The 2022 Football World Cup has dominated television screens in recent weeks and it proved to be one of the most incredibly exciting FIFA World Cups in recent memory, especially for Australia’s Socceroos.

The team that travelled to Qatar was considered by many to be the most inexperienced Australian team ever.

The team barely qualified for the event, with very few commentators giving them any chance of success.

But the players refused to let the negativity impact them and went on to prove the world wrong.

Going into the world cup the focus was on getting four points, as four points had allowed the golden generation of Socceroos in 2006 and 2010 to qualify for the final round of 16.

The Australian national team had never scored more than four points, but the 2022 Socceroos side managed to get six points, the most achieved by an Australian side.

After a huge win against Tunisia in what was the first time Australia had kept a clean sheet in a World Cup game since the 1970s, there was hope they could pull off the impossible and go through to the final 16.

The task at hand was to beat Denmark, or draw and hope Tunisia lost to France.

Denmark was ranked 10th in the world by FIFA before the World Cup, a whole 28 places above Australia.

They had Manchester United’s Christian Erikson, while Australia’s striker plays in the Japanese second division. The odds were not in the Socceroos’ favour.

To make matters worse, when the game was locked nil-nil Tunisia scored to take the lead against France.

Australia had to win and Mathew Leckie stood up and scored an incredible goal sending Australia through to the next stage of the competition.

They had pulled off the impossible and made Australia proud.

The sense of community the Socceroos instilled into Australia was immense.

Images of celebrations at Melbourne’s Federation Square were shown around the world, while here in the Limestone Coast soccer clubs screened the games and the Oatmill Cinema broadcast games on the big screen for free.

This was a community event that spanned across the entire country.

The excitement around the sport was unparalleled, it was the focus of the nation.

The Socceroos were knocked out in the round of 16 after coming up against an Argentinian side that featured one of the greatest players to play the game and went on to win the FIFA World Cup against France in a battle for the ages.

It was also a tough task and losing 2-1 was still an incredible result for the Australians.

This Socceroos side had built a legacy one with many flow on effects to be felt in the coming years.

Locally, Limestone Coast Football Association chief executive Chris Fleetwood noted how as a teacher he saw “the excitement amongst the kids, they were talking about the game”.

“It was a real positive for the game in terms of the response we got, people really enjoyed getting behind their national team,” Fleetwood said.

With the Women’s World Cup to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2023, coupled with the men’s success, Fleetwood believes there will be an increase in junior number’s for next season.

“The game is on a real high at the moment, with more kids talking about and understanding the game there will be a real increase,” he said.

The MiniRoos under 10 competition will start in late January and Fleetwood believes the increase will start to be seen then.

“Kids are very aware of having a go and playing the game, maybe they can have a dream of representing their country,” he said.

“Kids love backing a hero and getting behind the Australian players, and I’m sure a lot of kids have looked in the mirror and said ‘I could do that too’.”

The recent success of the Socceroos has brought attention to the lack of funding from the Federal Government.

Figures from the Australian Sports Commission annual report 2021-22 show soccer receives just below $8m, with sports such as sailing, swimming and cycling receiving more, with cycling nearly receiving double the funds.

Fleetwood believes an increase in funding is fundamental to grow the game.

“There are 1.8 million people who play the game in Australia. The most participation in Australia and yet we are way below sports that have far less participation than ours,” he said.

“Per capita funding is very very low and that tells with the registration fees and turning kids away.”

Fleetwood said the funding problems were evident locally.

“In Mount Gambier we are struggling to get enough places to play, all the clubs are overloaded and struggle to take more kids,” he said.

“That’s because we do not have government support to build infrastructure that we need to accommodate growing demands.”

However, Fleetwood believes better funding is not that far away.

“I think that’s going to happen, there’s a lot of talk amongst political parties about the lack of infrastructure for our sport, our sports brings people together as seen with our national team, it’s a sense of community,” he said.

“It’s supporting your nation and gives a lot of positive vibes around the country, the sport is able to do that unlike some of the domestic codes.”

The junior development in Australia has faced criticism from Australians such as former goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and even Australia’s men’s team manager Graham Arnold, who said “we need more kids to be given an opportunity”.

Fleetwood also sees room for improvement with elite pathways.

“We need four to five year olds in development programs, in the regions we do not want our kids disadvantaged because there not in the big city, we need pathways kids can access in the country,” he said.

“That’s actually on the things we’re working on, to be able to get more equity for regional kids.

“We should not have any kids left behind if they want to play the game.

“There should definitely be more focus on developing elite pathways in the region.”

Into the future the Limestone Coast Football Association is looking to further develop its women’s league and increase the quality of facilities as the numbers increase.