Footy legend Graham Cornes has compared Aussies’ love affair with the Socceroos to a holiday romance that ‘lacks substance’ and claimed football ‘is a better game to play than to watch’ in a column about the national team’s chances at the World Cup. The veteran of more than 369 matches for Glenelg, North Melbourne and South Adelaide praised the Socceroos’ efforts at the tournament, where they scored a stunning 2-0 underdog victory against Turkey and a draw against Paraguay to progress to the knockout stages.
However, he also pointed out the fleeting nature of the spotlight Aussies put on the team once every four years as they compete on the sport’s biggest stage. ‘For the briefest of times we even fall in love with it [soccer],’ Cornes wrote for News Corp. ‘But like that holiday romance, it lacks substance; reaches a peak of passion, then fades as life resumes its normal cadence. ‘But for those few weeks, we are captivated.’ The 78-year-old said watching the Socceroos sharing the stage with
superstars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo makes national pride swell, but our infatuation with the team is limited. ‘Sadly, unless you are a fanatical fan, the Aussie names are not household. We know a couple of them,’ Cornes said. ‘We’d seen Nestory Irankunda in action here in Adelaide but he wasn’t well known to the world. We knew Matt Ryan, the goalkeeper. After all, he has played for the Socceroos 104 times and has been the captain. ‘But unless you were a complete aficionado,
you would not have heard of Patrick Beach, let alone believe he would be the starting goalkeeper against Turkey in our first game of the tournament.’ Cornes went on to praise the Socceroos for reflecting multicultural Australia with the make-up of the team, before reflecting on why the sport hasn’t made bigger inroads in the country despite the national side first appearing in the World Cup back in 1974. ‘Always there was an undercurrent of belief that Australian soccer could be as popular and match
it with the other football codes,’ he said. ‘That may prove to be right but they’ve been saying for more than 50 years now that soccer will take over. ‘The reality of soccer is that it’s a better game to play than to watch.’ Watching the Socceroos at this World Cup has been a big attraction for a record number of Aussies. Their draw with Paraguay last Friday broke new ground when 4.84 million tuned in to watch the clash on SBS, making it the
most-watched World Cup match in the broadcaster’s history. SBS claims the cumulative total for World Cup viewers sits at 13.9 million, ‘which means almost half of Australia’s population has watched some of the tournament’. However, Cornes’ stance that the attention is only fleeting is backed up by how the game rates when the global spotlight fades and the A-League is the peak of the sport Down Under. The top-flight competition is notorious for struggling badly for TV ratings, despite recording growth in recent years.
Graham Cornes, Socceroos, World Cup, Turkey, Paraguay, SBS, Matt Ryan, Nestory Irankunda, Patrick Beach, AFL legend, Australian soccer
So he’s mad people like the team?? weird take.
“Holiday romance” is kind of savage but he’s not wrong? Like everyone cares for like two weeks then back to regular life. I saw like 500 people post about the Socceroos then nothing lol.
Wait did he say soccer is a better game to play than to watch, but then he’s critiquing fans for watching?? Kinda contradicting himself. Also Beach as starting keeper?? I’m not even sure who that is but apparently I should.
This sounds like an old dude being cranky because nobody worships Aussie players like they do Messi and Ronaldo. Like if they’re not “household names” yet then that’s the whole point of a World Cup? Idk. Also the Turkey win and Paraguay draw was a big deal, so why act like it’s nothing substance-wise. Football is football, people can like it for awhile and still care.