While one code grapples with the fallout of registering a violent criminal and another struggles for international relevance, now is the time for football to shine.

Man the bulwarks and sound the air raid siren, this is a code war alert!

And the quickest of all the outraged commenters – those perpetually harangued netizens who seem to be tethered to their keyboards 24 hours a day – are always those who can’t stand the thought of football being held in the same regard as Australia’s most popular sports.

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“Code war!” they smash away furiously at the keyboard as fast as their fingers will allow, oblivious to the irony that it’s always them who wants to carry on about the supposed superiority of their code and desperate to put any plucky upstarts in their place.

“You’re just as bad as they are!” will invariably be one of the first responses I receive on this column.

Guess what? I don’t care.

And the sooner football fans realise mainstream Australia will never do the game any favours and start to fight for football’s place at the table – by attending games, by tuning into broadcasts, by consuming media that reports on the game instead of complaining about outlets that don’t – the better for us all.

I was bored out of my brains watching South Africa’s block-a-thon in the cricket in front of three men and a goat in Cape Town last night, when I noticed a tweet from The Daily Telegraph’s Sports Editor-at-large Phil Rothfield about how poor refereeing was turning the NRL “into a pile of shit”.



I had completely forgotten the Storm were playing the Cowboys in a grand final rematch – along with half of Melbourne, by the looks of the attendance – but I cast a line out with a couple of thoughts attached.

“I’d rather watch the A-League than the NRL,” I tweeted. “Infinitely more entertaining.”

“You are the only person who thinks that,” snapped back self-declared rugby league fan in Amsterdam, James Campbell.

And, lo and behold, one of the first people to like Campbell’s quick-fire response was none other than The Daily Telegraph’s long-serving head of sport, Tim Morrissey.

Now, I’ll admit that baiting rugby league fans was probably not the most productive use of my time.

But isn’t it instructive that one of the first people to like a tweet critical of the A-League also happens to be the head of sport at Australia’s best-selling daily newspaper?

I’m willing to give the former Sydney Kings legend the benefit of the doubt, however you’d think there’d be a sense of solidarity among sports battling for a share of the limelight.

There never is, though, because every other sport in Australia sees football as a threat that must be crushed.



It’s why Rugby Australia will force the Wallabies to play at the same time as the Socceroos’ first game against France in Russia.

It’s why blokes like Kane Cornes and Malcolm Conn obsess over Socceroos and A-League crowds.

It’s why rugby league fans carp on incessantly about diving in football while turning a blind eye to the blatant simulation that goes on in every NRL game.

Yet for the first time since the Asian Cup, Football Federation Australia is actually in a position of power.

With the World Cup just around the corner, Aussies everywhere will once again tune into the tournament in their millions to see how the Socceroos fare in a truly global competition.

We should have at least had a farewell friendly on home soil to see them off.

And if you’d prefer to talk about tomorrow’s friendly in Oslo, go nuts. Don’t let me be the one to stop you.

But don’t pretend that keeping schtum for fear of rocking the boat has ever got football anywhere either.



Mainstream Australia has a love-hate relationship with the game.

They love it when the Socceroos play in the World Cup, and hate us the rest of the time.