In 2005, Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy sat at a press conference in an expensive hotel on Sydney harbour’s foreshore, alongside Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam, and announced that Australia would join world football’s largest body.
The announcement, which ended three decades of lobbying, saw Lowy, somewhat comically, call his first meeting with the Qatari powerbroker as “love at first sight”. That particular relationship, of course, broke down in spectacular fashion in the wake of the 2022 World Cup bid.
What has endured, however, is Australia’s affiliation with Asia, one that continues to strengthen. The recognition received by Australia at Sunday’s AFC Awards in New Delhi further cements its entrenchment within the world’s biggest and most diverse football region.
Australia officially departed the Oceania Football Confederation on the final day of 2005. The timing of the move meant Australia qualified for the World Cup as an Oceania representative, but were an AFC member by the time Germany 2006 came around. It is scenario that is never likely to be repeated.
Not that the decade-long ride in Asia has been smooth sailing. Far from it. There was a stumbling debut on and off the field at the 2007 Asian Cup. And most notably, there have been comments in previous years from some high profile officials suggesting Australia’s place was not within the AFC.
Even if those views have ongoing resonance in some quarters, Australia’s status within the confederation has been further shored up over the past 12 months.
Australia’s hosting of the Asian Cup in January was an enormous success, and provided further evidence of the country’s value to the confederation. It was an unqualified success on the field and, perhaps more importantly, off the field.
The continental championship followed on from Western Sydney Wanderers winning the AFC Champions League in another milestone moment for Australia’s Asian odyssey. Some A-League clubs struggled to give the competition and its culture due respect in years gone by, and it is not a coincidence that two clubs who truly embraced the competition – Adelaide United and the Wanderers – enjoyed success.
And the recognition of Australia at the AFC annual awards is a further fillip.
Meanwhile, India’s hosting of the event is somewhat of a metaphor for the latent untapped potential within Asian football. The world’s second biggest nation has much work ahead of it, but there are tiny signs of fresh sprouts, something that may be kick-started further in 2017 when the nation’s hosts its first global football tournament – the Under-20 World Cup.
Australia collected two awards on Sunday evening in New Delhi with Ange Postecoglou named coach of the year, while the Socceroos were awarded team of the year. Elise Kellond-Knight was short-listed as women’s player of the year, only for that award to be, somewhat oddly, postponed at the 11th hour until the recipients are on hand.
But perhaps the most significant recognition for Australia didn’t arrive in the form of a gilded trophy. Australia were nominated as one of three national associations of the year, an honour ultimately awarded to Japan. It nevertheless is an important step for Australia as they continue to find their feet amid the byzantine cultural layers of Asian football.
Notable too, is the individual acknowledgment of Postecoglou and Kellond-Knight. Both boast a 21st century football sensibility, and are emblematic of Australia’s changing mindset and willingness to embrace modern thinking in the game. Australia’s physical capabilities, which are sometimes accentuated in Asia, will continue to be of benefit. But the perception towards Australia’s style of football should have changed in the past few years, although of course perceptions are invariably the hardest shift to make, perhaps even more so in football.
Postecoglou’s style is unapologetically aggressive in its pro-active manner. But it is controlled and planned aggression, one based on thought as much as brawn. Possession is key in Postecoglou’s mantra and gifted ball-players are highly prized, perhaps more so than has ever previously been the case in the national team’s history.
Kellond-Knight’s nomination is in some ways even more significant. Rarely does a defensive midfielder receive appreciation in a world where goalscoring and headline-making is invariably prized above all else. The Gold Coast-raised Kellond-Knight was arguably the most important cog during the Matildas’ run to the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals last June.
In many ways Kellond-Knight is a shining example of the modern footballer. Technically-minded and possession-orientated, she has adapted the modern role as a defensive midfielder which once was largely focussed on breaking up play, but now is equally concentrated on creativity.
And Kellond-Knight says the Matildas have developed their football in line with the type of game they most often face – Asian football. Japan unexpectedly won the 2011 Women’s World Cup based on technique and possession.
And the Matildas brand of football has changed markedly in the 10 years they have been facing Asian opposition on a regular basis. “We come up against Asian nations more than we do against European nations so naturally you play a style of football that you are used to playing,” says Kellond-Knight. “Facing a European opponent is chalk and cheese to an Asian opponent.
“[Women’s] football in Asia has definitely grown in leaps and bounds. When Japan won the World Cup that was the turning point and made it blatantly obvious that Asian football is one of the best styles and most competitive in the world. That is inarguable.”
Much has evolved within a single decade – a relatively short period within football’s history. And Australia has much to gain through further integration within Asia.
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