Between the Green and Gold
They were wearing blue, but the Green and Gold took away three points at a World Cup for the first time since 2010. It wasn't a convincing win against Tunisia, but it was a win. This puts them in with a chance to continue after the group stage into the knockout rounds for the first time since 2006.
My wife asked the other day why Australia isn't better at football, considering the population of the country, but k think it is pretty obvious.
It isn't the only sport Australians play.
Finland for example has hockey as the national sport and they do quite well at it in the world stage, but there isn't much else to compete with it, although football is growing due to the slightly smaller costs involved for parents.
In Australia however, there are several sports that not only compete for attention, but also body type. For example, Australian Rules Football and field hockey are very popular and both require a similar body type to European football. There is also the cultural side of it, where the AFL teams have a long history in the communities and enjoy spectator support, meaning there is more money in local sports than Soccer.
This is an interesting metric that looks at the transfer values of the teams at the world Cup in Millions of Euros.
And then of course, Australia tends to punch above its weight in other sports too, where for example it finished 6th in medal count at the Tokyo Olympics with 17 gold, with France in 7th position, with 10 gold.
With so many sports vying for participation, there is high dilution and while the sports programs are very good, there is an inability to focus efforts into one discipline. This is also affected by privilege of opportunity, where people are not limited to only following a handful of disciplines, meaning a wider range of skillsets get encouraged and supported.
Living in Finland, I don't get to watch much of the sports I grew up with, let alone sports where Australia are represented, as there is very little overlap between what they play here and there.
What has been clear from this World Cup however, is that while traditional powerhouses will likely dominate, there is more chance for surprise, as the lesser countries close in and with a little luck, can giant kill. This is a testament to how football has spread its appeal globally and also speaks of globalisation as a whole, where there is skill spread through information availability and immigration.
It is more apparent when watching sports, but it is largely the same on other fields too, where globalisation has provided opportunities in places that otherwise wouldn't. The Internet itself is a big reason for part of this equalisation and I think that Web3 will further level some of the plating fields, as we are seeing on Hive already, where it doesn't matter where you are from if you can behave in ways that add value, you can also earn value.
Equality of opportunity is never going to be perfect, but there is the equality that we can try to do the best with the opportunity we have got. While it doesn't mean that the results are going to be the same, when opportunity presents, putting our effort in, regardless of the chance of positive outcome, means that we might not only surprise the crowds, but also surprise ourselves. Who knows, our attempt, even if a failure, could inspire a generation of others to give it a go and perhaps, make it where we could not.
This is something I try to remember as a parent, that even though I fail a lot, demonstrating that it is still worth making the attempt is important. Just like the game isn't ovet until the final whistle, this game isn't over until the final breath is drawn.
It is easy to judge all the failures in this life, but what I have found is that the biggest critics, are those who are still yet to make a decent attempt, let alone succeed.
Some will only ever sit and watch.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Great post
Australia at least play football but unfortunately my country never get a chance to be a part of world cup football but we get chance playing world cup in cricket. Your wife asked a good question to you and you sure explained it perfectly. Thanks for the discussion sir. Have a nice weekend!
Seeing the same thing in the cricket - look at how Ireland did in the T20.
Actually I'm not into sports that much but I support my native team blindly 😂🤣
Immigration for sure. Climate also plays a part.
Climate yes. It is a winter game and there are plenty of other winter sports too.
No surprise Canada is low on the list. We’ve got hockey, baseball, and basketball being most accessible and monetized. Then American football and everything else. Very diverse.
Canada is 1-1 in the World Cup, surprisingly no one is really talking about it.
I heard Canada played a decent game though, so it is better than expected :)
🥲
I fancy Argentina for a win this world cup.
I know this is somewhat off topic to what your post is about..
I don't know what's wrong with me... I use to always keeo track of the teams, who won who lost every world cup... I feel so uninterested in it this year.. Feels like it over hyped and 🤷♂️🤷♂️ fuck knows
I am not sure if it is overhyped, or if it has been sniped due to location. It will be interesting to see if Argentina can come back from that devastating loss. They won tonight against Mexico, but I heard it wasn't an overly great game either - I didn't get to watch it though.
The Aussies always punch above their weight in sports as they have such a competitive nature. They fully deserved the win today and am rooting for them to go through. Money can't buy you everything and if I was coaching would rather have a team of hard working players than stars.
I hope they go through too, though it is going to be hard to hold a determined Denmark to a draw. So many of the Australian team are playing domestic league only these days.
I just replied a detail reason why football (soccer) is a failure here in Aussie at the moment. We do have the "Aussie spirit" of never giving up and playing hard
Believe me, most of the world would still not aware that Finland has hockey as the national sport and they do quite well at it in the world stage.
Football has been a sport which leads the world on chase :)
All of the northern world know :)
I think by fan base, cricket might still rival football - but only because of India :D
I love the Australian cricket team. Adam Gilchrist is one of my favorites. There is David Warner as well. The absolute legends of this game
I was always a West indies fan :)
An Aussie sport nut right here. Let me tell you now, from a grassroots level there are so many politics at play that limits us having a great football team. The best talent doesn't always get picked. Google Cristian Volpato and you'll see that he got cut from teams in our domestic league. Look what he is doing now ............. we'll lose him to Italy..
Our domestic league is very average. Good players will seek a move domestically for more money or for better competition. Also, there is virtually zero corporate support when compared to European countries. It's very frustrating.
There are so many options for sports to play in Australia. I do disagree with OP about the popularity of field hockey. That isn't popular here when compared to other sports like Rugby league, rugby union, cricket and Australian Rules football.
Immigration is what will save the round ball game in Australia (I myself am a second generation Aussie with Samoan/German heritage).
Anyway, CMON AUSSIE!
He is the 18 year old, right?
It is still popular in schools though in many regions (and again a similar body type and winter sport), though I haven't lived there for 20 years, so that might have changed.
I think it is interesting how immigration is such an important part of football around the world, yet those same players if they weren't football stars would be treated like crap.
So, I'm now past competitive age but I am getting into the best competitive shape I've ever been into, in the game I care for the most, which is basketball. There was a small clique of streetball players from a couple of consequent generation when my generation was in the lower tier, i.e. high school. When I got out of town, to the city an into the University, I then had a lot of choices and I went for a couple of exotic sports which I had not touched before. Both involving cold weapons. Cool. But I made no attempt to join a college basketball team. At that point I had accepted I was just not tall enough.
Nowadays, I am doing it as the fitness stuff that comes with no resistance. Indeed, I desire it and would go the extra mile to get there and play some when I find the time and the weather is fine...da ba di di da-a-a-a...
Mostly playing alone. Not enough people in town to find me an opponent, a partner, a whatever. The sun has set on this...this is one kind of thinking.
The other kind of thinking is I might be able to some day inspire some kids hard and get them play because they burn for it...who knows...