When he says it’s the game that the migrants play he is referring to the post ww2 wave of immigration that saw a lot of Greeks, Italians, yugoslavians etc move to australia and they brought football culture with them.

Every Australian team has its own nickname. Aside from the Socceroos and Matilda’s, we have the opals, boomers, wallabies, Kangaroos, Diamonds, Dolphins, Kookaburras, Hockeyroos etc. To us it doesn’t cheapen them or make them less, it’s just something we do.

The reason they are called the matildas is because of an old Australian song called waltzing Matilda that many people say is our true national anthem.

When he says “the game the migrants play” he means post-war migrants (Greeks, Italians, Eastern Europeans). Football until the 2000s was primarily associated with/organised around migrant communities. So in Melbourne you had: Melbourne Knights (Croatian), South Melbourne (Greek), Heidelberg (Macedonian) etc

A lot of Aussie’s can’t get into soccer due to the low scoring compared to AFL and Rugby. Also the way players take a gentle push and go down with 6 rolls and screaming like they’ve been shot.

Sport success is built on tribal loyalties. Whether it’s AFL or Rugby league, Aussies are extremely loyal to their clubs. These big soccer games are more events than sustainable supporters. Same as when Rugby State of Origin or Boxing Day Test at the MCG. I love multiple sports but I couldn’t tell you the name of one current Socceroo.

I was still on a 2 month bender from the Sydney Swans breaking their 72 year premiership drought.

Having the nicknames of roo or matilda means a lot to Australians. It's signifies our "fighting/batling" spirit. Our Never give up mentality so don't knock it.

One of the greatest scenes in Australian Soccer was when Liverpool came to visit. 95,000 people at the MCG to watch Liverpool play in a friendly against Melbourne City. All that could be seen was RED. 95,000 people singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Even as a pomme who lived & worked in Liverpool was a sight that could not help but move you.

So when I came over to Melbourne from the UK, my first primary school fight and I no joke got KOd for it, I wanted to play football and my mates started teaching me AFL I said at the young age of 10 “what’s the point in AFL you can use hands and feet, there’s no skill, no wonder it’s known all over the world as aerial ping pong” next thing I know it’s the end of recess and I got a thumping headache and a swollen black eye 😂

Lots of Aussies just think it’s a soft game. Dudes flopping on the ground trying to trick the referee. Holding parts of their bodies that didn’t even get hit. Rolling around like they’ve just been shot. When your national games are AFL and rugby, football looked weak. Why it struggled for traction.

Basically every Aussie international team has a nickname. Wallabies, the Diamonds, the Boomers, Kookaburras etc. Don't see why Socceroos or Matildas is any different.

Played soccer for 10 years as a kid, fantastic game to play. Local league was third rate and dominated by post WWII migrants who seemed to bring their old school grievances to Australia. Another reason soccer hasn't taken off is the perception it is a 'weak' game physically. Australians absolute hate the diving and the way players look like they have been shot. We lost in the qtr finals in 2006 to a blatant dive by the Italians and everybody saw soccer for what it is, just a game with little score and cheats going down like their leg has been cut off when not even touched. The A league has going backwards and again is a third rate competition. Real football supporters get up early or stay up to midnight or 1.00 am to watch Premier League. And you are wrong that soccer is the only sport with atmosphere. Most don't see singing songs atmosphere, more like nothing is going on, on the pitch which is often the case. An Aussie Rules game has the most atmosphere of any game I have ever been to (and I have been to international soccer matches, International Rugby and League matches and Boxing Day tests). The action, high marks, physical courage and scoring making soccer live in Australia look second rate.

Les Murray was the one that called soccer/football The beautiful game, former SBS the word game host. RIP les

I was at home watching it on TV while I should have been sleeping. Was & still is such an inspirational moment for us

Was there that night after 32 years of disappointment...jumped on plane for Germany for the WC...greatest moment in my sporting life.

The problem association football has in Australia is the same one that both rugby codes face in the UK. In the UK association football is so huge as a national cultural entity that neither league nor union can compete in terms of fan numbers or media interest and consequently finance. In Aus, Rugby League in NSW & Queensland and Aussie Rules in other states have the same deep rooted cultural base as football in the UK and that doesn't leave much space for another sport to grow. It is pretty unlikely that association football will grow much beyond occupying the same niche role in Aus that the rugby codes do in the UK in my opinion. The advantage association football has is that it is truly global in a way that not many other sports are and this can/has helped its growth in Australia.

It’s definitely grown over the years and when it comes to the World Cup, the whole country supports the team so some great progress has been made.

We love the name " Matildas " . You actually hit the nail on the head with your comments about it but that is exactly why we love it . It carries that , very Australian , understated humor , which we love so much . It's not meant to belittle the sport or anything , it's to remind us who we are .

I played football ( soccer ) all my life. However i struggle to watch it unless its a big game or Australia is playing. Aussie rules ( footy ) i can easily sit a watch .

A lifetime AFL fan here, I was only 4 at the time of that game but would’ve loved to have seen it live. While I’m not a proper football fan I do think it’s amazing sport, especially for its global success. However, I think nearly every proper AFL fan will take the belief that our game is the greatest to the grave. I honestly get a little scared sometimes that AFL could be overwhelmed by football in Australia in the future. Perhaps other AFL fans feel the same leading to resentment towards football.

I flew in from Melbourne for this match with my brother and cousin. Was lucky to get tickets for this game and remains one of the greatest nights of my life. I barely remember the night after celebrating when we got back to Sydney except chugging down a jug with some randoms and recalling I somehow made it back to my hostel safely in my correct bed with my wallet and phone. This match was everything to me as a football fan.

I am Australian. My dad was born in Europe and loves the game. The earliest match I remember was the qualifier against Iran. I started to cry when I saw my dad crying. I woke up early to watch the 2001 match against Uruguay and going to school that day was so hard after we lost. In 2005, we watched it together and I don't think I've bit off more fingernails. We cried together again, but this time tears of joy. This meant so much to so many people in the country. Sport in one of the few things in the world that brings people across a nation together.

As a non immigrant Aussie who loved football and was teased by my mates at times for it, Australia qualifying for a world cup meant alot. And it triggered a rise in popularity that's still on a steady increase. Very important and memorable night in our sporting history.

The names such as the Matildas actually makes it more significant and iconic for us. Nothing belittling in it, rather, what it means to be Australian. Consider this, Waltzing Matilda is as Australian as it gets, if we didnt have a national anthem already, Waltzing Matilda would be it...hence, the Matildas.

In the early days of state league soccer the violence between fans put many Aussies off the game at AFL and Rugby games fans from opposing teams for the most part could sit next to each other without any problems, then as the overseas game got TV time the endless diving (as you covered 4 months ago) went against the grain here also flares being thrown around didn't go down well with authorities. I believe the Matilda's took the name from the song Waltzing Matilda almost the national anthem in Australia.

Btw Iran has a population of 81 million, their GDP is 19th in the world, their most popular sport is Football. They’ve won the Asian cup 3 times. Ever player in their national team plays in a European League. They’re a powerful team, not top 10 powerful, but they were always a threat.

Johnny Warren once said that wanting to play football for Australia was like wanting to Ski for Saudi Arabia . That was from an Australian Football player , such was the state of the sport at the time . ( circa 1970s )

Happy to say that Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Mark Schwarzer, John Aloisi, Mark Bresciano and the rest became household names over night thanks to that match. There's no way Cahill could walk down the main street of Melbourne and not be recognised now.

All of our international teams have similar names. Socceroos, Matilda's, jillaroos, hockeyroos, kangaroos, wallabies, it goes on and on haha I personally love the names

The part that's missing from this story is our fate once we got to Germany. We got out of the group by the skin of our teeth and matched it with eventual winners Italy for 85 minutes only to be beaten by a guy taking a dive in the box giving Italy a penalty. ...and there lies the problem. Australians will watch, even love our Socceroos but whilever a game as important as that can be decided by a guy taking a dive, Soccer/Football will never be the number one sport of the masses.

I was in my lounge room on the edge of my seat screaming at the tv surrounded by my family. One of the happiest day of my life.

We Struggled with the away games, most of our players are based in Europe so going straight to the Middle East or a Humid South east Asian country is tough. I was at the 1997 M.C.G Qualifier, Ive never herd the national anthem sung so loudly by so many people, and when Harry Kewell kicked that first goal the roar was insane. We go 2-0 up the crowd was singing and loving life, but that fool broke the mood and then the way it all ended soured what had been an incredible night.

I’m getting more into “football” or soccer lately because of the euros atm, but breing from Melbourne AFL is my passion, and basketball after it so soccer really is on the back burner for a lot of us. We are full of migrants but you’re forced to immerse yourself in the strong unique culture of Australia that many favour other sports

Yeah in Australia football/soccer fans call it football and non football fans call it soccer but when I’m talking to people that don’t like football I call it soccer it kills me 😂

I loved the wrap of that video of us qualifying in 2005. I remember exactly where I was on this night, I was at home alone. I am Australian (born in Australia) with Italian parents. I grew up playing soccer (I will call it that) for 30 years, played with Vidmar in his younger year in Under 16's. I supported Adelaide City (Juventus, Adelaide's version) due to the strong Italian community, and there was also West Adelaide Hellas (Greek Community), there were others, but the other ethnic communities were not as strong. It was a great rivalry with City V West. When they took the ethnic related fabric of the club that grew the league to what it was, I stopped going and lost interest and started to invest my interests in AFL. I could see what the A-League were trying to do, but I wasn't happy that a clubs like West Adelaide and Adelaide City, not even a hint of history ) colours of the clubs to bring into the new league, banished from the Australian Soccer scene making way for the new production teams creating new souls and passion. A lot of Adelaide City supporters struggled to back to watch the A-League as it was manufactured. At that time, soccer was competing with the AFL who were worried about that game, because it could possibly effect it by capturing AFL supporters to jump onboard the pre A-League and that it would increase its footprint in the Australian media outlets. 60% of AFL supporters were hoping for Australia to lose so that it would keep our football code quiet for another 4 years. When Aloisi scored that famous penalty, it changed the sporting landscape in Australia, not only on the football stands and amateur soccer grounds but also in the media. Every media wanted to know the ins and outs of every Australian soccer palyer on that day. That win was a like 7.3 on the Richter Scale in the Australian sporting landscape. I cant speak for anyone else, but 50% of my emotion that I released on that day for me was the satisfaction to stick it up those who trashed the sport back then when I was playing and at that time. 50% was pure emotion of getting to the world cup. I still get goose bumps and tears, not for the "Socceroo's" but for Johnny Warren, I always think if him watching that game. I've watched every World Cup with my dad since 1972, with Italy as the country to support with out Australia competing in all until 2006. Now with Australia in and I am much older and wiser and knowing that I am a proud Aussie, watching Australia play Italy in 2006, was a hard game to watch. I didn't know who to support. If Australia would have defeated Italy in that game, Australian soccer would have helped greatly to build the sport down under. If you were not of British background back in the 60's and 70's, your're an immigrant... I know, we are all immigrants. Its a racists issue. Love your work Rob and your analysis of Australian Soccer and the World Game in general.

I remember watching the game live in adelaide I have never screamed so loud in my life when that penalty wemt ib. I m a Afl fan plus liverpool member. I cant explain that moment. i love soccer, but was the best sporting moment i have ever seen.

Wogball was always a game for kids growing up. I played 10 seasons of it as a kid, and enjoyed playing it, but the game the whole family would be sit down to watch on a Friday night was always Rugby League. Soccer was considered a non-contact sport by my parents, so they were happy to have us play as opposed to Junior League where you would get stomped by 6' tall 14 year old Islanders.

I find it interesting that 'football' means different things in different parts of the world - most of the world it's association football, USA and Canada it's grid iron football. Then there is Australia where it means different things in different parts of the country - Rugby League in NSW & Qld & Aussie Rules in other areas.

I can remember this day so well. I'd had my final ever uni exam and then went to the pub my housemate was a bouncer at. For some reason there were only about 20 people in the pub as every other pub in town was also showing the game. When Aloisi's goal went in any alcohol left in our glasses ended up on the roof, walls or floor from celebrating so much. The owner of the pub then shouted us drinks for the rest of the night. A very memorable night!

football will never replace AFL in Aussie minds, but its status has really gone up since the world cup and the introduction o fthe A League. Aussies love the name Soccoroos and Matilda's, they're not derogatory they are names that recognise their Aussie identities. A lot of parents are challenging their kids into soccor because they see it as a safer sport than AFL.

I watched my first ever soccer game like 3 years ago I just can’t do it ! It’s just when I watch AFL the skill the courage the mateship the speed of the game is just next level It’s just so exciting I But then when it comes too the Australian teams around oz I’ll go for my country

I was at the Olympic Stadium that night our team qualified. I couldn’t watch the penalty shootout. I couldn’t bare another disappointment after attending almost every WC qualifier since the late 1980s. You can imagine my enthusiasm and disbelief with qualification! We were so pumped! We stayed at the stadium for a good hour afterwards. We didn’t want the night to end. It was like winning the WC and we only qualified! Don’t ask me what I’d do if we ever win the WC! I don’t believe we will in my lifetime but can you imagine if we did!?!

An AFL goal after the siren easily matches the excitement of a soccer goal!!!

As in all sports, it comes down to money and sponsorship, which was and is still channeled into AFL . It took along time, and I’m sure our success in 2005 helped

I played football as a young kid in regional Australia. It was just as popular as other sports, in fact at school everyone played football at lunchtime (you weren't allowed to play contact sports like the rugby codes or Aussie rules). But I've always enjoyed playing football rather than watching it. I'm a huge sports fan, but I just find it really hard to enjoy watching football on TV. It can get a little (apologies) boring, sometimes. I don't support any domestic team, either in the A League or other European leagues. It's easier to get behind the Socceroos, though, because they represent us all. I do enjoy cheering them on, especially with the added stakes of the WC.

Everyone in Aus calls their own preferred code " football " . Rugby League fans call it football , AFL - football , Rugby - football , I once had an argument with a bloke in a bar about how bad / good the " Bulldogs " were playing in " Football " for about quarter of an hour before we realised we were talking about different sports . That is partly why Soccer is called Soccer , Rugby League is " League " , Rugby Union is " Union " or " Rugby " and AFL is " Rules " or AFL .

November 16 2005 was the day of my final exam in my final year of school. I did my exam, went to a mates with about 15 other blokes to watch the game. When we won, we went to city and got royally mullered!

Yes you do when you kick a goal to win after the siren in the AFL is unbelievable

Theres a few reasons we dont love soccer like other sports. Theres the historical racism, the lack of 'traditional entertainment' with the possibility of 0-0 draws. But most of all Australia like winners, we weren't good at soccer and kept failing so people didnt get around them.

Thoroughly enjoyed this football loving Englishman commentating on Australian culture. He is spot on. His intimate knowledge of our national thinking is absolutely correct. Well done, Sir.

I agree with your point that our name doesn't make us sound as serious as we would like to be taken

The reason it never took over in Aus is because we didn't have a strong league so foreign leagues took all of our best talent which meant we couldn't have a popular league. But in saying that we needed players to play and have success in the Euro leagues to come back so that we could have a strong national team. That was the perfect storm when all of the famous EPL guys plus a sprinkling of talent from the newly formed A league that took us to the quarter finals in our first WC in 30 years.

As an Australian I can’t take soccer seriously. When I see players diving and being awarded unjust free kicks: it degrades the game. Work on stamping that out of the game and I might be more incline to watch it and take it seriously.

If a Australian team doesn't have a nickname it doesn't exist

You are right about atmosphere in stadiums at football matches. I remember being in the away with 1,100 others (that was a good away attendance for us) when my local team had been relegated from the football league it was like it was a massive party all game. The home team were awarded the league trophy that day & we out sung them and made more noise the whole time.

I grew up in the 80's in a small country town (village for the English?). Every Saturday morning in winter I would play football for about 90 minutes, then walk 50 metres to the other field and have rugby training. There were always at least twice as many playing football as rugby. But only once or twice a year did we travel to another town to play football, the game just wasn't organised that way in rural Australia. Whilst every second week on a Sunday, we would be driving anywhere from an hour to 3 hours to play in mini rugby competitions. For decades football has had by far the highest rate participation rate of what we consider the four "football" codes in Australia (rugby league, rugby union, AFL, and of course football) in both adults and children. But the structure of the game just wasn't set up to capitalise on it very well for a long time. Hopefully a lot of that has changed in the 2000's.

Problem is I’ll watch my local A League club but I cant watch any other teams. Where as I can watch any game of Aussie Rules.

Yep was at my parents place, with my father and mum who was kinda watching. Had my aussie scarf

I used too. The old National Soccer League was a joke for so long in Australia. There was just no funding or real strong development in Australia. AFL is such a dominant sport. Rugby League is so popular. It really took the World Cup Qualification to change it all.

I grew up an absolute one eyed afl fan, this game and the 2006 world cup made me interested in football, after that I got obsessed with watching Tim Cahill every week and I have become a fanatical one eyed everton fan ever since. For me our game against Japan at the 06 world cup is just as iconic, will never forget both nights.

In 2005 Cahill and Aloisi were bench players. In the current Australian team they'd be the best players on the pitch. It's really gone backwards since that 2006 World Cup when got to the round of 16 and we were only knocked out by Italy (the eventual winner) in the final minute thanks to a dubious penalty.

As soccer continues to eat up Australian territory, it can only be at the cost of our native game. For that reason I hope that soccer remains as a third tier code in Australia.

I'm a English born kiwi (grew up in NZ) living in Australia ,I grew up watching and playing the great game I remember watching that game I remember watching the kiwis get to the world cup too. But I remember the 2 penalties shoot outs England lost it was hart breaking. I followed Arsenal for many years I started watching and supporting them back the year it was Arsenal v West ham in the F A cup Final were the hammers won. I loved Pat Jennings, Glen hoddle, Tony Adam's, Ian Wright and all the rest it was a great shame England didn't do better back then England had some of the best ever players but they always chose there club over England.

Anglo Saxon Australians don’t consider them selves as Migrants. I can understand why this might sound strange to someone from England.

2005: when we started to like soccer. 2006: eliminated in the softest way possible, we remembered why we hate it. It's a dead sport in Aus now. I always wonder if it would be bigger if that 05/06 wave didn't crash out the way it did. Too many dives, low scoring, slow paced..

It does take alot of Aussies heaps of time and effort to get into a "european" brand of football that isn't aussie rules. My Mum was a perfect example. Loyal St Kilda supporter all her life, like her Mum, and wasn't into "wogball" until I tried for years to get her to a game. I finally got her to an A-League Melbourne Derby game, which City won, and after experiencing the atmosphere of the crowd singing, chanting and going nuts all game, the elation of goals in a tight, low scoring game (the opposite of AFL), she finally got into soccer. Takes Aussies alot, but they do get into it eventually. The LIVE experience helps.

During this time a lot EPL teams wouldn't release players, some players would pretend to have an injury so that didn't have to play for the socceroos

You are so wrong about the names, every senior team that represents Aus. on the world stage has a nickname and we love them, it's an Aussie thing, we shorten names in everyday language and these names are the same thing.

I always been an AFL supporter, 65 years and counting - but every 4 years or so I took an interest in how the national soccer team was faring. I don't claim to understand "the beautiful game", but there are aspects of it I do not like, such as - biased refereeing, taking a dive, where a player receives a slight touch in a "tackle" and drops to the ground as if shot, especially near the goal. In Aussie football that player would be jeered by players and the crowd. Another thing that gets me going is the off-side rule, who understands it? The only reason Italy won in 2006 is because a player took a dive to prevent the Australians winning that match, which would have knocked them out!

Where I grew up (in Australia), Football was as well liked & attended as other sports, I'm surprised to hear some of this. The fact we had the local club right next to the highschool probably helped.

I have tried really hard to like Soccer. One side of my family is an English migrant family, all my uncles go for either Sunderland or Newcastle (the family is from Durham). My grandad played at quite a high level according to my uncles. My grandad had a cousin who played for a professional Scottish club, he once scored against Celtic. I picked a club, I followed it for years, I would get up early in the morning to watch games. But the diving just drove me absolutely bonkers. Diving is so so soft, just keep your feet! There would have to be a huge cultural overhaul in this regard for me to start watching again. If I were in a country where it was the main sport, I am sure that I would enjoy it - as I love live games, culture of sport and atmosphere.

Socceroos is childish but the name The Matildas holds genuine cultural relevance

I had lived in Ireland at the time, found out when the news came over the radio in the kitchen. I had to listen again to make sure it was correct.

Football is a second tier sport in Australia, Cricket and both rugby's are the sports here, soccer fought a tough battle in Australia but eventually came good.

Remember it vividly. I was watching it with 2 mates in my flat and when "Aloisi!!!!!!" I can still recall that ecstatic feeling, giving my couch the ultimate bounce test and embracing my friends as never before.

Its changed a lot here, it’s pretty popular now. But it’s not going to out do AFL/NRL but it’s probably third in terms of popularity. There’s a huge European community in Aus so football was always going to have a decent level of interest. A League attendances are pretty strong. Premier league is popular here most sports fan have a football team they follow.

I was there you couldn't hear the person next to you the singing and cheering from the start through half time then 30 mins after the game was incredible.This was the closest feeling to actually Being at a major European stadium seeing Real -Barsa or Celtic - Rangers final.The reason it was suppressed in Australia is because it was a threat to the established sports that the T.V stations and news papers invested a fortune covering and the competition for advertising revenue.The media did everything possible to kill the game.Imagine the talent that the team would have if our top AFL,ARL and union players were part of the talent to choose from.We would be one of the leading national teams on the planet.The game relied on only a small percentage of the population mostly from the post WW2 ethic community and Aussies mostly with recent English roots that produced some incredible players but you can't compete against countries that have around 100 million + population with a small percentage of 25million when the most talented kids are encouraged to play league AFL or union.

I was at the game. We were down the end where the penalties were taken. The atmosphere was indescribable. It was the greatest night of my life

I still haven't decided whether I call it football or soccer, I think it depends on what social group I'm with

If we Aussies wanted to be a big player on the world scene in soccer, we'd need to convert the indigenous Australians from AFL and to a lesser extent League. Whilst we and the poms share a lot of sporting passion, Aussie Rules is obviously one difference, don't underestimate the size of basketball in Australia. From 2005-2016 3 NBA number 1 picks were born in Melbourne. The women's team has been no.2 in the world forever & the men are currently ranked no.3 in the world.

Since that day, more Aussies have got behind our Socceroos with every passing World Cup or Asia Cup, which we won in 2015. Since 05', we have qualified for every World Cup since and the fanbase around our national side has gotten stronger.

We could've been big in the sport but let's be honest the FFA have fucked it with the A-League diminishing in terms of support season after season and slowly sapping away what makes the sport unique as a fan spectacle. There is hope in the younger generation though. Younger fans here don't have the negative stigma of football pushed on them by the older generation so much, and are happily fans of Aussie Rules, Rugby and Football all at the same time.

I was at home with my whole family and all my family friends… I was 7 and I’ve never seen everyone run around a living room quite so much

I am very much an Aussie rules boy. Grew up playing that my whole life all my with tennis, cricket and basketball. Soccer was just too slow, too boring and not fun enough when I was a kid, or that was the perception I had as well as 75% of other boys. I’ve grown up to love the game of football, but that’s the stigma of football in Australia. Even though I have no connections to football at all, this is still my most favourite Australian sports moment ever. You can see how much it means to so many people, and it’s just such a powerful moment. I don’t think football gets as big in Australia if it wasn’t for this moment, it changed the mindset of a lot of younger Australians. Amazing moment

Let's not forget that AUS qualified for the World Cup in 1973. Now that was a team of unknowns from a soccer wasteland. I was in Europe at the time, and the europeans could not believe AUS playing well against Poland, until the Poles called their best players into the stadium for the second half. Literally, they had fielded their second team. That is how unknown AUS was at the time.

I was in my lounge room in my Melbourne with tears running down my face. One of the biggest days in Football in this country

I was doing work experience at a recording studio , recording my favourite Australian band . I excused myself for the penalty shootout

I grew up playing soccer, went to some Perth Glory games, watched the Socceroos' play for years. But, soccer doesn't have a place in most Aussie's heart's like AFL does. I honestly think if Australia was better at soccer and dominated we would of taken it more seriously from the start.

The entire country gets behind the national team during the World Cup. Everyone knows how big Football is around the world. Aussie Rules fan here and the World Cup has always had interest before Australia qualified, I remember watching France winning over Brazil in 1998 and supported South Korea’s run to the semi finals of 2002. But it’s much more exciting once your own country is involved, this qualifying game was incredible and our first game of the 2006 World Cup against Japan, our first win at the World Cup 3-1 scoring 3 goals in the last 10 minutes was incredible. (You need to react to that video) 2006 is called the golden era in Australian football, with Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Mark Swchartzer ect.. practically the entire team were playing in the big 4 European leagues at the time, the current team just doesn’t seem to have any big names. The name soccer is dropping off and Football is becoming more common. Domesticity though the A-league just doesn’t have the interest that the AFL or NRL does. Melbourne City just beat Sydney FC in the A-League Grand Final 2 weeks ago and you could walk around Melbourne and you would even know the game was on. Personally can’t see Football/Soccer out growing Aussie Rules in our lifetime but it’s great to see Australia consistently making world Cups now

Not a football fan really but have no qualms against it whatsoever. I still remember where I was for this game and the following games in the world cup. This game and the following world cup felt to me that it really transcended whether you were a fan or not, it was about backing in Australia.

Soccer has the highest junior participation but there is lots of competition for athletes from the footy codes, cricket, hockey, athletics, etc. Like many others I played soccer until 12s then went to footy because the soccer became weak. My old soccer coach, Jack Drinkwater showed us old footage of him playing Yugoslavia in the snow, it was brutal. There was no diving.

Greek and Italian, Croatian Australians , etc etc! football clubs in the 70’s was great time!

TWAS at the game that night... the most amazing match I have ever been to ... we stood all night we sang all night .... no one would leave the stadium ... I can still hear the stadium officials calling nay begging people to leave the stadium about an hour after the match...

That’s what the player and the coach meant - it’s a migrant sport played by migrants in Australia and their persistence is what made it rise to the top.

Have a look , most local grounds have and are being taking over by soccer I.e football..guarantee Australia will be a force in the upcoming future

I am a Aussie rules footy fan, but I love a good football match. Was in France in 2018 (on a houseboat); and I have to admit I was actually disappointed how difficult it was to find a telly playing a match of world cup finals! They partied hard when they won, but it was almost forgotten days later. We'd have celebrated for at least a week, and it's not our biggest game. Please don't rub in the Iran thing... That was a great match, even though it wasn't held at the MCG. Probably a good point about the "Socceroos" and "Matildas". Thanks for the vid!

Australia is so saturated in so many sports and with a small population in a large country you just dont get the atmosphere and football culture you have in Europe. Iran is actually a solid team, 2nd Ranked Asian team after Japan. I think one day Aussies will eventually call 'Soccer' football. Even all the local amateur Sunday football clubs us FC. Football is growing in our young country we are always growing.

I believe when they say 'Migrants' they are mainly referring to post WWII migrants. After the war there was a massive migration to Australia from Eastern Europe, in particular from Greece & Italy. Of course even in the late 40s, Aussie Rules was a well established sport even back then, it already had at least 50 years of history by that stage.

Iran is a very good team. Often competitive in the Asian Cup. They were the top ranked team in the AFC for 4 years straight. Ironically now we've joined a much stronger confederation in the AFC it's actually easier to qualify. Oceania only had half a spot even up until 2005 which was the last qualification tournament we took part in under Oceania. With Asian having 4.5 spots it became almost automatic that we qualify even though our team these days is weak compared to that early 00s team