Event hosting ability enhanced says FFA CEO
Australia’s ability to host major events was further enhanced by the successful running of the Sydney FC and LA Galaxy match on Tuesday night and will go a long way to help securing other major football events down the track, according to Football Federation Australia Chief Executive Officer Ben Buckley.
Over 80,000 turned out to watch the David Beckham-led LA Galaxy play a one-off exhibition game against Sydney FC at Telstra Stadium, which also drew a TV audience of over one million.
Also impressed by what they saw were the Asian Football Confederation Executive and many delegates that were in town for the annual AFC Awards night on Wednesday night, also held in Sydney.
“I think Tuesday nights game was a great reflection of the sort of sports events Australia can put on and in particular, Sydney-s capable of hosting,” said Buckley. “To be able to do that in front of an audience of the AFC Delegates and AFC Executive, can-t do any harm to any bids we might put forward for any major event.
“A lot of AFC delegates have not been to Australia before and not been to Sydney before, and they were very pleased with what they saw in terms of organisation of the match, the quality of the match and the way the crowd came out and really supported it.”
While the success of Tuesday night-s game, won 5-3 by Sydney, could quite easily lead to officials wanting more matches of this type played in Australia, Buckley said the FFA acknowledged the uniqueness of the event and wouldn-t be getting carried away.
“I think we all realise that it-s a unique event and I think David-s (Beckham) presence in the game is unique. But I think it-s an example of the sort of support that major events do get across Australia and that certainly wasn-t missed by a lot of the AFC people.
“It was a great night for football, but we shouldn-t get carried away; there-s a lot of hard work that has got to be done right across the country. It was a unique game in that sense but there is no doubt that it has spiked the level of interest in the game again right across Australia and that-s only got to be a good thing.”
Asked what legacy the match might have on Australian football, he said those results won-t be known for a while, but there was already some benefits of note.
“The real legacy for the game is the fact that we had a TV audience in excess of a million people across the country; we-ve had unprecedented publicity for the game and hopefully that will raise the interest level right across the board.
“Hopefully the FFA and Sydney FC can take advantage and I know Sydney has been working hard to translate the crowd that was there on Tuesday night to greater weekly attendances at their matches.”
He also confirmed that an approach has been made to the English FA, for England to play the Socceroos here in Australia in May, but that it-s still in the very early stages of negotiations and no decision will be know for sometime.