the international stage. If they are they will heavily invest in said product to make it as world class as possible to continue to bring more fans, which equals more revenue in the end.
Lots of us Aussies are leaving comments on here and, beyond the odd quibble with a minor point, we're not really disagreeing with you in any great numbers.
One minor factor in Australia not getting behind football was the manner of our exit from the 2006 World Cup. Much of the League, Union and Aussie Rules culture in Australia sees football as a soft sport where diving and faking injuries is rewarded. Australia's play during the group stages, which combined intelligence with physicality, in 2006 went a long way towards getting the 'bogan' crowd onside. Then came Fabio Grosso. The way he fell over Lucas Neill's leg and acted like he'd been hit by a sniper, and then benefitted from it, confirmed every prejudice about the nature of the football world held by the Australian proletariat.
This is not even close to being the most important reason that football has not and will not become Australia's national sport, but it is a neat illustration of why the average blue collar Aussie bloke tends not to sit down on a weekend and turn on the soccer.
Loved this documentary! National team videos are my favourite on the channel would love to see more!
This aged like a fine wine
The Quality of The NRL Now is Breathtaking Handling Skills are mind blowing then you got Rules as in the US and UK keep Soccer for the Girls
Soccer is too hard for a young teenager to get into. My closest local club is a premier league club. My son at the time wanted to change from field hockey to soccer. He was 13 but to join the local club he had to try out for the team in October.
We have 4 local cricket clubs who will take any 13 year old in October, fees range from $50 to $250. Cricket season starts in October.
The local soccer club held trials in October for a season starting in April the following year. As they were a premier league club fees were $2000. For 13 year olds.
My son was strong about playing soccer so we found a lower tier club 15kms further away and they started training to who ever turned up in March. Fees were $750.
Training was a little shambolic, son didn't really enjoy it because he didn't know anyone there. He was back playing hockey the following week. Fees $250.
Last year my youngest son, 10 years old, wanted to play soccer. Being under 11 he could join the local premier club in April. Fees $650. 4 games in the coach quits. All the parents are angry because the club asks if any of the parents would like to coach as they can't source one. A premier league club can't source a player from a senior team to coach the kids.
20 years ago I got my soccer coaching accreditation in a University degree. Long story.
I put hand up because it's just not fair for the kids and their parents. I was assured the club would give me full support. Nope, they did SFA. The club provided a bag of balls. I bought cones, training vests, folder. Coached team to an undefeated season, promised to be reimbursed for coaching the team, yet to see that money come back. Paid for professional photos the club organised, another $300.
My son never wants to play again because I couldn't isolate him from what was going on. He could see first hand that I had to work my arse off to get home from work, train the kids, pick up the gear from the club, drop it off after the away games.
And because we won all our games our captain went up an age group because his father wanted his son to play in more challenging games. My numerous attempts to get the team put up a grade were always denied. Seemed like too much work for the club to push for.
Losing the captain hurt the most because I focused on mentoring him. He became a great communicator, influence for his team mates in training drills. A real 2nd in charge.
Sorry this turned out to be a long rant but this is where the problems are. Ground roots and greed.
I’ve been told by Australians that it’s up there in popularity but Aussie rules is just an unbelievably high level of popularity my parents live out there and due to the amount of people out there from England it has got a backing they don’t sell out grounds but it has a good atmosphere
Yeah Aussie rules is massive. Pretty sure I've read it has the 3rd highest average attendance for a league sport in the world, behind American football and German Soccer.
@@droquet6961 it gets massive attendance but not many people end up playing it, it’s very much a spectator sport and relies on money from the media and the top AFL league, and it’s ingrained into Australia’s culture in ways that football has in the UK, Argentina, etc. the aussies and the bogans love it, football is more migrant oriented
The media coverage and the FA are the main problems. Our news channels report on every injury of AFL players, but barely talk about the soccer. The World Cup qualification was talked about less than the AFL game that week. Also, the FA threatened to ban one of the most supported teams (Western Sydney Wanderers) entire active support group.
“Cmon you Wandererrrrs” 🙌🔴⚫️
I've always thought the move to joining the AFF was a way to avoid having a playoff to get into the World Cup.. But this video does shed some light on the real situation...
Think the big thing not mentioned is that australia went all in on hosting this coming World Cup. Media, government even deals done with other sports for venues. Then when it was awarded to Qatar it was like letting the air out of the balloon in terms of momentum. It faded back in terms of relevance and apathy to the mass general public . Now imagine if that momentum had continued and if instead of having a World Cup in Qatar this year it was in Australia.
Australian Government of the day splashed $44m of taxpayer funds, and the backlash from the failed bid was significant. Shame, between Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, we have a proven track record of hosting large sporting events successfully. Maybe one day in my lifetime we may see it
I would love a video on Vietnamese football and how improved they have become. Even their League (V League) is probably the best in ASEAN.
i thought maqwell's video did a decent job of covering that
@@eashansaju8106 yeah it was good
I'd reckon that Maqwell video was a while ago.
Heck, Quang Hai's transfer to Pau FC could be a massive boost in players in Vietnam going abroad, and that was after his upload.
The China win, that was before the video.
Also, an alternative and neutral look into Vietnam's football can provide something interesting, and it's Alfie...
@@khaitranngoc4176 he made an insight in the china win, anyways what happened in that im chinese im curious
@@ryanan8082 pretty much what Maqwell said in the follow up. I was talking about the original vid.
I mean, Australia, like the US, Canada, and others, have other sports. Most countries in Europe are one sport nations. Whats the second biggest game in the UK, darts? At least in eastern europe they have basketball and ice hockey but in western europe and latin america, soccer is literally the only game in town.
Darts? Try Rugby, Cricket and boxing you sap.
@@LHBH8and they suck at all of them
@@pht9317 england cricket
Why england people don't care about soccer, europe not england, usa,south america, asia are soccer fans
France has basketball and rugby. Spain plays basketball as does Germany now. Italy sucks at everything outside football. But basketball and football can co-exist very easily because of the height differences required for football and basketball players. Peter Crouch was considered a giant in football at 6' 7" but that is only one inch above the NBA average.
In 1991 as the Barcelona Olympics were approaching, the kids at my school got to send a letter to our favourite Olympian wishing them luck. 9 year old me wrote a letter to Ned Zelic, mainly I think just cause I wanted to be a bit different, but I was the only kid that actually got a (very generic but cool none-the-less) response out of my class of around 20 kids.
Just a few words.
Australian rules football
David Gallop spent years deteriorating the fabric of NRL and has taken nearly a decade for that code to recover from him. FFA giving the reigns to him has clearly resulted in the same destructiveness to the code
Soccer has never been overly popular in Australia and never will be .Even if the socceroos won the world cup it wouldnt matter much. I grew up in Newcastle NSW where football to us is Rugby League its like god here .
I’m moving to Brisbane from Canada next year I can’t wait to go to catch some games and get some Brisbane Roar gear 😅
Did you make it to Brisbane
I've never bought the idea that a promotion/relegation league would improve the A-League.
I’m yet to see a model that will work. This isn’t Europe where countries are small. If our top division is entirely comprised of teams from NSW and Victoria - not unthinkable - what’s going to happen in the less populated states? If all the teams in WA were relegated the best case scenario for a kid in Perth to see top division football is to travel to Adelaide, thousands of kilometres away.
They’re better off having a second tier with all the ethnic clubs to play professionally on a national level, maybe with a-league untouchable that way new players can get better experience with better teams and shit, it could revive the glory somewhat of the NSL if it was done good
Exactly. Promoted to where? Relegated to where?
An Australian myself there’s plenty of problems like lack of games and poor facilities and no second division but I hope things start to turn around and hopefully we don’t finish bottom of the world cup
In light of Australia’s World Cup performance, just wondering if your opinion has shifted at all? Personally, I think we over achieved….simply through guts and determination rather than ability. I think our performance was just a further papering over of cracks. The FFA/PFA have a lot to answer for for destroying the local game and pathways but won’t be held to account because we’ll scrape into the next World Cup again. That seems to be the extent of our ambition. We need a footballing revolution in Australia…..I don’t expect football to be the number one sport, hell I love AFL and can understand why it is huge, it is the standard of our game that I despair at.
Maybe Aussies have found better games to play. Simple as that. Aussie Rules, Rugby league and cricket are more appealing to watch and play.
When I was at the central coast mariners youth team ( a league club) we would only vs one team whitch was the local one. We also had to pay a hefty fee
Most people that played soccer in there youth go to footy and stop playing
Growing up as a football fan in Australia it was always said that we were missing two things. Support from the rest of the non football enjoyers in Australia and a good manager. Still struggling with the competition against the other codes but now, now we have Ange :)
Australian should understand rest of the world feel
This aged well.
Love your videos, man. This one is simply awesome. I'll have to check out what your thoughts are on the US youth system as well. Keep it up!
I love Australia football 🇦🇺💙but head coach is horrible they need to fix it
Don't diss my Arnie. There are problems behind the scenes and in domestic football that need to be fixed more than Graham Arnold.
With Ange Postecolou Australia was shining! Arnold is decent & the quality of the domestic league has gone done ! Special because they don’t much attention down there !
I remember hearing about Arzani the next big thing look what happened to him playing in 3rd division
They need someone like Park Hang-Seo, but that would be weird.
In Australia the biggest problem is that the official league is the English Premier League and not the A league
one year later the Socceroos are doing quite well after punching above their weight in the 2022 world cup
Haven't watched the entire video, but I feel like Alfie needed to touch on how dominant the AFL and rugby, but particularly AFL (Aussie rules) is in Australia. It's the most watched sport domestically in the world, nearly every town in the country has a team (I live in a town with 11,000 people and there are at least 6 teams here). It draws all the kids who are athletic enough to Aussie rules and/or rugby if in NSW, with everyone else going into basketball and/or soccer.
What about Cricket?
What about Cricket?
@@1uamrit Most of the talented kids here play Aussie rules/rugby during the winter and then cricket during the summer, you'll find quite a lot of AFL players were also cricketers, and same for the Aussie cricket team. I rememeber growing up playing both Aussie rules and cricket and the teams were 70% the same. Always wanted to play soccer more, but my tiny home town didn't have a club and it wasn't feasible to travel the distance needed to play soccer at the time. By the time I could drive myself to soccer I was too old for juniors and clubs weren't interested in me.
rugby league isn't just popular in NSW. Victoria and especially Queensland follow it as well
@@SultanOfSlam69 Also note that AFL and cricket are played on the same type of field
Biggest problem for Australia, is money in the game, and maybe money being wasted in the game. Local grassroots clubs just don't have the funds to hire professional coaches, so most of the grassroots football do not have the technical training required. The bigger clubs in the Elite Youth league systems did have semi professional coaching, but the fees were 3-4 times the fees playing in local clubs and associations. So again it disadvantages the poor, despite it being selective. Sometimes scholarships were offered to very disadvantaged kids, but also nepotism.
It left a big gap for Professional elite coaching, and so through private enterprise, Football Academies sprung up charging ludicrious amounts, but they brought in professional coaches and paying them professionally, from Italy, England, Brazil, etc. The training these kids were getting was amazing. Compared to what you get at Elite Youth League level, or Local Association leagues in junior football, many parents feel the investment is worth it. Many of these academy players will start springing up all over the world, even in Europe.
My point is basically private business filled a gap and niche in the market, because the bigger clubs, the FAA and the 9 State and territory associations, either don't have the money, or wasting it, because I know first hand there is a lot of money flowing through, and now a lot of it is flowing through to Private Academies.
One thing that you didn’t mention in this is the fact that we also changed our system for coaches to get their licences, now it is all money based and literally anybody can become a coach at a “top level” in Australia. This has made it so the best young kids are being taught how to play football by people who never even got close to making it professional themselves and it is also having a major impact on how technically gifted our player are. Another problem with this is all of these coaches are basically Moulded into the same tactical style of play which is a 4-4-3 “tiki taka” esque type of play which is just never going to work if the coaches don’t even know how to pass a ball properly themselves, and I know that for a fact because I have seen way too many coaches do sloppy passes that would be cut off or just be too slow in professional football praise themselves for basically just being accurate and making the distance. So the money thing with kids is obviously a huge issue and it’s made even worse by the fact that we are allowing people who can’t even play themselves to teach our best young players how to play football.
I would say a major issue is that the expansion of the A-league has become to franchised and creating fake rivalries, rather then having Sydney and Melbourne with three teams! There should have been a broadening of the league to include two or three untapped regions! ACT, TAS and Wollongong should each have a team! Establish those clubs in the A-League and then add the second division
So more episodes on OGC Nice!! intresting story and the club is changing rapidly now
Hit the nail on the head here.
I've played in NPL 2/3 in Australia and with first hand experience I can say that the Football scene is straight up corrupt. I had such positivity when I was watching the 2010/2014 World Cup that we'd produce amazing players in the future (especially because we are so multicultural) but now as an adult I wonder what has happened.
Opportunities to go pro in Australia are completely monetised, privatised and restricted. All the people I know that do well had rich parents to pay for "high-level academies" and such.
Whilst there are SO many football fans and players and talent - we haven't really been given our opportunities.
The point about the academies is absolutely correct. The clubs use the promise that kids will be the next Messi or Ronaldo to empty the wallets of the parents. The do a weird imitation of the way adult teams train and set up, then stack the teams with big kids because the parents, having paid thousands of dollars, expect their child's team to win. In some cases, I think they even put older players in the squads. My son played for a community team that didn't have any of the academy BS, and we played against all the teams with their branded track suits and paid coaches. It was ridiculous. Another weird feature was that in some cases the teams would have a number of squads, A, B and C. And we learned that the the C squad was often stronger than A and B - because they were the players where parents refused to pay for the academy and were often better players but not able to play in the A team because it was academy members only ... The system also really brings out the worst in the parents as well. It creates a toxic competition where if one child succeeds it's seen as happening at the expense of another. My son was invited to try out for an academy squad and got told that he was good enough but that he needed to be more aggressive - he was 10! On the way home after the try out game he just said "I don't want to play for that team," and then decided not to play at all.
Another thing is the academies expect children to train at least three times a week. It basically leaves no time for anything else - including school. A lot of them have three compulsory sessions and then a "voluntary" session on the weekend - so including at least one game a week that's five days a week you either have training or a match for kids. On top of that the academy teams use community resources gournds, training facilities all for free. So they pull in a lot of money and nobody really knows where it all ends up as they're supposed to be not for profit organisations.
Soccer is so boring. Countries that have other sports leagues realize this and one day the rest of the world will too.
Then how do you explain Canada
@@Patrick61804 same. Soccer is about 6th most popular sport there. Hockey (CHL), football (CFL), lacrosse (CLL), basketball (CEBL), and curling (CC) being more popular. Could even throw baseball ahead.
True thooo my whole country love football but I hate it so much hearing pass pass is most irritating thing non played games here like AFL,Rugby,pickleballmania,basketball,cricket all are way better than this slave sport
Good for you girl. I don't care
@@mosinc7388Ok, esperate y Dejame poner esto en mi lista de cosas que menos me importan
In Tasmania it cost me $400 to register for my team last season.
Nani just signed for Melbourne as well, big signing
You do realize Canadian and Australian football are an entirely different sports, correct? If you say Australian football people think you're talking about the AFL and the CFL in Canada. You might argue semantics but it's an important distinction. It would be chaos if people call soccer football every. Americans, Canadians and Australians all have their own separate sport called football.
Just say soccer. I'm sure it's painful for you but it's the correct statement
It’s football. Aussies say football or soccer. When you want to say AFL you just say footy.
Great video as always Alfie, I think another video can be made about why soccer or football isn't seeing success in recent years in countries such as Peru or Paraguay. Peru in the 70's and 80's had a great generation and as well as previously in the 30's and in recent memory good players have come from Peru like Claudio Pizarro and Jefferson Farfan and the sport is incredibly well supported by its fans and media and they play in one of the most competitive regions for football around the world. I think it would be an interesting video because the answers im sure arent so obvious.
Growing up for me at least soccer wasn't the most popular sport. Where I live at least it was afl in the winter and cricket in the summer. Soccer was normally more popular with children of immigrants which I am. With the internet now soccer has become more popular but growing up you got called a certain slur for liking soccer. Winning Asian cup should have been the turning point
Also I want to add that even my country, the Dominican Republic that it's well known for baseball. The u20 team qualifed for the u20 world cup
How does an Englishman seem to know more about the problems of soccer in Australia than the people who run sport here? Excellent assessment.
A big issue like other people have said is that so much talent is poached by other codes, namely AFL. There are some seriously talented AFL footballers who would no doubt be playing in top flight European leagues had they chosen soccer over AFL.
The most painful thing about being a football fan in Australia is watching talented athletes take up other sport precisely because there's no real future in soccer in aus.
Yep and watching how the AFL see that as such a bragging point, commentators mention it at every moment
@@jacknortham8281 Never understood the animosity among AFL and football fans in Australia. A lot of NFL and football fans in the US aren't nearly at each other's throats like this. In fact, there's quite a bit of overlap between these fans.
@@Herb615
It is a silly rivalry. Although I think it's just about dead and buried.
For the most part, the younger generations appreciate both sports. It's mostly older blokes who'll hate on the other sport.
@@Herb615 It's more the media and ruling bodies that are disliked. The media has always been aggressively against soccer, AFL and Rugby were their cash cows and as the guy said a network channel bought the rights to soccer games, then bragged later about burying it (killing it off)
At State level I know in Victoria both the AFL and cricket associations got support from parliament to stop the growth of soccer and clubs being able to rent public grounds or harder to buy land. Even now, only womens soccer gets grants from the government, where AFL seem to get them handed out whenever they ask, even a stadium for $1.
It's also a product of ivory tower v tall poppy syndrome, bad blood building on bad blood.
pure and simple we can say this about footy rugby that's where the money is there is absolutely no incentive in football here for kids , all the big professional sports dollars are in rugby and Aussie rules plus there isn't enough tough competition amongst the junior ranks unlike football only other countries because in those countries being good isn't always going to get you there if you want the big $ you have to be better than good
WE HAVE A HITC SEVENS VIDEO DEDICATED TO AUSTRALIA!!!!!
not the the type of video youd want your country to be in
@@marcusflynt810 i’m fine with it, also happy learning more about my country
You know what they say, no publicity is bad publicity!
Just happy seeing us get talked about weather it's good or bad
iJerkOffToChildPorn
I'm an Australian ex-football coach that taught grass-roots football from U7s to U16s/Youth in club and representative level. One thing that was not addressed is the standard of coaching and the politics involved in it. When FFA took over and made sweeping USA type changes, one thing that decimated Australian Football, was their complete greed and disgusting ways they destroyed the foundational grass-roots training for coaches.
Back around 2000, a lot of football coaches were usually fathers wanting to get involved. Those that showed an aptitude for coaching - whether in the local Christian football, or normal secular clubs were backed by their clubs to go and take football coaching courses starting for 'kids', 'Youth', and 'adult'. The cost of the courses were minimal and were usually completely covered by the coaches' club. As I went through the system acquiring my badges I saw first hand the passion for coaches getting involved with Children. I myself set up a local academy to teach kids 7-16 years old technical abilities that to be honest is second nature to kids in Europe and South America. I was overwhelmed by the interest and kids that attended. I even went to local schools in promoting teaching the fundamental technical skills to children - the grass-roots of the next generation of footballers.
Then the FFA stepped in and stopped it all. How? They changed all the coaching and certification process to ignore and basically destroy the 'amateur' progression, to straight out greed and a more 'professional' standard. Which was in no way professional!. All those coaching courses were now tripled to ten times the cost, and the struggling clubs could no longer fund it. The coach themselves had to fund it, but with costs 'starting' at $3000 to obtain the 'C'-Class licence, as to be expected, it gutted the pool of coaches to virtually zero. What was disgusting at the time was that FFA to promote this new system proudly announced that they had granted Harry Kewell a scholarship for them - a kick in the face to say he could easily afford any and all courses, while the people who were the emerging talent could not. So just like the academy based institutions mentioned in the video, it became more about the financial elites becoming the coaches -pandering to the politics, and all the best coaches and potential was forever destroyed.
Now this is clearly shown in the years since, as the decline in Australian players quality of even knowing the basics of ball retention, movement and flair is virtually non-existent. Yes, the FFA's change in policy of the top leagues, and financial system has a major influence, but the reality is, there are very few quality coaches as they lost all by their greedy and filthy policies regarding the up and coming coaches. And the current crop of players can't make the grade in elite leagues because they are simply not grounded enough in the basics that the elite players take for granted.
Yes I have an edge of bitterness, as I was a damn good coach that taught many a player and teams from club and representative level. And my opportunity was curtailed due to disgustingly short sighted FFA policy.
Australia will NEVER reach their 'pinnacle' or beyond of 2006 until the very foundational grass-roots coaching setup is again re-dressed - everything else is smoke and mirrors.
Your story seems almost unbelievable. Thanks for the effort and chin up.
Not surprised corruption is rampant worldwide :(
100%
Agreed, its what made me not wanna play, plus you get to see more in the field and off it as an official. Reffed uni games for a couple years, decent pocket change but the players themselves had to put up the wages. Why couldnt the FAA?
As a coach now in Melbourne. Thanks so much for this. Been saying this to everyone who is blinded. I was unlucky to miss out on the NSL days I was only 7 years old when they started A League. Never was shown any pathways and was virtually killed by the politics of modern Aussie football culture. Pay to play greedy slimy bastards
DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, MATE! WE JUST SENT DENMARK HOME!! 💛💚🇦🇺💛💚🇦🇺💛💚🇦🇺
Hi, an Australian here. One thing Alfie has really missed here is that the NSL's clubs for the most part went on to form the clubs that make up our second and third tiers (and beyond) but as a closed system, it means we have a system that is not united, your entry level clubs play at a level that actually isn't that high and also at different times of year to our first (and only) professional tier.
Another issue, particularly from the standpoint of who is participating at record high levels, is something we call "eurosnobbery" or simply "eurosnobs" for those that particpate. You may be someone that loves and plays football, but you have literally no interest in our domestic product or the Socceroos because their level is not as good as the Premier League.
As daft as it sounds, this is easily the biggest problem in the Australian game today. We are not engaging football people in our football league because they would rather stay up until 3am watching what is in Europe instead of following the game at grassroots or professional level on their own shores.
The A-League has a few flaws, but finally the Youth investment is starting to payoff. I reckon when the Socceroos and Denmark get out of this year's pool, the media will briefly stop trying to smother Aussie Football, and interest will continue to rise.
Also Rugby Union might die in Aus, so maybe it decreases competition.
I agree on the Eurosnobs, massive problem in oz football. you get people who contribute nothing positive to the local game, but will happily dogpile on it when things don’t go right. It’s just cancer.
@@blinkusfishus2052 It's a shame here in NZ too, the local teams and fans have wonderful passion and great atmosphere but people would rather exclusively watch the Prem and then speak ill about the local scene. I love the Prem. I love being a Utd fan. I also love going an watching my local teams play, and socialising.
Eurosnobs, from what I understand, is not limited to one country. It's a problem in every country that is not in Europe and in many smaller European countries too.
It's something that FIFA should address. How to make people enjoy local football.
I live in Brisbane and what seems to be the main issue with going to watch the roar games is the fact that the club does not care about the fans and hasn't even played in a stadium in Brisbane for the past few seasons. The ticket prices are very high, transport to the games is non-existent, the stadium is designed really poorly and can't handle a crowd of more then 5 thousand, I went to watch Adelaide vs Brisbane in the semi finals and it took almost half an hour to leave the stadium due to there being one exit. I watch a couple NPL games a season and follow the FQPL team i play for Western Pride, these games have no tickets which you need to purchase and rarely a canteen so the clubs wouldn't benefit from this anyway? I imagine it's different in other states but there is no point in watching the A league in Brisbane and there is no benefit to NPL clubs through attending their games.
To think an Englishman half the world away has more awareness of how to improve our national team than our governing body.
Well Done Alfie, this is up there with one of the best documentaries on the channel
Well said
@@lardlad12 Agreed, well said
Yous pretty much are Englishman, budget Englishman convicts 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
where does he live?
@@bigpoppapump430 I find more Irish Chinese Vietnamese Koreans Croatians and Italians in a 5 minutes drive than the amount of English people I’ve met in my whole life
Hi Alfie, please make a documentary about the HUGE decline of Bulgarian football, from players like Asparuhov, Stoichkov and Berbatov and 4th place in the world cup to conceding 5 goals to Georgia at home and drawing with Gibraltar and the whole corruption in our football and the fall of Borislav Miihalov as football president and Berbatov trying to overthrow him. Yes, everything is together, unfortunately.
Latvia as well.
I believe he did that last year, maybe something about Corruption in the top league
NVM i was thinking about his video on Tajikistan
There was a video about Ludogorets Razgrad, can't remember off the top of my head how much it mentioned about Bulgarian football as a whole!
I can see a general decline in Bulgarian sport as a whole. Even your national volleyball team used to be better. Football is even more tragic with just a couple of footballers playing anywhere abroad.
Interest in international football hasn’t been declining - Football has never been big here. However the problem is that nobody follows the domestic league, despite it being of a decent quality that would be respected in any other confederation.
A-League has been great for about 5 years. Youth starting to come through. WSW winning the AFC really set things off.
The expansion seems to be somewhat sustainable.
I'm not a huge fan of creating clubs from nothing.
Also garbage restrictions on fans for health and safety reasons last few years really dampens the mood.
A friend took me to A league games last year. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. Crowds were poor each time though and these were MC and MV games.
@@glennkeppel9836 Lockdowns broke habits and dampened enthusiasm for most things in life even after they ended. New Zealand didn't go as hard as Vic, and the paranoia of parents, players getting rusty for lack of practice, economic hardships, have impacted the domestic games here pretty bad.
An example was my club was supposed to get me my C license in 2020, but the interruptions in the season stopped that from happening. I couldn't do it last year because I didnt have the shot at the time because health concerns with the only available. By the time the alternative vaccine was made available to me, I missed the window.
I bet there's dozens of other coaches, referees, and players impacted because of facilities being shutdown, no opportunities to travel etc stunting development.
The thing about the A Leagues that pissed me off is people in the media saying the Nix should be kicked because of low fan numbers while they played exclusively in Australia due to restrictions.
Mexican-American here, A league is on par with MLS and Liga MC
"the problem is that nobody follows the domestic league, despite it being of a decent quality that would be respected in any other confederation."
This isn't a unique problem for Australia. Outside of the top leagues in Europe and South America (Brazil and Argentina mostly), many football leagues receive limited exposure and support. A lot of football fans in China, South Africa, and India would rather support the top European leagues rather than the Indian and Chinese Super Leagues and South African Premier Division. I'm from the United States and most football fans watch Liga MX and the Premier League instead of MLS despite the quality of MLS drastically improving recently and even rivaling the best leagues in both CONCACAF and CONMEBOL. Recently, Canada finally has its own league yet public support for the league, although growing, is quite small with many fans preferring to support the Canadian MLS clubs as well as European and South American leagues of their heritage. Furthermore, top European clubs have poured a lot of money into promotions and friendlies to attract international fans for decades. That's why we are seeing Spanish Cup title matches played in Saudi Arabia.
I can already tell this is going to be a great video before even watching it. As an Australian the lack of local support for the teams in the A League contributes a lot to our decline as most of the sporting audiences in our country are not passionate about growing the local games. Its evident with the attendances of the A league compared to something like rugby league as tonight's State of Origin (Its like an all stars game for rugby league) will have massive crowds and tv audiences. Even the friendly games in football (Just put any European team that come to Australia) attract more people then in the local league games. The closest comparison would be like in the USA but even there the game is growing. Appreciate covering our country Alfie and keep up the good work mate!
Oh look, An Australian makes sure to let us all know they are Australian. Cultural cringe still dominating the peasants I see. Glad I escaped backwardland
Well I'm going to see Aston Villa v Leeds United tomorrow at Suncorp and I don't think they've sold that many tickets so I guess it depends on what teams. (I'm a massive Aston Villa fan but I've met only 2 Villa fans in the 20 odd years I've lived in Australia)
I can assure you mate that the USA league is miles behind the A-League
What sport in the world attracts over 70000 spectators FOR A FRIENDLY game besides FOOTBALL
@@チャーリーブラウン-w8l Behind in terms of what aspect? The MLS produces plenty of international footballers and players playing the top leagues in Europe for the past few years now which the same can not be said for A-league unfortunately. Their attendance is also growing too from what they were before and is reflected in the national team quality
One day I'd love a proper HITC sevens video on Sunderland. We always pop up with mentions on videos about horrendous signings, and how not to run a club, but a full look at how we fell so hard would be great. We are one of the all time meme banter clubs and we deserve a "what on Earth is happening" video.
And Sunderland til I Die only shows part of the story before anyone suggests we already have a docco.
Correct ✅💯
Yeah a Netflix documentary on Sunderland would be really cool too
@@finnmcneil7393 Netflix bothering with a third rate club in England, before doing one about the team that invented the idea of league football? You are joking 🙃
How you played a sex offender and cheered his name as well
@@SaudiGod I didn't cheer him, those that did are idiots. But it is worth mentioning how the board tried to cover it up. Just another example of our shambolic management over the years that would go in a docco
Who else is here after Australia make the Ro16
Me
this video did not age well
Not exactly...
The national team did well in the WC and the fans stayed to watch it kudos to that..
But for the next 4 years there will be ZERO BUZZ about it..
Aussies don't really care about it unless its the World Cup just like the USA. In fact the MLS in USA is much more supported by the Locals rather than Aussie supporting the A league..
I am saying this because I am a foreigner living in Australia for 7 years now.. They prefer aussie Rules and rugby and even cricket over football. You won't see this Lot again until the next wc.
@@owensunuwar697You are obviously not interested in AU football or you would know that there are many ways to see the game here, you just have to look.
Aussie’s just made the final 16, not to bad for a minnow team
This world cup campaign I think saved them from declining. I mean this world cup campaign was much more special because they barely qualified for the tournament but still made it to the knock outs by falling in a very difficult group.
Still qualified from the wc unlike us, rooting for our Aussie brothers from across the ditch!
Where are you from?
@@ayondash7063 he from new zealand. Australians and Kiwis refer to the Tasman sea as the ditch since it separates the two countries
@@ayondash7063 take a wild guess mate…
That game Vs Costa Rica was rigged mate!
@@insertnamehere5809 I know, it was a travesty… still wasn’t going to go anyway cause the bastards at fifa gave it to Qatar… 18 hour flight for a no alcohol 50 degree World Cup? No thanks
Tim Cahill's volley against Netherlands still gives me goosebumps.
I hope Straya finds a way to reach their previous level, because they are a joy in every WC
I hope this world cup provided a few for you this world cup
I take it you like negative park the bus football then.
@@danieleyre8913 are you danish or Tunisian by any chance
@@obamaslefteyeball1710 Tunisians are usually muslim. They do not have daniel in their names.
Firstly if you think soccer is going to replace ice hockey as the no1 sport in Canada or American Football in the US then you're delusional on a Trump level.
As for Australia:
1. Sport just isn't as big in Australia as it was 20 years ago. Newer generations just arent as passionate about sport as previous generations. I think Australian youth are more inline with youth in other countries when it comes to sport. No longer are young Australians way more obsessed with sport than kids from other countries. The internet age has had a homogenizing effect on Aussie kids.
2. As a result the bigger sports in Australia, Aussie Rules and Rugby League have tightened their stranglehold on the financial aspects of sport in Australia. TV deals are only big for the AFL and NRL. Advertisers and broadcasters are putting all their eggs in the AFL and NRL and its just not soccer that is struggling. Rugby is dying and even cricket, the traditional 3rd sport is being left behind Aussie Rules and League. Though cricket has the advantage of being popular throughout Australia and being a summer sport.
3. Soccer fans in Australia are a cancer to the game. Only rugby union fans are worse. The slavish devotion to European soccer and fanatical opposition in doing anything different to their gods in Europe blocks any advancement of the game outside of soccer fanatics. Soccer in Europe lasts 364 days a year. People here dont want that. The Soccer season just drags on and on and on and people lose interest. What works in Europe doesn't work here.
4. Compare that to basketball which is improving and getting stronger in Australia. Thats because basketball administrator in Australia are way better than football administrators. Basketball is much more open minded than soccer. Basketball in Australia doesn't have to be a slave to America and the NBA like soccer here is to Europe. Basketball has also done a much better job of marketing the game in the internet age and making the game appealing to a wide range of Australians.
Also, there isn't anywhere near the corruption in basketball as there is in soccer. FIBA is no FIFA.
Also, basketball is way better than soccer.
5. Moving into the Asian conference helped in the short to medium term but in the long term its damaged the game. With 2026 moving to a 48 team tournament and Oceania now having a full qualifying spot being in Asia doesn't seem appealing. Also, if we were still in Oceania we could bid for the world cup everytime. Problem with Qatar winning was not only it corrupt, which put a lot of people off, but Australia being in Asia is locked out of bidding until 2034 and the next time the world cup goes to Asia its almost guaranteed of going to China. For example if China hosts 2038 world Cup Australia will be locked out until 2050. If we were still in Oceania and we lost 2038 hosting to China we could bid in 2042, then 2046 etc.
No , america so bad at basketball and they are good at soccer. American media have post a lot of MLS league and the notice that 220 millions+ American are soccer fans .and australia they just don't care about soccer so sad
This one didn’t age well
why not. I think it's spot on
guess who made it to round of 16
Australia
I lived in Australia for a few months and never did I hear locals discuss soccer its just not mainstream there
Definitely not the local league. Australia has a huge overseas born population which the majority would be into soccer. The problem is that due to the time zones it's very hard to follow any league in the world. World cup fans need to stay up until 3 am to watch a game... same goes for champions league etc. very hard.
If there was a decent league people would watch. The problem is that you don't have free to air games... everything relies in one streaming service and that is very hard for most people.
Fantastic stuff Alfie. I grew up watching my local Perth Glory play in the NSL against teams like Marconi Stallions, Sydney Olympic, Adelaide City and South Melbourne who are all gone. The Americanization and franchise nature of the A League today is so soulless compared to the old clubs. Even after Channel 7 bought the rights, you needed Foxtel (pay tv) to watch it for years, all while AFL and rugby were on free to air. I didn't know about the pay-to-enter academies but it made so much sense. Even worse, City group paid for a new franchise and use it as a farm team. The focus is just wrong. There is no community or soul.
However! The positive ending note and saving grace of our nation are the girls, they are definitely something to cheer about!
Yes, the "Matildas" are actually doing quite well. Maybe at some stage in the future, Alfie, that could be another video for you to make. Not right now, but perhaps in the future. :)
Those clubs are still around, just in their respective state leagues.
From what i remember, the old NSL had an issue with corruption and there was definitely a concerted effort with the formation of the ALeague to move clubs away from having such strong ethnic ties (Marconi, South Melbourne, Sydney Olympic, Melbourne Knights etc) because of the perceived ties to hooliganism and violence (based on European experiences). I guess the FFA wanted a "cleaner" and more family friendly product to market.
@Nurrr89 i have to agree with you on most of those things, but the womens football is not as amazing as it seems. And it is having similar problems to the mens game with young talent often being snubbed in order to focus on titles and wins. also young talents also being snubbed for players who aren’t up to it but they happen to have family or friends who can feed them through the system, and this is shown in the w-league as these players are in abundance at the moment.
The Matilda’s also has its problems with them opting for experience and players who will make headlines, instead of the players who deserve to be seen.
The irony of complaining about City but City is the club producing the most Socceroos. And this is from a Victory fan.
@@bury_the_elite65294 Matildas are doing ok for now but there starting to have the same development problems as the Socceroos are having
If the socceroos do improve and the players become better known, I believe it will be through Scotland. Numerous young Aussies are moving to the scottish premiership, particularly to the Edinburgh clubs. Postecoglou will continue to draw Aussie viewers to the league. Plus, English clubs on smaller budgets often scoop up spfl players
I'm a 60 something woman from Melbourne, Australia. In my experience soccer has never, ever been popular here. We have our own Aussie rules game which is much more exciting. Most people here state that watching soccer is like watching paint dry. Of course Australia plays in the Asian league, we're in the region! Oceania you've got to be joking! What play against Vanuatu, Nauru and New Caledonia!!! Of all my friends only one likes soccer. He was born in Italy and came to Australia as a child. He exclusively follows Italian teams, zero in Australia. I can't see soccer ever becoming very popular here
You’ve got two other codes in Australia that soccer has to contend with, the AFL and the NRL. One of the biggest reasons soccer is not as popular as the AFL and NRL is the state of play with soccer. Soccer is far too defensive a game and they do not score enough goals in a game. There’s not enough chances for the crowd to get “raucous” during a game. We find it too slow. Mind you I prefer it to the bum sniffer’s game, rugby.
As an Aussie, I’d have to say the issue is the FA being greedy and making a pay to play system. A lack of opportunities both in play time and financially to youth players. And a cultural view of football being soft and an outsiders game. Asian and Middle East investment could help things but in that case we would sell our soul.
The going to Asia over working hard in Europe is a big issue as well. But tbh if you aren’t extremely motivated to become the best in the world. Would you rather earn 10k a week at a championship club with a 1/20 chance of getting to the premier league until you are 32 or go to the Middle East and earn 40k a week until you are 38
Which is ironic given that Aussie Rules is at least as soft as Soccer is...
@@danieleyre8913 you’ve obviously never played afl mate. You can get cleaned up at any second and you don’t even see it coming.
@@cozzau And you think that Soccer players can’t also get blindsided? That doesn’t mean anything; all it proves is that a lot of cheap shot scumbags play Aussie Rules.
Compared with the rugby codes or American football or Ice Hockey Aussie Rules is soft because it is not full contact, just like how Soccer is compared to those sports. That doesn’t mean that Soccer or Aussie Rules are completely soft sports, but it does mean that Aussie Rules fans and players can’t pretend that Soccer is softer then their sport.
a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now.
The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore.
How they were very close to moving to ireland
How they went up the English football leagues.
It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel
Make sure you include how Kingstonian were kicked out of their OWN GROUND by AFC Wimbledon!
@@riverdobsonwallace technically helped them back in 2004 when they brought the stadium and let them play there for many years after.
With Australia right now I see a lot of parallels with the USMNT when they missed the last World Cup. USA were humbled and had to wake up and make some drastic changes. The fact Australia made the World Cup makes me think Australia is gonna continues to ignore these problems they are facing, but I sure hope not.
I’m not sure that I agree.
Due to being far less popular than American football in particular, the USMNT has depth issues that ebb and flow. The team that missed the World Cup was supposed to be led by a lost generation that produced almost no good players. The supposed stars of that generation were overpaid in MLS so they didn’t bother to challenge themselves in Europe and wasted any potential they had. They were followed by a generation that knew that to reach their potential, they had to get to Europe as soon as they could legally do so. Does US Soccer deserve credit for Christian Pulisic escaping to Dortmund at age 16 using his Croatian passport? I hardly think so.
For the time being, the USMNT will continue to rely on immigrants, the children of immigrants, and the children of (often US military) expats to make up a large portion of the player pool. Luckily for them, the US has more of all of those demographics that’s any other country on earth. They simply aren’t getting Weston McKennie to play soccer if he didn’t spend his formative years immersed in German soccer. He would have just played American football.
Over time, there may be a shift from football to soccer, but that hasn’t happened yet. I don’t think the rest of the world is ready for it because the sheer number of elite athletes that the US produces is staggering. There are dozens and dozens of college football players per year that the NFL judges to be too small, but would easily be the most explosive athlete on any top European club. When even some of those kids start training to be soccer players at 10 years old, look out. Just look at the USWNT for a snapshot of this, they are the deepest and most athletic roster in every match they play.
@@BobSanders33 The Lost Generation is simply a weak narrative.
"Escaping to Dortmund"
That's an exaggeration of the actual event. Please get a grip.
Not sure if you're an American, but if you are, you American soccer fans continue to display a large sense of insecurity who latch onto any narrative that discredits the US soccer system. It's almost as if there's a bias.
It really isn't complicated. Soccer has to compete with three ball sports that are played at the highest level. Soccer is more of a hobby sport that you play when your mum wont let you play AFL.
I don’t think it can be understated that the sheer amount of sport that is available to consume in Australia is extraordinary.
Despite being a hot nation, we’re fanatical about the Winter Olympics, so you can only imagine how massive the Summer Olympic are here.
There’s the Australian Open in Melbourne for Tennis that attracts a large audience.
The Melbourne Cup and Royal Randwick Cup (Sydney) for Horseracing
The Bathurst 100 for Motor GP is popular.
We have two massively famous Cricket grounds for International Cricket in the MCG and SCG.
American Football is even on the incline.
Yes, Rugby Union is on the decline in Australia, and there’s a few reasons for that, but that shouldn’t undermine the two MASSIVE sports in Australia that I haven’t even mentioned yet.
In Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria and Tasmania, the game of Aussie Rules (AFL) is the predominant sport, whilst in Queensland, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, Rugby League (NRL) is the predominant sport. Both are also good secondary options in their opposing states. The NRL also has an internationally watched spectacle between Rep sides for New South Wales and Queensland called State of Origin.
I live in the US and we have as many if not more sports available to us, but football/soccer has made leaps and bounds because the media has helped on top of a group of talented players play in Europe. The MLS also attracts top talent.
Don't forget the Netball. It gets more viewers than the A-league
Also the Melbourne Grand Prix which this year had a record 400,000 plus fans and spectators.
Ruh roh. Strong decline as a team since 2006. Never really watched it before then, but.. it's been depressing.
Honestly, Aussie rules is a great game which offers things no other sport does and for many people it's just more exciting to watch. Soccer is the world game and is also a great game but it's fine for it not to be the most popular sport in Aus. Imagine the whole world eating the same things, speaking the same language, boring. Heaps of Aussies follow the premier league as it is more exciting than the local league.
All the good talent play AFL football. Sam Kerr's brother was a top AFL player. The 2006 generation were more of an anomaly than anything else. A bunch of passionate people that elevated football to a level way higher than what was sustainable. We are still doing alright and a foundation is being built. We just need to produce more world class players.
Barely anybody outside of Victoria plays AFL football.
Afl or Rugby are just more exciting and tougher sports. Big bumps, fights and high scores.
@@ant7396 barely anybody outside of Victoria? Mate, AFL football is the most popular sport in every other state and territory except NSW and QLD. Idiot.
@@trainco1643 and AFL is pretty big in even qld
@@kalesaladgeoguessr exactly
Go watch a state of origin game and you will no doubt draw your own conclusion
thank you for shining a light on this Alfie, as an Aussie with English parents who used to play football I can validate what he is saying. my parents are still confused to this day on how football here is run and why it costs so much. along with the fact that a lot of the clubs from where I live are also very disorganised especially with the younger or lower skilled teams at the club, speaking from experience I have been left off of a team until the end of preseason multiple times because the clubs just forgot to add me to one. This all ended up with me playing basketball which is actually a lot more popular nowadays but also a lot cheaper only costing around $50-$150 depending on your club. it also sucks that most of the A-league games nowadays are only accessible through streaming services and only having a couple of games on free tv, this has lead to more people paying for streaming services that show premier league games because the league is more popular, better and it costs the same to watch, most people including me know more about English teams and their leagues that anything we have in Australia.
Australia is just frankly a much more competitive “football” (in the umbrella sense of the word” market for its population size than any other country in the world. If you go to either Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne there are active fully professional teams across 4 “codes” of football - with the National Rugby League and Australian Football League the most dominant, followed by Super Rugby (Rugby Union) and soccer’s A-League. The only other place I can think of that comes close is Dublin, with their Union and Gaelic Football presence. In that environment, it’s frankly just harder for a sport like soccer to compete - and in Australia they even try to minimise soccer’s competition by playing the game in summer, but in recent years even the women’s cricket T20 tournament has been beating men’s soccer for ratings.
Honestly, personally, I could have had a potential future playing in the NPL as a kid (the league under the a-league). But the payment for it was just genuinely too expensive that all that was affordable was to try out.
So happy now coming back to this video, you arent even wrong, our spirit just overcame typical expectations
Yeah.. Gotta wait next 4 years again for the same spirit.. Pretty much like the US who only support football when it's their national team playing in WC.
@@owensunuwar697 it sucks, I support australia through and through yet i dont think ill ever see a government/ffa that will appreciate this/make changes to help rebuild our culture
Enter World Cup Round of 16 Consider decline For you? 😗
At national team level They are Rise.
At Club level They are Decline because of Salary cap when Neighbouring League Spend multiple amount of Money for foreign player slot .
as a fan of cricket and the afl I’ve never been compelled to watch the a-league despite my growing love for soccer, the league is seen as a bit of a laughing stock among fans of cricket, afl, nrl, rugby union and tennis, which are all bigger, better supported, advertised and attended. I’d much prefer to watch a european game at 3:00 am than watch an a league game
You've also got to look at the fact that some of the biggest advocates of the game in Johnny Warren and Les Murray are dead, and SBS is no longer pushing the game like it did
Aussies prefer other sports, why do football people think they have some God given right to be the dominant sport everywhere?
THERE IS NO MORE CROATS IN AUSSIE FOOTBALL
Mark Viduka, Josip Skoko, Zeljko Kalac, Jason Culina, Mark Bosnich, Bresciano, Mile Jedinak etc Those were really good players
My man, Bresciano is Italian. Viduka and Bosnich were quality, the others were pretty average
@@georgekoussoulas4575 Bresciano is half Italian and half Croatian. I know this because I myself am the same.
stfu, we're going to be accused for buying players from other nations and then we're going to be the most hated team in the world for doing so.
Zato što je nogomet u Hrvatskoj bolji.
While all this is true and remains so, with Australia beating both Tunisia and Denmark to go through to the RO16 in Qatar, a lot of names in the Socceroos have been noticed, with players such as
Harry Soutter - Stoke City
Kye Rowles - Heart of Midlothian FC
Riley McGree - Middlesbrough FC
Ajdin Hrustic - Hellas Verona FC
Milos Degenek - Columbus Crew
Mathew Leckie - Melbourne City FC
Jackson Irvine - FC St. Pauli
Mitchell Duke - Fagiano Okayama
Craig Goodwin - Adelaide United FC
Being a massive reason for the sudden improvement in the socceroos line up.
I already have heard people talking about Harry Soutter going to a bigger club after having so far a great campaign for the Socceroos.
With the performances of Rowles and McGree so far, I would expect them to move forward in their careers, with one of Australia's finest young talents in Garang Kuol already being signed by Newcastle United in the Premier League.
Hopefully, these four players can help spearhead a new generation of Australian talent.
I like to think of this as an upside of Australian football.
PS. It would be cool so see your analysis on the Socceroos and how they have done what many thought was impossible and make it to the round of 16
Craig Goodwins gone back to Saudi and Irankunda's going to fucking Bayern, Adelaide is FUCKED