Like Father, Like Son?

Over the last few days we have celebrated arguably Australia’s finest football hour; that win against Uruguay in a memorable penalty shoot-out.

Sunday afternoon I found myself home alone and through the magic of Twitter discovered SBS were to show an abridged version of the Australia vs. Uruguay game.  Sure I knew the result and even purchased the DVD but I don’t actually think I had sat down and watched the game.  Sure I had seen ‘that’ save and ‘that’ penalty on YouTube countless times but never had I sat down and watched the highlights of the game.  Fair to say it was an engrossing afternoon.

It was akin to riding the teacups at Disneyland, it’s something that you always dream of, something that makes your stomach churn and something that you will always remember.  Even knowing the result, knowing our boys ended up in Germany the following year and knowing Aloisi hit the sweetest of penalties I still watched the highlights with heart in mouth, fingers crossed and with similar emotions from 10 years ago.

That Schwarzer save (the second one) was a moment a nation will cherish forever, but it’s the spot kick and celebration that will live forever in football folklore in Australia.  Watching those images a decade on brought back some great memories, tearful moments of elation and the birth of football in Australia.

Without being disrespectful to the heroes of 74’ and forefathers such as Johnny Warren it was the first time for me that football in Australia became mainstream.  Until that moment football was seen as a novelty for the majority of sports fans in Australia and every four years the World Cup qualifying circus would come to town.  We all know the horrors of past campaigns that ended distraught Socceroos fans rocking back and forth in a trance like state chanting “four more years, four more years”.

A decade has passed since ‘That Night’ and Australian football is much richer for the experience.  We have made the last three World Cups, have a successful domestic competition and are reigning Asian Cup champions.  But on the eve of the Stephen Lowy era how is football really travelling in Australia?

3,654 days have passed and for the first morning since ‘That Night’ Frank Lowy is not the FFA Chairman.  Whilst I have never met Mr Lowy and will probably never get the opportunity to Mr Lowy deserves the majority of the praise thrown upon him for the tireless work he has done for football in Australia over his lifetime.

The baton has now been passed to Frank’s youngest son Steven after he was ‘elected’ as the new FFA chairman for the next three years.  It’s fair to say Steven has some pretty big boots to fill and needs to act quickly on many issues.  Rightly or wrongly some will have judged the incoming chairman on his surname alone and this may impact on his tenure.  Frank Lowy brought big business to the FFA but he also alienated a huge potential fan base out there.  The appointment of son Steven may further alienate these people and we are also unsure if Steven brings with him the same contact list with him.

Frank has left the A-League with lower membership, lowers attendance figures and lower television ratings; all this after the Socceroos winning the Asian Cup on home soil.  As a nation we failed to ride the Asian Cup wave of success and welcome new (or previous) supporters to our football family, instead we closed the door and immediately went back to what we knew, the A-League.

Issues that need to be addressed are wide ranging and too numerous to mention.  Broadcast deals, ticket prices, expansion, #SaveTheNix, crowd numbers, international weekends, Newcastle, Brisbane, Central Coast, etc etc etc; do I need to go on? Steven you have walked many issues that need to be addressed and some more pressing than others.  The A-League and FFA needs you to be your own man, not a puppet of your father.

Whilst the A-League represents the pinnacle of domestic football it also represents a barrier for some supporters in Australia.  When you look back to ‘That Night’ in 2005 you witness an inclusive moment of football history in Australia, for some the ‘Old Soccer, New Football’ wounds are too much.  Steven must work hard at bringing the football community together and fight as one.  As a community we must be stronger in supporting ‘our game’ and leave any previous misconceptions at the door.  Frank Lowy distanced himself from NSL fans during his tenure as FFA chairman and also lost momentum for the average football fan.

Thanks to Frank Lowy we are a far greater entity than we were a decade ago but more can and should be done.  As a football community we must remain positive about the growth of our game and stop focussing on the negative.  Too many times football fans in Australia see the negative far before we see the positive, me included.  Watching footage of ‘That Night’ saw powerful memories flooding back and what I saw in that is how great football can be in Australia.  Sure we can’t quality for a World Cup every day of the week but as football fans in Australia we can push in the same direction to make the game so much greater.

The ball is in your court now Steven.  If you are prepared to be guided by the legion of fans in Australia the game will be in much better shape when you are up for re-election in 2018.

Good luck Steven, the game needs you to succeed.

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