The wider significance of soccer

Australian rules is ultimately parochial and cannot be linked to our feelings of nationhood on an international scale.

Cricket is our one national sport, but even that is too slow, too British and too inaccessible to be attractive to many ethnic groups, as well as most women.

And the national team does not reflect the demographics of modern Australia.

For the same reason, the Bradman story does not cross cultures to connect with newer arrivals from backgrounds distant from the Anglo-Saxon tradition.

Therein lies the wider significance of soccer and our current success in the World Cup.

Even after the controversial loss to Italy, it's safe to say that one sport has never before crossed social groups and ethnic communities, uniting the elderly immigrant man from Asia to the toddler from Alice Springs.

Its stretch connects the banker in Martin Place to the farmer in north Queensland.

Its rise on our continent mirrors a similar trend with our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific.

If forging greater links in trade and commerce with our Asian neighbours is the key to our country's prosperity, then soccer can be the cloak by which we demystify our cultural ties and build greater trust with the peoples of those nations.

At the same time, soccer does not alienate our Anglo-Saxon colonial past, for it is utterly tied with Old England, even though the English are not really that good at it.

While national debate has touched on what we think of as Australian values, there must be a sense that the Australian story is very much a work in progress and new myths and symbols will undoubtedly be formed to carry a new generation of Australians through to the next century.

If sport is to remain at the forefront of our narrative, the significance of Australia's success in the World Cup cannot be underestimated.