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‘Football diplomacy’ to boost Australia’s standing in Asia

SYDNEY: Australia’s entry into the Asian Football Confederation will do more to boost its popularity in the soccer-mad region than any diplomatic initiatives and regional forums, an influential policy think-tank said on Wednesday.

With Canberra keen to improve sometimes tense relations with its northern neighbours, the Lowy Institute for International Policy said Australia’s impending switch from the Oceania World Cup qualifying group to Asia represented a golden opportunity. The Lowy Institute, a private think tank funded by Australia’s second richest man Frank Lowy, said the implications of the move went far beyond the playing field. Institute research fellow Anthony Bubalo told a forum that Canberra had concentrated on winning over Asia’s opinion leaders and elites but failed to address deep reservations about Australia held by many ordinary people.

“This is a chance for Australia to cut through to the grassroots in Asia and transact on a popular level in a way that’s never been done before,” Bubalo told an audience of football players, sporting officials, economists and diplomats.

He said regular matches with Asian opponents would showcase the multicultural nature of Australian teams, countering lingering perceptions tainted by the country’s restrictive White Australia immigration policies, which were abolished in the 1960s. Tim Harcourt, chief economist at the government’s trade promotion body Austrade, said the move into Asia could result in contracts worth billions of dollars for Australian businesses. He said Austrade had successfully secured dozens of contracts during the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2003 Rugby World Cup by introducing business executives in the relaxed atmosphere of sporting events.

“With Japan, China and Korea, there’s a very good story in terms of dollars and investment in the move to Asia,” he said. “Football is going to be the real test of how well this ‘schmoozing’ concept goes.” Australia switched to the Asia World Cup qualifying group after years of frustration at not having a direct route to the World Cup finals in the Oceania group. Oceania, which includes minnows such as American Samoa and Fiji, does not have an automatic qualification place in the finals and the group winner must beat the fifth placed South American team to reach the tournament.

Football Federation Australia chief executive John O’Neill said the move to Asia offered Australia high quality opposition and the chance of automatic qualification. But he said Australia would also contribute to Asian football through its experience in organising major sporting events, its top class coaches and its ability to help provide sporting facilities in developing nations. O’Neill said it also gave Australia the chance to develop fierce football rivalries in Asia which could eventually compare to the Ashes cricket contest with England and the Bledisloe Cup rugby union clash with New Zealand.

He said an annual three-way tournament featuring Australia, Japan and South Korea would generate huge interest. “In my experience of sport, it would not take long for that to get a lot of traction as a major tribal clash,” he said. afp

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