Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

What a terrific opportunity to speak about something that is truly bipartisan in this place: our shared love for soccer football. I acknowledge the member for Forde who moved the motion. Whatever his other substantial shortcomings are in this place, he is actually a terrific advocate for this sport. I have seen firsthand that he is also a very handy goalie, because we played on the same team in the Parliamentary Street Soccer Cup in support of The Big Issue. I acknowledge that. He was easily our best player, but please do not tell Senator Conroy that I think so!

This is a timely opportunity to speak about soccer football from my point of view. I spent some time on Friday afternoon with David Gallop, the CEO the Football Federation, talking about this very issue: the contribution that football makes to our local communities and, through that, the broader nation. The stats in the member's motion really do speak for themselves: there are 1.18 million people involved; it is the most popular sport amongst both genders; more girls play football than netball; and there are 105,000 A-League members and 2,155 clubs. Those numbers are pretty stunning numbers when you think about it and it is a terrific success story when it comes to participation in our sport, with all of the benefits that that brings. I will touch on some of those in a moment. The popularity of soccer would not come as a surprise to any of us who engage with our local communities. Whether it is the member for Gellibrand, the member for Grayndler or the member for Moreton, we would all spend time with our soccer clubs, our football clubs, for various reasons, because they make that terrific contribution.

Of those 2,155 clubs, there are none finer than Rochedale Rovers, Logan Metro, Slacks Creek Football and Logan City Kings—four of the best clubs anywhere in the world. They are terrific football clubs—

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