WHEN THE WORLD CUP ISN'T No. 1

Rival countries bidding for the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups must be looking on with some bewilderment at the domestic inter-code bickering which has broken out in Australia.

For the rivals are football-rich, as in soccer-rich, nations and it would seem unfathomable that any rival body would present a barrier to hosting an international event of this magnitude. An event, it should be pointed out, which is regarded in many parts of the globe, as of greater cultural, sporting and economic significance than the Olympic Games.

But Australia is a different market, and the AFL and NRL have every right to adopt defensive lines in the event of a successful bid. A solution needs to be found but it is not easy, and those espousing the concerns need to be treated with more consideration than they are being afforded by the gung-ho FIFA supporters.

Claims of pettiness and vulnerability should not overshadow the real risks forseen by domestic administrators. Sure, forget about the season, postpone matches, take them elsewhere or whatever. Easy to say.

However, both the AFL and NRL and much more than football competitions. They are major corporate entities, and the ramifications of quick-fix solutions are huge. It really is a question of paying the bills, as running costs continue to accrue whether matches are being played or not. Hence, cancelling the season is a nonsense.

Surely the most tenable scenario, in the case of the AFL, lies in a mix of the following:

1) An earlier start to the season
2) A 4-6 week break mid-season from the regular roster
3) During the break, each team to play on a fortnightly basis as venues such as:
* Princes Park and Whitten Oval in Melbourne
* Blacktown
* Darwin
* Bellerive
* Internationally including NZ, China, London

Solutions for the NRL would be even easier to find, given the rectangular configuration of grounds, the smaller spectator capacities required and the regions where league, union or soccer are already played.

In doing this, both the AFL and the NRL would ensure the financial returns for clubs, and hence their very survival, are largely unaffected, and they would benefit from exposing the games to both an international audience and deserving regional fans.

The rest of the world may not understand this dilemma.

But it says much for this island nation that Australia, as a newcomer to international soccer, is mixing it with the big guns from FIFA and forwarding an imposing argument for hosting rights to the biggest event in the world when, in reality, the game here is still far from the number one choice of codes.