Aaron Mooy shines in World's biggest League
by David An
Why should I care?
The man from Sydney scored the only goal in the 1-0 win against Newcastle United in premier league round 2. In a match winning performance this rewards Huddersfield town 3 points. Newcastle United is a fellow promoted team into the Premier League and a rival to fight off relegation. Which means although in absolute terms his contribution is 3 points it is a 6 point swing against Newcastle. Commonly known as a 'relegation 6 pointer.' This term is thrown around towards the end of the season but it's no exaggeration to say this match was an early season one.
To put all that into perspective:
35 - 40 points generally guarantees another year in the Premier League and a TV deal worth in excess of a 100 million pounds for the club.
Why Australia doesn't care
In terms of Australians making their mark on the Premier League. Despite Mile Jedinak's best efforts, ever since Tim Cahill left Everton there hasn't been too much to write home about.
Football is also not as popular as local 'football' Rugby League in NSW and Australian Rules Football in Victoria. Football in Australia is called 'soccer' and any attempts to call it football in your local pub will ensure you are gazed upon like a leper. Even though the country in part of the British Commonwealth the name for the sport has been adopted from America and it's attitude towards it.
Though the attitude is slowly changing the media coverage for performances from players such as Aaron Mooy are slim at best. If Mooy was from another country where football and the Premier League is more popular (i.e. contributes to those massive TV deals) his goal and his story would be omnipresent.
Perhaps the reason for a lack of real excitement about 'soccer news' is that the country fiercely defends all things that are 'Australian' for example it's football codes. But I would argue for a country that is proud to be known as 'a great place to raise kids' the thousands of kids that play soccer on the weekend deserve to know that they have a hero in the world's most popular league. And for those few kids that are still practicing after their 'mates' have gone home they need to be told that they don't need to have a Iberian name on the back of their shirts to make an impact on football's biggest stage.