Why is it....

[teddy007]

Australia are very good at most sports apart from Boxing and Football, they have never had a true boxing star or even a wordclass footballer, why do you think that is?

[DougieC30]

Well to be Honest Australia have had some good fighters, like Kostya Tszyu and more recently Micheal Katsidis, alought in saying that none of them were actully born in oz but took up recidency.. And when it comes to football, yous are going to to World cup, which is more than what i can say for my Scotland!! haha

[Sweet P]

Katsidis was born in Australia, Id Say Jeff Fenech was world wide Boxing Star in his generation, He was right up there on all the P4P lists when he was in his prime. Lionel Rose was a world Champ at the age of 18, When there were only 8 chamions. Curruthers was also champ when there were only 8 belts. So if there not Boxing Stars then im not sure what your criteria is. And there are a fair few more i could mention.

And Socccer isn't really that popular in Australia. I comes in last place behind Aussie Rules, Rubgy Union and Rugby League. So that might explain why there arn't many stars from here. If the other 3 codes didnt exist then there might be a few Socccer stars from here.

[DougieC30]

Ted your right, point taken have no idea why i thought he was born in Serbia!!! clearly not, think it way have been Toowoomba, Queensland that he was born...

[Soundkamp]

Dougie Katsidis is Greek not Serbian.

For football we do have a world class Footballer...his name is Timmy Cahill!!!!!!!!, A-League will never blossom because the follow the same path as NRL & AFL which is not the best formula for success. Because of a thing called Salary caps, this works for AFL (because its an Australian only sport) & NRL (who only compete with England). But Football is called the world game because it is the most popular played sport (it is also the highest played sports at youth level in Australia). So with a salary cap it is going to be hard to sign players like Ronaldo & KAKA who are worth more 100 mil each. Why would you play here when you get played less & its less challenging then playing in the Romanian league.

[Marlin]

Why is it... that pome bastards feel the need to start threads like this?

[Asterix]

Dougie Katsidis is Greek not Serbian.

For football we do have a world class Footballer...his name is Timmy Cahill!!!!!!!!, A-League will never blossom because the follow the same path as NRL & AFL which is not the best formula for success. Because of a thing called Salary caps, this works for AFL (because its an Australian only sport) & NRL (who only compete with England). But Football is called the world game because it is the most popular played sport (it is also the highest played sports at youth level in Australia). So with a salary cap it is going to be hard to sign players like Ronaldo & KAKA who are worth more 100 mil each. Why would you play here when you get played less & its less challenging then playing in the Romanian league.

I was going to mention Tim Cahill as well. Mark Schwarzer has played regularly in the Premier league for almost a decade now. Harry Kewell, in his prime, was a fantastic footballer.

[Marlin]

Without a salary cap most clubs would go broke, I think only two clubs here make a profit as it is. If you started letting them spend whatever they like they would go crazy, probably not be able to meet their commitments and then fold.

[Soundkamp]

Without a salary cap most clubs would go broke, I think only two clubs here make a profit as it is. If you started letting them spend whatever they like they would go crazy, probably not be able to meet their commitments and then fold.

I agree for NRL & AFL, but for football it doesn't work in order to compete on a world level or even continental level with J-League, K-Keague, Chinese Super League, Iranian Pro League, UAE Super League etc

[Marlin]

You really think A-League has enough earning power to compete anyway? There is no sponsorship or advertising money in it here.

Bottom line is there aren't many people here who give three shits about soccer...

[Soundkamp]

Yeah the potential for it to get the crowds and the sponsors are there,

Last season the A-League average attendance was 12,966, the NRL was 17,094 (for a league that has been around for 5 season & a trophy that loosk like a toilet seat, that's impressive ).

Domestic Attendance Record: 50,333 - Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC, 8 December 2006 (Round 16) since then that derby averages at least 30,000 people.

You need to understand that football fans go to watch the A-League for the imports, Like Dwight Yorke, Juninho, Benito Carbone, Fowler etc not Marquee players like Aliosi, Culina & other Australian players (not disrespect to Culina he is a gun). The reason for that we see these guys play here enough as it is with the Socceroos, fans want to see players who play in different leagues who have won awards etc hardcore fans don't like the quality of the football in the league and non football fans only would watch it if you had a player like beckham (Sydney v LA with Beckham nearly sold out ANZ because of one player). So these players that come in might be past there day but they are experienced have great ball skills and help the development of football in the country.

So its there for A-League to grow, especially with Socceroos playing so well.

[Marlin]

I'm picking up what you're putting down but the fact remains that one mid-high range European player probably earns more in Europe than everyone in A-League combined.

[Soundkamp]

yeah agreed we cant sign players like Messi and Kaka but that one washed up European player would generate more money then John Aloisi who makes 1.4 million a year playing for Sydney...so for instance if we could sign Ronaldo (Brizilian whose into trannys) in one year for that money and we would get crowds at a high. Simple things like that help bring the crowds, and in 6-8 years we would have a good domestic league with good players and interest from the outside world.

Like i said the potential is there and we can definitely achieve the results, lets see if they can do it.

[colin russell]

Boxing Aussie Joe Bugner went 30 rounds with Ali , not a bad effort. Jonny Famashon , Dave Sands, Vic Patrick, Hector Thompsom , Lestor Ellis , Barry Micheal, Paul Briggs, to name a few oh and dont forget Tony Mundine didnt he whip Bunny Sterlings ass for the Comminwealth title.

[dan h]

Australia are very good at most sports apart from Boxing and Football, they have never had a true boxing star or even a wordclass footballer, why do you think that is?

Because instead of training hard as young men we are too busy shagging british and european female backpackers that have travelled long and hard to find a man who can please them!!

[Asterix]

I'm picking up what you're putting down but the fact remains that one mid-high range European player probably earns more in Europe than everyone in A-League combined.

$100,000 AUS per week?

[Brute]

Australia are very good at most sports apart from Boxing and Football, they have never had a true boxing star or even a wordclass footballer, why do you think that is?

Young Griffo, Les Darcy, Peter Jackson, Ron Richards, Fred Henneberry, Dave Sands..... all world class fighters, some of them beat future World champions.

Not to mention World Champions such as Jimmy Carruthers, Lionel Rose, Johnny Famechon, Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding.

All these men were either born in Australia or came here as young children.

[oliverfennell]

You really think A-League has enough earning power to compete anyway? There is no sponsorship or advertising money in it here.

Bottom line is there aren't many people here who give three shits about soccer...

Plenty of them jumped on the bandwagon for the last World Cup.

[oliverfennell]

By "star", I think Teddy means boxers who have been internationally famous. Fenech and Rose certainly were, and Katsidis looks on the verge of becoming one. Then of course there's Tszyu, if you don't limit the selection to home-grown boxers.

As for the why, it is a valid and interesting question if you can look at it without getting offended. It IS a good question - why does Aus kick arse in most sports, but not boxing and soccer? It is, after all, a First World country with plenty of sporting stock.

I can't answer about soccer, because I dont follow it enough, but boxing first of all sufferes from a Catch 22 - media won't cover it, because not enough people are interested in it, and people aren't interested in it, because media won't cover it. This lack of interest/investment means fewer people take the sport up than in countries where boxing gets decent coverage. And fewer people taking part in a sport means a smaller talent pool.

Secondly, for those who DO box, there are two factors that inhibit progress. First of all, it's money again. Secondly, it's geographical. There aren't many world class managers/promoters who carry clout outside the region, so all but the very top tier of boxers are left to train with, and fight, domestic/Pacific island/South East Asian peers.

The Pacific islanders are bull-strong and full of heart, but typically lacking in refinement. South East Asia is an established world class boxing region, but their guys are usually physically small. In Asia-Pacific, you simply don't have the consistency of quality across the weights that you would find in America or Europe, and those places are just too far away to travel to for training/fighting, or from which to import trainers or boxers, for all but the top tier of Aussie competitors.

[toppity]

It's a matter of numbers. Nothing more

[Collins2000]

It's a matter of numbers. Nothing more

Can you elaborate?

[Brute]

At the moment Australia is better off financially than most countries. Unemployment is below 6% while in the USA it is over 10%. Over 60% of Australians live in homes they own outright or are paying off.

Boxing thrives in hard times. Australians live in good times.

[Collins2000]

At the moment Australia is better off financially than most countries. Unemployment is below 6% while in the USA it is over 10%. Over 60% of Australians live in homes they own outright or are paying off.

Boxing thrives in hard times. Australians live in good times.

Absolutely.

Also, if it was simply a matter of numbers (and nothing more) I fail to understand how a place like Puerto Rico with its relatively small population has produced so many great fighters...

[Beltane]

I fail to understand how a place like Puerto Rico with its relatively small population has produced so many great fighters...

Remember the old axiom: "hungry fighters make the best fighters". In other words, boxing allows the participants the chance to break the cycle of poverty in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries and chase the money trail to riches overseas in the USA.

[Collins2000]

I fail to understand how a place like Puerto Rico with its relatively small population has produced so many great fighters...

Remember the old axiom: "hungry fighters make the best fighters". In other words, boxing allows the participants the chance to break the cycle of poverty in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries and chase the money trail to riches overseas in the USA.

My question was in relation to Toppity's "mere numbers" theory.