midfielder
Well-Known Member
Interesting article in the Herald Sun, ........... even in Mexico they are getting the message
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23837307-5000117,00.html
A new ball game
Chris Fotinopoulos
June 10, 2008 12:00am
IN the 1950s and '60s, many newcomers to the country achieved cultural acceptance by doing what true Australians did - drink VB, barrack for Australia in all sporting contests, follow the footy and buy a home with a big enough back yard for the kids to play cricket.
This was a good way of leaving the ways of the old country behind for all that the new country had on offer.
My dad, as with many new arrivals, followed the footy and cricket as a way of demonstrating his allegiance to his new home.
Given that his first place of residence was only a few streets away from Collingwood's home ground, he chose to follow the Pies.
Although the game he watched at Victorian Park was nothing like the one he followed back home, he saw it as his patriotic duty to learn all he could about his adopted country's indigenous sport.
It was, after all, a matter of opening his mind to a new ball game.
His neighbourhood spoke through footy, and my dad learnt its language well enough to understand that expressions such as "shirt-front", "hip and shoulder", "high elbow", and "hit behind play" not only applied to the footy field, but to the streets of working-class Abbotsford.
Aussie rules continues to speak to Melburnians in a powerful and parochial way, which is why I expect people to criticise the Rudd Government's decision to push ahead with its $60 million attempt to host the 2018 World Cup.
Some will continue to harp on how soccer is a low-scoring, mind-numbing spectacle that symbolises all that is wrong with the old world -- mob violence, ethnic rivalries, stadium riots and male aggression.
Some will still insist that soccer is a foreign game that Australians should reject in favour of our game.
But times have changed.
The Sudanese and Somalian kids from the housing commission flats are unfazed by fans cutting through their game of soccer as they make their way to the G to watch Collingwood battle Melbourne, for these kids are free to follow whichever sport they want.
Footy, as with cricket, tennis, rugby, netball, swimming and golf, has lost some of its cultural significance in a sports market that is becoming increasingly globally oriented.
These days, the success of any sporting code comes down to how well the product is packaged, promoted, and sold to the public.
The AFL has proved to be very good at this, and now soccer is lifting its game. We now have a popular and financially viable national soccer league that attracts crowds on par with AFL and cricket.
This, coupled with Australia's inclusion in the Asian Football Confederation, will ensure that the game will continue to grow at unprecedented levels.
There are now more than 430 registered clubs in Victoria alone, most of them running several teams from seniors down to under sevens.
And there are thousands of kids playing in school soccer teams, and amateur, church and bayside leagues.
Although the jeers, cheers, celebrations, and verbal stoushes at many of these games may have a different linguistic tone from a cricket one-dayer or a footy blockbuster at the G, the open-minded sports fan will appreciate that soccer speaks to many Australians as coherently as footy and cricket has.
The social significance of the rise of soccer in Australia cannot be underestimated.
Its growth will acquaint Australians with the language of global partnerships, international dialogue, and cultural exchange.
Given that the Rudd Government recognises the benefits in forming strong economic and political partnerships with Asia and especially China (the country that Australia meets in its final game of its Asian qualifying group), soccer is the perfect vehicle to strengthen such ties.
As Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy put it in Brisbane after Australia defeated Iraq in its World Cup qualifying game last week, the future of football is in the new world - that is, the developing and growing regions of the world such as Asia.
And this, clearly, is where Australia's future lies.
I hope that those who have been hostile to soccer and its supporters in the past will get behind the push to secure the World Cup finals in Australia for 2018 - for Australia's sake.
After all, $60 million is a small price to pay for a lesson in global dialogue.
- Chris Fotinopoulos is a Melbourne writer and teacher
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23837307-5000117,00.html
A new ball game
Chris Fotinopoulos
June 10, 2008 12:00am
IN the 1950s and '60s, many newcomers to the country achieved cultural acceptance by doing what true Australians did - drink VB, barrack for Australia in all sporting contests, follow the footy and buy a home with a big enough back yard for the kids to play cricket.
This was a good way of leaving the ways of the old country behind for all that the new country had on offer.
My dad, as with many new arrivals, followed the footy and cricket as a way of demonstrating his allegiance to his new home.
Given that his first place of residence was only a few streets away from Collingwood's home ground, he chose to follow the Pies.
Although the game he watched at Victorian Park was nothing like the one he followed back home, he saw it as his patriotic duty to learn all he could about his adopted country's indigenous sport.
It was, after all, a matter of opening his mind to a new ball game.
His neighbourhood spoke through footy, and my dad learnt its language well enough to understand that expressions such as "shirt-front", "hip and shoulder", "high elbow", and "hit behind play" not only applied to the footy field, but to the streets of working-class Abbotsford.
Aussie rules continues to speak to Melburnians in a powerful and parochial way, which is why I expect people to criticise the Rudd Government's decision to push ahead with its $60 million attempt to host the 2018 World Cup.
Some will continue to harp on how soccer is a low-scoring, mind-numbing spectacle that symbolises all that is wrong with the old world -- mob violence, ethnic rivalries, stadium riots and male aggression.
Some will still insist that soccer is a foreign game that Australians should reject in favour of our game.
But times have changed.
The Sudanese and Somalian kids from the housing commission flats are unfazed by fans cutting through their game of soccer as they make their way to the G to watch Collingwood battle Melbourne, for these kids are free to follow whichever sport they want.
Footy, as with cricket, tennis, rugby, netball, swimming and golf, has lost some of its cultural significance in a sports market that is becoming increasingly globally oriented.
These days, the success of any sporting code comes down to how well the product is packaged, promoted, and sold to the public.
The AFL has proved to be very good at this, and now soccer is lifting its game. We now have a popular and financially viable national soccer league that attracts crowds on par with AFL and cricket.
This, coupled with Australia's inclusion in the Asian Football Confederation, will ensure that the game will continue to grow at unprecedented levels.
There are now more than 430 registered clubs in Victoria alone, most of them running several teams from seniors down to under sevens.
And there are thousands of kids playing in school soccer teams, and amateur, church and bayside leagues.
Although the jeers, cheers, celebrations, and verbal stoushes at many of these games may have a different linguistic tone from a cricket one-dayer or a footy blockbuster at the G, the open-minded sports fan will appreciate that soccer speaks to many Australians as coherently as footy and cricket has.
The social significance of the rise of soccer in Australia cannot be underestimated.
Its growth will acquaint Australians with the language of global partnerships, international dialogue, and cultural exchange.
Given that the Rudd Government recognises the benefits in forming strong economic and political partnerships with Asia and especially China (the country that Australia meets in its final game of its Asian qualifying group), soccer is the perfect vehicle to strengthen such ties.
As Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy put it in Brisbane after Australia defeated Iraq in its World Cup qualifying game last week, the future of football is in the new world - that is, the developing and growing regions of the world such as Asia.
And this, clearly, is where Australia's future lies.
I hope that those who have been hostile to soccer and its supporters in the past will get behind the push to secure the World Cup finals in Australia for 2018 - for Australia's sake.
After all, $60 million is a small price to pay for a lesson in global dialogue.
- Chris Fotinopoulos is a Melbourne writer and teacher
