{"id":165512,"date":"2025-09-24T09:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/165512\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T09:42:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:42:11","slug":"whose-game-is-it-anyway-european-soccer-is-recoiling-at-what-is-routine-for-afl-nrl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/165512\/","title":{"rendered":"Whose game is it anyway? European soccer is recoiling at what is routine for AFL, NRL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian teams across almost every sporting code (yes, even football) have been in the business of \u201cselling\u201d home games \u2013 usually interstate, to a cashed-up tourism body, but occasionally overseas, too \u2013 for many years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s reductive to say that their fans simply \u201ccare more\u201d about this. European clubs are important civic institutions, but no less so than our clubs to our cities and towns. The truth is that the sky has not fallen in since the NRL started taking the season opener to Las Vegas<\/a>, and that clubs like Hawthorn are still Hawthorn despite having taken games to Tasmania.<\/p>\n

\"Allegiant<\/p>\n

Allegiant Stadium: The field of NRL dreams after another Vegas venture.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

You may argue that a small price has been paid, that a fragment of soul has been sacrificed, and you may have a very good and fair point \u2013 but every metric would suggest that the machine has never been more productive, despite your ethical misgivings.<\/p>\n

The context is different. Our champions are crowned by a finals series, and we don\u2019t expose our teams to the risk of relegation, so the effect on competition integrity is vastly diminished. Our leagues are inherently unfair, geared specifically for the highest commercial outcome; our lopsided seasons mean teams don\u2019t play each other an equal number of times, unlike the perfect balance of European home-and-away campaigns. So it means less for us to trade away a home game here or there, while ventures like NRL\u2019s Magic Round and AFL\u2019s Gather Round further fray the edges through our event-going culture. And in Australia, certain clubs need the money from selling games for financial or strategic reasons.<\/p>\n

We consider the matter of games played abroad in an expansionist way, as if our homegrown codes are being spread like gospel to the rest of the world, which is something to be proud of; over there, with top-flight football increasingly in the thrall of nation-states, oligarchs and American hedge funds, it feels like something pivotal to their identities is being taken from them and rented out to the rich in another country. This is where they draw the line. You have to respect that.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the other major bone of contention: the detrimental impact a marquee European league fixture on foreign soil would have on the existing domestic football within that community.<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Sydney FC line up against the touring Wrexham AFC at a packed Allianz Stadium in July.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine if a fraction of the revenue and attention generated by Milan v Como could otherwise be diverted to Perth\u2019s local A\u2011League side, who have finished bottom in three of the past five seasons,\u201d wondered aloud Jonathan Liew in The Guardian.<\/p>\n

If only.<\/p>\n

For decades now, Australian administrators have tried anything and everything to try and channel the booming interest in overseas football towards the local product. Nothing has worked, and probably nothing can work.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s called cultural cringe. The only hope is in the slow, incremental uptick in status being made by every young Australian player who transfers to a foreign club and does well. The more local talent swimming around is in Europe, the more likely it is that a \u2018Eurosnob\u2019 will cast a cursory glance at the A-League and consider it as a worthy part of a global whole, and a competition that deserves respect, rather than some antipodean mockery to be avoided.<\/p>\n

\"Lamine<\/p>\n

Lamine Yamal and Barcelona could be facing Villarreal in Miami before the end of the year.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s going to take forever, and possibly longer. Until then, we take comfort in the fact that Australian interest in football is growing, and that hopefully one day, it is reflected by greater Australian interest in Australian football.<\/p>\n

We celebrate when European clubs come here and sell jerseys and tickets to meaningless warm-up games in the off-season<\/a>, praying for the reflected glory to rub off on our teams. If it ever does, it never sticks – but hey, what are you going to do? Force those people to watch the A-League by legal decree? This is globalisation in action. The market wants what it wants. And after so many \u2018glamour friendlies\u2019, the market now wants real games, with real points at stake.<\/p>\n

There is, in fact, already a framework designed to scratch this itch: the new FIFA Club World Cup<\/a>. It\u2019s loathed by Europe\u2019s football intelligentsia for many of the same reasons, but in theory it provides the cleanest interface: a tournament where clubs from anywhere can share the spotlight with the giants of the top-five leagues, and compete on equal terms. If the demand is for globalised club football, that is at least a more legitimate way to do it.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

If we accept that all of this is inevitable, even if we agree that it\u2019s bad for football \u2026 the pragmatic reaction is that Australia may as well get its snout in the trough before anyone else, because other countries will be lining up for the benefit. That is, if there is a benefit to be had.<\/p>\n

And if the only benefit is that a bunch of people from Perth who love Italian football, but would never get to experience it in the flesh, get to have a great night \u2026 then so what? Are they not \u2018real\u2019 fans? What even is a real fan, anyway?<\/p>\n

In a way, this is all a matter of perspective. For a rugby league expansionist, taking the NRL to Vegas is about spreading the gospel to a new territory. For an 80-year-old season ticket holder, it\u2019s one less home game they get to attend before they die.<\/p>\n

Bringing the NFL to Melbourne<\/a> is simply meeting demand where it exists \u2026 or the latest example of American imperialism.<\/p>\n

Bringing Serie A to Perth is simply a creative way of getting around the Winter Olympics stadium problem \u2026 or another kick in the nuts for not only fans of Milan and Como, but Perth Glory, too.<\/p>\n

Bringing La Liga to Miami \u201cdoes not break tradition \u2026 it projects it,\u201d according to the league\u2019s president Javier Tebas.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s sporting world, who gets to decide what \u201ctradition\u201d even is? It\u2019s a complicated question. UEFA\u2019s hesitation suggests they don\u2019t yet know \u2013 or that they fear the answer.<\/p>\n

Football has a new Home. Stream the Premier League<\/a>, Emirates FA Cup, J.League and NWSL live & on demand, including Premier League with 4K, from August 2025 on Stan Sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian teams across almost every sporting code (yes, even football) have been in the business of \u201cselling\u201d home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-165512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}