What did you think of Australia’s FIFA World Cup Bid?

Update:

A corruption scandal is surrounding  FIFA with the provisional suspension of its vice-president Jack Warner, of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Asian Football Confederation president, Qatar’s Mohamed bin Hammam after an internal inquiry confirmed allegations they offered $US40,000 ($A37,300) in bribes to Caribbean football officials to back Mr bin Hammam’s bid – now withdrawn – to topple Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.

The SMH

reports:

“A further six FIFA executive committee members are under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for their votes from certain nations bidding to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Australia’s $46 million taxpayer-funded bid, which attracted only a single vote from the executive committee, heavily courted Mr Warner and Mr bin Hammam at the suggestion of European consultants Peter Hargitay and Fedor Radmann.

So. Australia got knocked out of the bid for the 2022 World Cup of Soccer of FIFA or whatever it’s called (disclosure: care factor low). In the first round we received 1 vote to Qatar’s 11. Incidentally, Qatar is a country without any football stadiums, very few football fans and an average temperature of 50 degrees celsius most days. That’s a tough defeat. The bid has been spearheaded by Westfield billionaire and Australian soccer president (or something) Frank Lowy who clearly wanted this to be his legacy.

I have a couple of questions to post today. I’ve listened to a huge amount of hoo-ha about how the video that was the foundation of our final presentation sucked. How it was a cringey reflection of what Australia is in 2010. The point was made – in the video’s defence – that the average age of the audience was 70 and the iconic 80s imagery was what they would know and love best about Australia.

This happens often. Remember the kangaroos on bicycles before we hosted the 2000 Olympics? More freaking out by media and advertising people who were insulted by the cheesy depiction of Australia. But really, what a country is famous for is always cheesy. France – baguettes and berets and the Eiffel Tower. Italy – pizza and big Italian mamas. Ultimately, most countries look pretty much the same these days, don’t they? We’re all pretty Cosmopolitan. But that would make for some pretty samey video presentations wouldn’t it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lxv_Wm_qNw&feature=player_embedded

This is Qatar’s winning bid.

What do you think of the video? How should Australia best be presented to the world?