November 18 – Concerns among the States in Australia over the country’s bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup will be discussed by a special Government group in Queensland next month.
It comes after Western Australia’s Premier Colin Barnett accused officials from the World Cup of not being transparent over how matches would be distributed to the States.
Barnett is among Premiers leading calls for a national coordinator to be appointed to act as a liaison between the bid and the States.
Barnett said: ”They need to do a bit better job … we [the State Premiers] went around the table looking at our experiences at being approached by the football association and collectively we were not all that pleased.
“We as Premiers have put it to the Commonwealth Government that we will support this event, invest in this event and be ready by 2022.
“But we really want to see someone, a professional to promote and coordinate
“The State Premiers are saying that we will take it on trust, we will work on what would be a fantastic event for Australia – but we want to see better coordination across the country on this.
“When several States are offered the same event – a semi-final – we know the full truth is not there.”
The growing tension will be discussed again at the next Council of Australian Governments meeting on December 7, just four days before the Football Federation Australia (FFA) must submit their bid, including guarantees on stadiums, to the world governing body, FIFA.
Barnett promised that Perth would not miss out on the massive event if it was to come to Australia – and could even be in line to host one of those semi-finals.
He said: ”We will have a stadium that will be capable of hosting those matches, perhaps even a semi-final.
“To have an adequate stadium at Subiaco will probably be the easy part, there will be massive issues around security, accommodation.
“The Worlds Soccer Cup is bigger than the Olympics. Australia is capable of hosting it but it has huge implications.”