The Sad State of Football Down Under

The latest results from the Australian National Football Team are just the tip of the iceberg regarding football struggles down under.
The truth is that Football in Australia and New Zealand are currently facing unprecedented challenges, from financial struggles to baffling decisions by its administrators.
This video dives into the current state of the A-League, the fallout from bad broadcasting deals, and the impact on grassroots football. Where did it all go wrong, and what does the future hold for the beautiful game down under?
This is a video about football in Australia, Football in New Zealand, A League financial struggles, football business, Graham Arnold and football as a business in Oceania.

[@christopherclarke1068]

Nice try... but there's a lot missing from this video. The football climate in Australia is very complicated though so it's hard for anyone to articulate, yet alone someone not from the country. My main fact check on this video, besides it being claimed that rugby league is the top sport (it's AFL in most Aussie states), is that there probably hasn't been a single person more damaging to the A-league and football in Australia than David Gallop. His tenure saw the A-league go from it's absolute peak, to the banning of active fans, lost momentum in growth and then the addition of the two most poorly chosen expansion teams. The damage that man caused is unforgivable. He tried to make soccer in Australia fall in line with the other football codes but he failed to realise that the reason the A-league was exploding the way it was in the early 2010s was because of the unique atmosphere that only it provided. There was a time where the Sydney derby was the hottest sports ticket in town, but the banning of active support, sterilisation and villification of the fans and football culture, totally crushed all momentum. Unfortunately, that is only one piece of the messy jigsaw that is Australian football. There are other major issues, like the 'pay to play' junior system, disharmony between state football federations and poor government funding compared to other sports. There is also no 'home' for our national sides, so our Socceroos or Matildas often find themselves training out of a rugby league facility during national camps. It's embarrassing and also impeads national development as we no longer have an academy like we use to have that operated out of the AIS in Canberra. So many of our golden generation were AIS academy alumni... Like I said, there are so many issues. I could go honestly on for hours about it. And I'm sure there are soooo many more I'm not aware of. As an Aussie football fan I just have to live in faith that it will one day get better.

[@simont1299]

There is not enough blame directed at Gallop. For years everytime I saw him on TV I would curse him. He set the game back decades. Its yet to recover. I swear he was a plant by NRL to ruin the game. Though I dont think he did much better there to be fair.

[@Robert19002]

Media to Postecoglu last year - there has been a mini revolution in the a league this year. Postecoglu - “again?” This is where we’re at. There has been so many false starts and no continuous plans that us fans that have been following the a league’s and Socceroos since its inception have had enough. Fans don’t want to know about how the FA lost millions of dollars! We want to see the best players possible to play in Australia. This doesn’t happen and if things don’t change for good, it never will.

[@Goofydownrange]

Football fell of a cliff after the 2006 World Cup… Why? Because the administrators thought Gus Hiddick Dutch put it in their heads everyone should be Dutch…. Idiots

[@Killajmj]

anyone who actually is serious needs to leave to Europe by the time they start high school

[@Killajmj]

If the Socceroos was based on merit the team would look like France's team.

[@simont1299]

This is a terrible video that is a little loose on the timeline and lacks some of the actual history to why A-league was actually created and what happened to the NSL.

[@danieleyre8913]

I agree this clown has no idea.

[@encorefootball]

Australia has the same problem as Ireland, America, Canada, South Africa, Russia, Finland, China and New Zealand has: association football has to compete with many other sports

[@MegaasAlexandros]

That is true but can be viewed as an excuse at the same time when soccer is the most played game in the country. We really should be doing better,

[@troiholland9310]

A few things: In what world is Rugby league the most prominent sport in Australia? I feel its very disrespectful to not mention Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill and Brett Emerton as part of the golden generation You have given channel 7 a free pass in their role of the financial problems of soccer Australia (They purchased the TV rights in order to bury the NSL and protect the AFL..) We don't have as much talent anymore because of the loss of ethnic based clubs, despite the issues around these clubs the ethnic communities provided us with great talent that wasn't siphoned away to the AFL, NRL, Cricket etc

[@rosemarytulip355]

"In what world is Rugby league the most prominent sport in Australia?" The world we live in.

[@Julian-xs8nc]

Other than New South Wales and Queensland nobody gives a flying f**k about rugby in Australia

[@rosemarytulip355]

@@Julian-xs8nc Oh so 14 million people? Over half of Australia's population and both those states are the ones that care most about sport in general?

[@Julian-xs8nc]

@@rosemarytulip355 Melbourne is often considered the sporting capital of the world and they couldn’t care less about rugby. AFL has way bigger crowds, supporter base and tv rights which says it all

[@spectrum3787]

@@Julian-xs8nc “Melbourne is considered the sporting capital of the world”……Only by Victorians. It’s a weird title you guys gave yourself, and it’sreally strange.

[@paulcampbell1230]

you forgot to mention that three or four players in the a leauge were found guilty of match fixing last season

[@SAMUTHESAMBABALL]

Honestly, that could be a whole video just by itself 😂 - thanks for watching!

[@SAMUTHESAMBABALL]

Hey, If you're reading this - thanks for watching! I really appreciate it. I recently got a new mic so I'm still learning how to use this thing and you can occasionally here me moving around - sorry about that! A couple more things for this vid: 03:09 - One thing I feel like I didn’t communicate very well in this video is this part. A recurring theme in football down under is that the people in charge (like Gallop) often make decisions like the National Club Identity Policy, which might be better for commercial deals but go against everything real football is all about. This decision was made well after the NSL existed but had an impact on the grassroots scene. Also 06:00 onwards - there are really two parts to this, the establishment of the A-League, and the restructure in 2019. I didn’t want to get too bogged down as I thought it would be boring! Both are examples of football administrators playing with the game as a commercial project rather than a footballing one. Cheers!

[@FootyAMP.528]

Thanks for teaching people about the A-leauge since it is an underrated league even though not many young talents get noticed😢

[@chrispsackett]

Where did we go wrong? Weak characters in the squad. No Mile Jedinak figures. Pink-haired jackson irvine ruining the team culture.

[@LaurensKop]

1:44 No way Rugby league is the most prominent sport in Australia, it is big in Sydney.

[@TOTN17]

it's a borderline reglion in QLD

[@BuIldogProd]

Footy > league. Who else can get 100k crowds consistently throughout the year, and 40k in Sydney, a league city

[@frednerk3477]

AFL smashes Rugby League in crowds, income, grass roots players.

[@Gary-vv5gt]

@@BuIldogProd Problem with sydney is, its very geographic divided and people are more lazy if i can say so. Melbourne is very city centric so even if a person support the team on the edge, they will still head to the cbd to ether MCG or Marvel to cheer their team and make a afternoon/night out of it. Unlike Sydney which its would an asshole to make a day out of it at SCG/Allianz or Accor due to locale and access to getting them.... And many people in Sydney have that so called "tribal personality" in them which generally means people don't usually leave their areas, the more east you go (such as shire, eastern suburbs, north shore and northern beaches) the worse these tribal pissants get.... That why its very rare for me to get along with people in these areas, yeah i can but its not as deep as i wanted.

[@jf9979]

Almost non existent in Melbourne.

[@wabisabi3619]

The game has been run by short sighted self serving fools for decades now.

[@maddyg3208]

The low-scoring, defensive, "hand-less" game succeeds best where there's no competition from more dynamic football codes, but is always surprised about this

[@BrenMurphy1]

Exactly. Soccer in Australia is background listening whilst you do something else. Just sitting there watching them pass backwards over and again is so frustrating. Plus, only rich kids get a show with extortionate fees in your teens. No natural talent emerges, only fancy indulged kids with $300 boots.

[@Yid_Army]

Aust football is like the olympics. When its on its on but outside there are other sports to watch. Foottball is playing catch up with 100 years of history from other sports in Aus.

[@undersoundproductions1915]

Nothing worse than an American telling you about your own home sports and choices. The A-league is improving. NRL is fine as is AFL. The Socceroos have done well but are not perfect. Other teams have a say. Get over it.

[@SAMUTHESAMBABALL]

Hey, I'm not American! Thanks for watching.

[@badrobot3159]

The problem is the governing bodies. Football queensland are a joke. They couldnt organise a root in a brothel. They established the qas teams about 7 years ago, hand picking all the best talents from NPL clubs. This year. The womens qas team finished last with 9 points from 27 games. Great job football Queensland.

[@jonfoxtrot5135]

The greater percentage of elite athletes are playing AFL and NRL, so the talent pool is limited to start with, and then there are the structural issues.

[@billmago7991]

its pretty easy...no one knows how to put the ball in the back of the net in the big games.....one guy,Jack Kynaston in ACT running shooting galleries on weekends...freestyle is where its at

[@mark123655]

Australia had a good run with the golden generation but really ranks like a Euro country of 3-5m people - whcih it is once you exclude the populations that prefer AFL, Union and League

[@versaarchi]

Who the fuck prefers Union Lol

[@wabisabi3619]

lol afl fans from Melbourne losing it if your nrl call 😂 Rugby league is 10x better than afl. And ‘soccer’ is king. Eat it Melbourne 😂

[@thespookymilkman7015]

Stats and common sense says Afl is better and more popular. Cope 🤷‍♂️

[@danieleyre8913]

LoL Rugby league is the worst sport in the world.

[@maddyg3208]

None of that, thanks 😅

[@Legamster3584]

There is only one type of football here in Australia, and it's not soccer, that’s for sure.

[@mathewmclachlan7352]

Aww it being an own goal too...thats rough

[@totallynotblakem]

Matilda’s fan spotted 🤫

[@RADIOWFC]

Get their noses out of The Ledger and start worrying about Football

[@doned21]

I am a football fanatic and love to watch games all the time from everywhere . The problem of football in Australia are NRL and VFL , two stupid sports that nobody in the world know or care about ..Australia like to win and in those two sports found the way to be world champions all the time . World Champions ? The world is watching football like or not , only Australia brain wash its people with NRL , AFL , Cricket , swimming or any othe activities where they can be winners ..As a result they only produce brutish players , with no skills and they play the sport with the characteristics of rugby league , no skill , no flair

[@undersoundproductions1915]

Nonsense. I'm a football fan but the NRL is fine and popular as it is the supported sport. It's loved by most in Australia. AFL is the next best supported. Get over it.

[@doned21]

@@undersoundproductions1915 They are stupid sports that nobody know , they do not have world coverage simply because they are not appealing to sports fans ..People prefer real football and consume it all over the world . Football is evolving everywhere and improving but not here ..Australia thought that joining Asia was guaranty of being in the world stage all the time but it did backfire . They would not qualify for the next world cup ..Better stick to the stupid sports in which they are winners all the time and leave football for the countries that really love the sports and are not distracted with stupid games

[@FootyAMP.528]

😭

[@RCT1963]

Football in Australia is magnificent. But we call it Australian Rules Football & Rugby League

[@Gregemio]

Dont care - to me - football will always be number 1 - other codes are supported by meat necks, bogans & mullets. But yeah, super complicated topic - there are many many levels to this iceburg,.

[@rickkinsman7400]

You've missed the main point. Australians don't care about soccer (NB - it's NOT football!) at all. It is an activity that fosters a sports culture that is foreign and anathema to our paradigm. I wouldn't approve of my government spending a penny to develop it.

[@fdigian]

Your post flies in the face of fact. Just look at the enormous levels of interest that the 2006 FIFA Men's World Cup and last year's Women's World Cup generated amongst Australians. It is simply untrue and an utter nonsense to say that Australians don't care about soccer. Incidentally, to Billions of people around the World (including to a great many Australians) soccer IS football. Whichever code floats an individual's boat is legitimately "football" to that person. It is also non-sensical to argue that soccer (which - like many other Australians - I will call "football" from here on) fosters any kind of "foreign" sports culture, let alone one which is "anathema" to "our paradigm". Putting aside for one moment, which "paradigm" is "ours", the same fatuous argument could purportedly be made about many other sports or activities that a large number of Australians would consider popular, including cricket, rugby league and tennis, to name just a few. All of these other sports involve significant elements of foreign culture, yet no one makes this argument about them. The reason is simple: the argument is totally false and simply does not properly arise in the first place. And we happen to live in a multi-cultural society nowadays, in which many of our citizens originate from or are descendants of people from abroad, so - spoiler alert - all of us in a modern tolerant society need to be open to influences from beyond our shores. Your arguments against football are also neatly summarised by your final sentence, which reveals what you are all about. You say that you don't approve of "your" government spending a penny to develop the sport. While you are entitled of course to express your opinion, it is not "your" government. We happen to live in a democracy. Simply because - for whatever reason - you happen not to like something, doesn't mean that it's your personal call to banish or disapprove of it. Your attitudes are narrow-minded, intolerant and self-referential, without any justification for them. They have no place in modern Australia.

[@tomcolvin8199]

Australia calls football soccer enough said.

[@oscarluke4653]

rugby league 😂