Is Australian Football still a victim?

'Football continues to emerge; globalisation, the internet age and the increasing numbers of Aussies abroad, continue to erode Australia’s myopia and there’s more to come.' Andy Harper's conclusion, from his piece relating to Football's inroads into Rugby Union through the elite Schools system, has a beautiful sense of fate.
Surely the significance of this is much greater than a critique of the game on an ABC Four Corners episode that rated with 687,000 viewers! As a matter of fact, Channel 9's The (AFL) Footy Show invited Harry Kewell to appear to an audience of 790,000 - and to my pleasant surprise, their welcome and his ability to manoeuvre the usual code-war issues, probably won over more Football fans than might've been lost through a largely re-hashed look at the World Cup bid.
But have the long struggles of the game in this country resulted in a victim mentality that is preventing Football making even more rapid progress?
The tightrope the game's Commentators need to walk was highlighted by Mark Bosnich's response to the ABC. There's nothing wrong if this generates headlines in our defence, but at the same time the substance of these attempts cannot be flimsy...just another Football warrior crying poor.
If you read Bosnich's article through a neutral lens you can dismiss his claim of bias by referring to both AFL and NRL getting a similar, if not worse, caning from Four Corners in their episodes on head injuries and sex allegations.
FFA's retort was predictably more measured but bordered on an act of propaganda, listing the various examples of progress the game has made under the current administration. Many of us will recall even more significant achievements if you view Australia's Football history over a longer period of time.
And the 'Kewell factor', without him kicking a ball in anger, already shows all the great positive potential many were hoping for. Managed well, and that is easier said than done, the game could be on a real goldmine. Here we have an Australian who has tasted world sports' dizzying heights...there aren't many Kewells parading any of our sporting arenas on a regular basis.
I'll never forget the thrill and respect expressed by AFL footballer Anthony Rocca upon meeting Mark Viduka before the 2006 World Cup...it takes a big fish in a small pond to recognise what it must be like to swim in an ocean! Kewell arguably demands even greater admiration.
Sometimes we just have to survey the landscape and see how much there is to like. A victim mentality is not going to help us at all.

Australia’s 2014 World Cup nightmare?

Can you imagine what Australia’s dream first-choice eleven will be at the World Cup in 2014 (if we get there)?

Holger Osieck, overseeing the re-generation of the team, has been sleeping on the job! Before the Thailand game he remarked, ‘we need to be strong...I think it’s already a pretty difficult start.’  Hang on...if we don’t try a few of the younger boys against teams like this at home, in which World Cup Qualifier will it ever happen?!

Pim Verbeek’s last starting line-up against Serbia had an average age of 29.5. More than a year later, Australia’s 11 v. Saudi Arabia had an average of...uncanny really...29.5!! Have Verbeek's conservative tactics been replaced by Osieck's conservative selections? 

He may quip that we got a wake-up call from the Thais but he has allowed such a culture of entitlement with some of our veterans that we may need a louder alarm!

Spiranovic and Kilkenny was the best he could come up with in that first Qualifier. And then dropped them both for the Saudi game, putting them in their place and stalling the transition even further! Can he really argue that an ageing line-up is the only answer?

When will he start breaking the bad news to the stalwarts...or is he hoping for the easy outs of long-term injury and retirement? For starters, how will players like Neill, Ognenovski and Kewell, playing another 3 years in the sort of leagues they’re now involved in, be in better shape than a Williams, Rukavytsya or an Oar? They won’t be, and the time to address this pending nightmare is overdue.

Instead of making public statements about Bresciano’s and Harry’s return, Osieck should be talking Leckie’s World Cup prospects or dealing with the Scottish attempts on Herd.

I’m not denying the value of experience, exactly the opposite – those younger players, of at least equal ability, now need to be getting serious game-time, so that come Brazil they have a few caps behind them.

The Thailand performance may well have indicated that, both physically and psychologically, too many old legs don't work. 

Osieck has probably had the longest media honeymoon of an Australian Coach in living memory. Many Journalists are more than willing to excuse him and laud him at every opportunity (or is that some sort of Editorial Policy at work?!).

We gave him leeway to go for the Asian Cup with an experienced squad...but he's not been much different since. A token effort to blood a few players, then revert to the old guard – not good enough! Not good enough for us to cling to the aura of World Cup 2006...as we saw in 2010, those days are gone.

Let’s hope that Osieck is the one who's woken up and builds that dream eleven... and spares us the nightmare!

A Football 'Keeper's' blog

I am interested in being a Football 'Keeper'...no, not a Goalkeeper, but someone like a Zoo Keeper or a Game Keeper: looking after the interests of the Game and all who inhabit the great Football Zoo!
I have played, coached and been addicted to the game for most of my life. I have also written about it as a young budding journalist, driven by the desire to progress the cause of Football in society.
I regard those involved in Australian Football like family, an important group in a country that has other sports holding traditional advantages.
My purpose in this blog is to address those irritating issues and problems that hold the game back: the incompetence of Administrators, the usual attacks from anti-Football campaigners, the harm done by the pro-Football media, errant Coaches and Players, anyone or anything that prevents me from seeing the game continue to rise in prominence. In other words, to 'keep' Football strong, safe, healthy and alive!
My focus on the game will always be to critique in a constructive manner, but my focus on other sports will be to match any of their tactics, destructive or otherwise, if they seek to damage the game that I love.
I want to promote a community of readers that are involved in commenting and participating. I welcome both agreement and disagreement. Any criticism, in any way you choose to give it, with a proviso: that it is not abusive, or incites abuse, in any way.
I believe the 'pen is mightier than the sword'.