When Australia mounted its first real bid to host the Soccer World Cup there was an air of quiet confidence among those in the bid team. There were two tournaments on offer, the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Looking at the competing nations, looking at which tournaments they would be going after, Australia felt as though its was at least in the race.
When Russia won the 2018 World Cup, it wasn’t too much of a surprise. An unlimited budget, taking the World Cup back to Europe, a strong federation, it was understandable. They put together a very strong bid.
When Qatar won the 2022 World Cup it was a little bit different. A tiny country that didn’t even come close to having the infrastructure needed to host the World Cup, people straight away started to wonder how they even made it this far through the bidding process, let alone winning the race.
In the aftermath of the announcement we learned quite a bit about the World Cup bidding process. The most concerning aspect for most Australian tax payers was the fact that the Government had spend $46 million to help secure one lousy vote in the whole process that saw them eliminated in the first round of voting.
In short, the whole process cost a lot of money, there was no return at all, the voting has proven to be completely corrupt and Soccer in Australia learned a valuable lesson.
Now that there is the possibility that Qatar will be stripped of the 2022 World Cup many are suggesting Australia should once again make a bid to host the tournament. I don’t think we should have anything to do with it!
Why would Australia ever decide to burn tens of millions of dollars once again on a process that we know is run in such a corrupt manner? Don’t think anything has changed. Don’t think that this will be a new bid process. All you will see are the same bribes handed to many of the same people to secure votes.
If it comes down to that Australia is simply not in the race. Other countries are willing to lose billions on hosting the tournament. Australia can’t afford to do that.
I would love to see the Soccer World Cup played in Australia. It would be unbelievable!
Soccer in Australia would get a massive boost at all levels, facilities would get much needed upgrades, and the tournament itself would be something that only the 2000 Olympics could rival in terms of having a month long event that stops the nation in its tracks.
I just don’t believe that Australia should once again get involved in such a dirty process. How many more millions do we want to see handed to corrupt officials to buy their votes?
