The great debate: Is football now Australia’s national sport?
What the Matildas have achieved, and the Socceroos before them, begs the question: Is football, or soccer to some, now our national sport? Have your say and VOTE!
The eruption of national pride as the Matildas take all of us on an exhilarating ride in the FIFA Women’s World Cup has captivated the country in a manner arguably never seen before.
Ask yourself, has there been a moment involving an Australian team, and that includes our wildly successful cricket sides, that got anywhere near the fervour associated with the Matildas?
What the Matildas have achieved, and the Socceroos a year earlier in reaching the round of 16 at their 2022 World Cup, begs the question: Is football, or soccer to some, now our national sport?
No other national team in Australian sport can attract hundreds of thousands of fans to live sites all around the country like the Matildas or the Socceroos.
Maybe Cathy Freeman’s Night of Nights in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics when she carried her nation to victory in the women’s 400m metres was the one, or Cadel Evans beating the might of Europe and South America to claim our first Tour de France.
Some would claim the events of 40 years earlier at Newport, Rhode Island, when John Bertrand skippered Australia II to victory over Liberty in the 1983 America’s Cup, set a standard that could never be matched.
All were remarkable, yet the development of mobile phone technology ensured the Matildas’ bid for World Cup glory will remind every one of us who rode their journey.
Cricket has always been the benchmark, given the captaincy of our men’s team was once rated the second most important leadership role in the country (behind the Prime Minister). The men were fighting England for the Ashes 146 years ago, and as recently as June-July were involved in a do-or-die and at times spiteful series that eventually saw Australia retain the Ashes in a dramatic 2-2 draw.
Speaking of crowds, and to the eternal envy of rugby league, the AFL has just come off a record-breaking season for crowd numbers and any fair-dinkum survey will prove AFL to be the most popular sport in the nation. It’s only a lack of international exposure which holds AFL back from being our global leader.
Despite the popularity of the big three — cricket, AFL and league — the rise and rise of the Matildas and the resurgence of the Socceroos makes you wonder if the world game is also Australia’s new national sport.
HOW OUR SPORTS STACK UP
Soccer: Imagine if either the Matildas or Socceroos were to actually win a World Cup? The women are closer, which is partly due to their competition’s infancy when compared with the men’s World Cup which is coming up for 100 years. It’s hard to imagine the passion if we were to overcome heavyweights such as Brazil and Germany for the Jules Rimet Trophy in the men’s world.
Australian Rules: Our wonderful Indigenous code that has always suffered, and will continue to do so, due to a lack of international competition. Not that the AFL hasn’t tried to take the game overseas, a concept the then VFL first attempted over 100 years ago, and in more recent times via the agency of a disastrous money-wasting concept known as AFLX.
Rugby Union: As poor as we have become, the glory days of rugby back in the 1980s-90s and early 2000s were very special when names such as Campese, Farr-Jones, Eales, Gregan, Burke, Horan, Larkham, Smith, Mortlock and Lynagh were household ones. Oh for those days to return.
Rugby League: As good as the code is, and as dominant as we are when we travel to New Zealand and Europe, League has never quite captured national attention like cricket or even its first cousin Union. It’s no fault of league that international competition is scarce, meaning Australia typically starts warm favourites at World Cup. And certainly in heartland states like New South Wales and Queensland where passions never grow stronger than the annual State of Origin series. But league has never quite grabbed AFL strongholds despite forays into Adelaide and Perth, plus the extremely successful Melbourne Storm having been on the scene for 25 years.
Cricket: Has captured our national imaginations longer than any sport given the First Test between Australia and England was played in 1877. The Ashes is arguably the longest running competitive match-up in world sport, and we are already looking ahead to 2025 when England next tours.
Hockey: We have been so competitive in both men’s and women’s for so long, even if the men have left some big wins out on the pitch. The Hockeyroos have a claim to be one of our finest teams over a long period of time, yet can’t generate the passion associated with other codes.
Swimming: As great as we are, and no country gets anywhere near us for punching above our weight on a pound for pound basis, it isn’t a sport that has us on the edge of our seats on a week-to-week basis, or even yearly for that matter. There are the Olympics and World Championships and for the rest of the time swimming is largely out of sight, out of mind.
And that includes our domestic scene where media interest is limited apart from world events.
Netball: Following their Commonwealth Games gold medal, Australia’s Diamonds have reclaimed their spot at the top of the sport with yet another World Cup win earlier this month. Despite their huge grassroots support, the Diamonds haven’t been able to capitalise on their success the way the Matildas have.
Tennis: When a lovable and marketable superstar like Ash Barty arrives, we embrace them and monitor their every move in major championships. When they retire we struggle to name two of the top 10 female tennis players in the world (give it a try). Same with the men, and sadly we no longer have a genuine Davis Cup competition to foster national pride.
Basketball: There is a sense this is the sport waiting to explode in Australian minds, given both men and women have been tantalisingly close to getting near the best (USA) at Olympic level. And like our female soccer players, we can only benefit from more of our stars being drafted into US competitions. But we will always have to somehow conquer the might of the Americans.
Rowing: This majestic pursuit fits very much into the Olympic window, given even World Championship performances are largely ignored despite our rowers having been elite for many decades,
Cycling: Like all sports it’s dependent on a superstar emerging. But even Cadel Evans winning a Tour de France didn’t prompt the type of scenes we saw during the run of our Matildas.
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