Asian Cup Excitement?

The Socceroos first foray into Asia is just 6 days away, but it's hard to see the country being swept up by "Asia Cup Fever". The 2006 World Cup finally put the sport on the map in a country obsessed with the oval ball, but 12 months on, signs are not good for advocates of the round ball.

The governing bodies decision to sign an exclusive deal with pay tv giant Fox has swollen the coffers at FFA HQ, but left many fans alienated. The national team are no longer availabe on free-to-air, and in a country where just 20% of the public can access pay-tv, this is a problem. The "traditional" home of football on free-to-air, SBS, have been inundated by angry viewers wondering where the football is.

In the wake of Germany 06, the FFA could have written their own cheque to any broadcaster; football was big business. But they had signed with fox months before, leaving every match of the national team, and the domestic A-League, exclusive to the few, and isolated from the masses.

And with a major tournament around the corner, and in a favourable time zone, people simply don't know how they can watch the national team. Fox aren't to blame for the situation. They paid the price wanted and have brought some much needed professionalism to the coverage; years of neglect by the heavyweights of Australian TV, left government funded SBS the home of the game, but they simply did not have the financial muscle to compete with the Pay giant.

Instead, the finger of blame must be pointed at the governing body. Their shortsighted view in taking the money, has robbed the general public of seeing the national team in action, and possibly lifting their first major trophy.

And with a handcuffed deal well into the next decade, the FFA may have cooked the goose, before it's had chance to lay it's golden egg.