THE unfancied Socceroos did Australia proud in pushing the highly-rated Argentinians all the way in the Round of 16 World Cup clash ('Soccer rue', Newcastle Herald 5/12) and in so doing ignited hope once again that the round ball game in this country can fully realise its massive potential.
A common theme raised by many in the past week is the massive disparity in funding at both state and federal level needs to be addressed. The game has the highest participation numbers for organised sport in the country by far but for too long has been ignored for funding at all levels, especially at the grassroots community level at the expense of other sports which seem to have much influence. As a nation we've won "World Cups" that a dozen or so countries actually compete in, but the ultimate sporting achievement would be to win the Football World Cup where 209 nations try to qualify just to make the final 32 to battle it out for the title of world champion.
