Posted on October 27, 2009 by by scoop

The Canberra Times is reporting that the ACT Government will withdraw its support for Australia’s FIFA World Cup bid and future A-League matches.

“ACT sport minister Andrew Barr declared yesterday his intention to back out of Football Federation Australia’s 2018 or 2022 World Cup bids in favour of luring a separate sporting ”bonanza” to the capital.â€�

Mr Barr also said the A-League match between the Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United on Saturday night could be the competition’s last at Canberra Stadium. Thanks to this government decision Canberrans can get ready to also say good-bye to having a Football team in the National A-League.

The government believes instead of spending millions of dollars on the infrastructure required to be an active participant in the World Cup, they hope to throw stranded NRL, AFL and Super rugby teams a Canberra lifeline.

“If a bid was successful those codes would be unable to play on World Cup venues for up to two months before and during the tournament. [The AFL, NRL and Super15] are going to have to move away from Sydney and Melbourne and it might be strategically to our advantage not to have anything to do with the football World Cup and take extra AFL, rugby league and rugby union [matches] instead,” Mr Barr said.

Now, what is the government thinking? do they seriously believe they can get over 30 thousand people from either Sydney or Melbourne to watch Rugby games in Australia – Canberra on a regular basis ? that is probably
the worst mistake the ACT Government has made in a long time!

Do they actually know that football is the biggest sport in the world, and hosting the World Cup could bring international exposure to the Bush Capital of Australia? And isn’t there more than one stadium in Canberra any way? couldn’t they use the Manuka Oval for Rugby matches and the Canberra Stadium for the World Cup?

Should this decision be made by the government or the people of Canberra? maybe the ACT Government should have an open consultation about it and hear what the people wants, it won’t take long before we find a Facebook group against this government decision.

ACT Government to walk away from Australia's FIFA World Cup bid, 1.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

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