Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland has dismissed claims by Football Federation Australia CEO David Gallop that the Socceroos have overtaken Australia’s cricket team as the “best representatives of the nation’s sporting identity and heritage”, telling media that the Australian cricket team was still the nation’s most popular.
In addition to qualifying for three FIFA World Cups and winning the Asian Cup on home soil, Gallop said on Tuesday that the FFA believes the Socceroos are “the only team that truly represents the nation in all of its diversity and multiculturalism”
“Winning the Asian Cup was a huge shot in the arm for them and the game,” Gallop added. “It highlighted the importance of football to the nation, that it is the common language of the globe; football is the common language of Asia and all of its diversity”.
Sutherland responded to these remarks at World Cup quarter-final between South Africa and Sri Lanka at the SCG: “It was either a tongue-in-cheek comment or David woke up this morning thinking he was living in Brazil.”
“Our research over a decade consistently shows that the Australian men’s cricket team is by far the country’s most popular national sporting team. It’s typically cricket first, followed by daylight,” Sutherland said.
“That’s backed up by record crowds, television audiences and participation rates which demonstrate the game’s health and continued popularity. Part of the reason for that is that the Australian team is ever-present. The cricket season is part of the very fabric of Australian culture.”
No word yet on whether the Australian Olympic Committee have an opinion on this.
[via Fairfax Media]
