More Than Ninety Minutes

What Australia v Egypt could mean for Australian football

Tomorrow morning, Australia will play Egypt for a place in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16.

On paper, it is simply another football match.

In reality, it could become one of those rare sporting moments that changes how a nation feels about a game.

I've been around football long enough to know that some matches are remembered long after the score has been forgotten.

The result will determine whether the Socceroos continue their World Cup journey.

But it may also influence participation, investment, media attention and, perhaps most importantly, how Australians value football itself.

That is why this match matters.

Bigger than one result

At four o'clock tomorrow morning, millions of Australians will quietly make a choice.

Some will stay in bed.

Others will set an alarm.

Some will wander into the lounge room with a coffee, trying not to wake the family.

Pubs and clubs across the country will open before dawn. Football clubs will gather to watch together. Children will fight sleep because they don't want to miss history.

That, in itself, tells us something.

Football still has an incredible ability to bring Australians together.

Moments matter in sport.

Not just because of what happens on the scoreboard.

Because they shape memories.

They inspire children.

They create conversations in schoolyards and workplaces.

They remind us why we care.

If Australia falls short...

It will hurt.

Every World Cup campaign eventually comes to an end for all but one nation, and this Socceroos side has already earned enormous respect.

They have once again shown the resilience that has become part of Australia's football identity.

There will still be that familiar question.

What if?

What if this was the generation that could have gone one step further?

If Australia wins...

Something shifts.

Not because football suddenly becomes Australia's biggest sport.

It won't.

But success changes conversations.

The Matildas showed us that during their remarkable run in 2023.

Suddenly football dominated the national conversation.

Families who had never watched the game became emotionally invested.

Young girls and boys wanted to play.

Participation grew.

Success reaches people in ways that advertising campaigns never can.

Imagine Australia reaching the quarter finals.

Breakfast television leads with football.

The back pages belong to football.

Schools buzz with conversation.

Children recreate the winning goal at lunchtime.

Parents who barely watched football suddenly know the names of the Socceroos.

That is how sporting cultures grow.

A thank you to the Premier

One person who deserves credit this week is Premier Jeremy Rockliff.

A lifelong AFL supporter by his own admission, he recognised what this match means to thousands of Tasmanians by allowing pubs and clubs to remain open through the early hours of the morning so supporters could gather to watch together.

That was a thoughtful gesture.

It also highlights something worth considering.

If football can unite Tasmania at four o'clock on a winter's morning, perhaps it is also time to think about whether the game receives facilities that reflect the number of people who play it every weekend.

Football is not asking to be bigger than AFL.

Nor should it.

But Australia's most participated team sport deserves facilities that allow it to thrive.

If we celebrate football when the world is watching, we should also support football when thousands of volunteers and families turn up every weekend.

Every journey starts somewhere

Every Socceroo once stood on an ordinary football ground somewhere in Australia.

Before the television cameras.

Before the national anthem.

Before the professional contracts.

Long before they represented Australia, someone simply gave them the chance to play.

A coach encouraged them.

A club welcomed them.

A family believed in them.

A community became part of their journey.

That is why tomorrow morning belongs to more than the players wearing green and gold.

It belongs to every person who has helped a child fall in love with football.

International success doesn't begin in a World Cup stadium.

It begins on community grounds all over Australia.

What it means in Tasmania

Sometimes we wonder whether football matters down here.

We travel.

We fundraise.

We advocate.

We celebrate another set of lights, another upgraded pitch or another small improvement because we know how much difference it makes.

Yet tomorrow morning, Tasmania will feel exactly the same as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

For ninety minutes, the tyranny of distance disappears.

We are simply Australian football supporters.

Tomorrow morning, every one of us will hope the Socceroos take another step.

Whatever happens, football in Australia has another opportunity to show the country why this game matters so much to so many people.

More Than Ninety Minutes

Tony Popovic has spoken throughout this campaign about making history rather than simply admiring it.

Perhaps tomorrow morning the Socceroos will do exactly that.

If they lose, they will still have represented Australia with courage and pride.

If they win, Australian football may wake up just a little bit bigger than it was the day before.

And if that happens, let's make sure we do something with it.

Let's build the pitches.

Let's improve the changerooms.

Let's light the grounds.

Let's invest in the facilities that every football family deserves.

Because history is not made only in packed stadiums before millions of television viewers.

It begins on ordinary football grounds all over Australia.

And perhaps that is what tomorrow morning is really about.