HOW good has the World Cup been?
I’m sure I’m not the only one that has been up all night glued to the TV watching the Socceroos.
It’s been incredible to watch.
Tim Cahill will surely go down as one of Australia’s greatest sportspeople.
To score five World Cup goals — on the biggest sporting stage in the world — is pretty amazing.
Kids everywhere would have watched that goal against The Netherlands and will now want to be like Timmy when they grow up.
‘The skill-set needed to play AFL has every other sport in the world covered’
But will soccer ever overtake Aussie Rules as the biggest game in Australia?
That’s what everyone is asking.
It’s a conversation that comes up every four years.
I don’t think it will.
Not in our lifetime, anyway.
Everyone might be interested in soccer now and it’s the talk of the town, but what about in a month when the World Cup is done?
It will be back to normal.
At the moment, the interest is just a flash in the pan that happens every four years when the World Cup is on.
The A-League keeps improving, but until it becomes a premier league in the world, it’s hard to see how soccer can become the dominant sport in Australia.
It’s too hard for fans to follow with all of our best players playing overseas.
Fans want to watch the best of the best.
Look at basketball.
There are plenty of NBA fans in Australia and it was great to see Patty Mills and Aron Baynes win a championship with San Antonio.
But look at the NBL — it’s struggling.
I’ve got no doubt if Aussie Rules was played by everyone else in the world, it would be the biggest and best sport on the planet.
We’ve got such a great game.
The skill-set needed to play AFL has every other sport in the world covered, I reckon.
You need to be able to do so much, whether it’s running, kicking, handballing, marking or tackling.
Americans watch it and think we’re crazy.
Until soccer can match that level of interest and coverage week in, week out, it won’t be No. 1.
This article was originally published in The Border Mail and can be accessed here.