Couldn't agree more.. AFL is dying, and union has been dead for years..
Soccer threat to union and AFL
June 14, 2006
RUGBY union and the AFL have been warned they have most to fear from a World Cup-inspired surge in support for Australian soccer.
Former rugby league international John Ribot, the chairman of A-League side the Queensland Roar and consultant with NRL team the Melbourne Storm, said rugby union audiences were a target for soccer.
"The obvious one is rugby union which I think in the last few years has lost its way a little bit," he said today.
"That would be an easier target than the other two."
"If you look at a code with masses playing it that could be damaged a lot because the type of athlete playing the game is more akin to football it is the AFL," he said.
"You could see Jason Akermanis playing soccer."
But outspoken Brisbane Lions wingman Akermanis said he did not believe soccer appealed to an Australian sporting culture demanding more physical contact.
"If the World Cup was held every year, maybe soccer would be a worry," Akermanis wrote in his Brisbane Courier Mail newspaper column.
"But kids will continue to be inspired by the weekly feats of the AFL and NRL or Test match rugby.
"And the corporate world will continue to see greater value in the three contact codes."
Queensland Reds coach Eddie Jones said soccer presented a huge challenge for Australian rugby at an international level.
"In reality our other two winter sports are more domestic sports than international sports," the former Wallabies coach said.
"So rugby's got a great challenger there."
Jones said the Australian Rugby Union was addressing domestic challenges to the code by starting a national club competition to support the Super 14 and Test program.
But he said officials would be unwise to tinker with rugby's rules to boost the game's entertainment value by reducing the number of penalties or the importance of the scrum.
"The sport itself if it's played well is entertaining," he said.
"If you go down the track of wanting to make it entertaining you take the contest out of the game.
"I think the big emphasis for rugby should definitely be in youth development programs."
Ribot said the A-League, which starts its second season in August, was not a direct threat to the rival codes because it was played over spring and summer months.
But he said because of the boost in the Socceroos profile from the World Cup the sport had become "a real competitor".
"I'm not saying it's going to be doom and gloom for rugby league or Aussies Rules or rugby union.
"But I think if people don't really go out there and sharpen their pencil and make good corporate decisions going forward in the best interests of their game they could really get themselves in a bit of strife."
