‘A’ is for Australia: New Football’s billionaires, consumers and the ‘Asian Century’. How the A-League defines the new Australia

Abstract

Recent changes within Australian soccer reflect changes that have taken place in the wider Australian context. Equally, the changes in soccer in Australia and the world reflect significant trends, such as postmodern consumerism and globalization. Whilst soccer in Australia had long been derided as a platform for ethnic nationalism, its current utility is as a vital cultural, geopolitical and economic commodity for Australian ‘engagement’ with Asia. The government-sanctioned Crawford Report (2003) and the New Football Era bookend the evolution of Australian soccer for the ‘Asian Century’ and the transformation to a new, post-multicultural, post-industrial Australia. This paper questions the legitimacy of the New Football Era and whose interests were served in its implementation, and whether what has been lost will have consequences that will outweigh and outlive the promised Asian riches.