Tuesday, July 4 2006 16:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Sydney: It is jumpers for goalposts in parks these days as Australia catches World Cup fever and tens of thousands of youngsters switch from rugby to the round-ball game.

"Clearly we are seeing the knock-on effect from the Socceroos' success in Germany," Adelaide United spokeswoman Sharon Dobbs said.

Adelaide is one of eight teams in the national league formed last year. Sales of season tickets have gone through the stadium roof since Australia played in its first World Cup finals since 1974.

The Socceroos did not come close to winning the competition. They played four games, losing two without scoring, drawing one and winning one. But for a team that went to Germany ranked 44th in the world, getting into the last 16 was a phenomenal performance.

Kicking a ball around against the likes of Brazil and Italy has done wonders for a game that did not rate against rugby.

"Our membership sales are significantly in front of where they were this time last year," said Melbourne Victory's Gary Cole. "It's been really, really positive and obviously with our new Brazilian signings and our new squad coming together there's a significantly higher interest," he said.

Half a million Australians pull on a football jersey at the weekends and play for a team. It is a level of participation that is higher than the rugby codes and cricket combined.

Cole is predicting that local councils will soon be converting rugby pitches to football format as more young people vote with their feet for the round-ball game. Australia's surprise showing in Germany has had an immediate impact on the cash reserves of the eight league teams. Champions Sydney FC, who boast ex-Manchester United star Dwight Yorke in their lineup, are racking up record pre-season sales and courting new sponsors.

"The response has been phenomenal," said chief executive Tim Parker.

"A lot of new people will have been brought in and the faithful will be flocking back," he said.

The league competition starts up in August, when World Cup euphoria will have died down and the household names that make up the national team will be back playing in their European club sides. Only two of the 23-man Socceroos squad play in Australia's new A-League.

The contrast with rugby is stark, where a stint abroad usually comes as a swansong to a glittering career at home. The best rugby players play in Australia. The best football players, to a man, play in the European leagues.

How quickly that will change depends on whether the World Cup momentum can be maintained. That will depend on building an infrastructure so that the best of the kids playing in the parks can aim for a spot in an A-League team as an audition performance for the big-money jobs in Europe.

Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who plays for English side Middlesbrough, reckons success in Germany has been the fillip the local game needs. "It's a massive boost for the country," he said.

"A lot of Australian kids thinking about another sport will want to play football now," he said. The newly formed Football Federation of Australia (FFA) got its way this year when Australia was admitted to play in the Asian federation rather than in Oceania. This means regular matches against top Asian sides like Japan and South Korea. The FFA is hoping that the switch will keep interest in football buzzing.

There is a regional version of the World Cup called the Asian Cup, which draws in 24 countries and will hold its finals in July 2007. The FFA's Matt Carroll says the Socceroos are integral to the success of football in Australia. "It's continuity," he said.

"We can have a successful World Cup but we have to maintain that success going forward," he said. It is going to be difficult though.

By one estimate, half the players who went to Germany will be too old for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. As always, the FFA will have little leverage in getting star players to make the long trip from Europe to represent their country in games against teams like Kuwait. When the fulcrum of the football world is so far away, developing the game in Australia is always going to be a challenge.