How Australia can win the World Cup. Seriously.
Australia is a sporting superpower, except in its most popular sport. Here is how to fix that.
My dad bullied me into choosing football over AFL as a kid. He migrated from Malaysia to New Zealand and then to Australia, with his Scottish father instilling a passion for the world game.
Both my dad and grandad barked at me about the flaws of AFL, especially the fact that nobody outside Australia cared. Eventually I succumbed, and in a weird way, I’m glad they bullied me into switching codes. Football has given me some of the best moments of my life. I have found it the perfect meeting of passion and focus to take you out of the mundane and humdrum beat of daily life.
Many Australians share this passion the world game.
Football is the sport with the most participation in the country, with 1.9 million players, three times the AFL’s base. The Matildas versus England in 2023 was the most-watched TV event in Australian history. Football has a brilliant way of bringing people together in this country, crossing cultures and ethnicities, and showing the best of Australia on a global stage.
Australia has always punched above its weight in sport. On a per capita basis, we are arguably the most successful (reasonably sized) sporting nation in the world.
