Soccer would be massive if Australian teams joined an English League..

[Terry]

I think you underestimate the potential of the Socceroos. In 2006 they were within a whisker of making the last 8 of the world cup before being beaten 1-0 by the eventual winners Italy.

At that time they had the so called golden generation of players to pick from. If another golden generation comes through the Socceroos brand will be massive.

[docker24]

Yes the socceroos has a great side during the mid 2000's. Top 20-30 in the world at the time is a great achievement. That's because a lot of their squad consist of EPL players. Now a lot of them are aleague players or players in b-c grade euro sides.

They currently like around 50th or something and have been for a while. Its where they belong.

[NRL&NFLweLaughATafl]

Lol reason why aleague is so shit in terms of quality on the pitch and no quality of players down here except 50 year old retiree's from Europe running rings around our Aussie players not because the clubs don't go up against better clubs, its because Australia is the only country in the world with 4 football codes, no money, no grassroots, no big push on the kids, no big academy's.

If you want Aussie soccer clubs taking on European sides, get them to play teams they can match up with like b or c grade European sides.

No grassroots lol

Football (soccer) has more players than AFL in Australia. It would also have way more kids playing the game in schools. How is that no grassroots?

Australias womens soccer team just beat Brazil and is ranked number 7 in the world. But yeah, no grassroots despite having more female players than AFL too.

[NRL&NFLweLaughATafl]

There seems little doubt that there would be much more interest in soccer here if it was feasible for Australia to have a team or two in the EPL.

The AFL and NRL and Australia's domestic sporting industry all benefit from:

1. AF and RL having no leagues elsewhere in the world paying much higher salaries (so no significant player drain);

2. big timezone differences with Europe and America (so rival leagues can't usually be shown live in prime time);

3. big geographical distances between here and Europe and America (meaning home and away in the EPL would be infeasible for an Australian team).

Not suggesting that AF and RL couldn't hold their own against other sports. The survival of Gaelic football and the powerhouse of the NFL illustrates that, where available, other football codes can match it with soccer.

Precarious is only AFL that has no other leagues outside Australia because the sport has zero international appeal.

Rugby League has a whole other professional competition in the UK as well as teams in France and now Canada.

www.superleague.co.uk