Across its history, Australian football has not done a good job of supporting and involving Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
It's a long-standing failure that stretches back decades, one which laid the groundwork for the open letter that Indigenous Football Australia's council sent to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, accusing FIFA Women's World Cup organisers of committing an "egregious omission of the Indigenous football community and First Nations-led football organisations" in its legacy plan.
Squandering the legacy of trailblazers such as John Moriarty, Charles Perkins AO, Dr Karen Menzies, and Harry Williams, decades of neglect for specific and consistent outreach programs -- and a failure to elevate Indigenous voices on matters affecting them -- has left football playing catch-up when it comes to participation amongst Australia's First Nations.
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Whereas Kyah Simon and Lydia Williams stand out as proud Indigenous women in the current Matildas squad, there are an increasingly scant few First Nations players to be found at a national team level in Australia. At the 2022 men's World Cup in Qatar, for instance, the Socceroos squad featured no players of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.
With the cost to play football in comparison to its rivals a factor often cited, the game lags behind other sports such as Australian Rules and Rugby League when it comes to participation and enthusiasm, with those sports having grown to become significant parts of First Nations communities.
The AFL and NRL feature Indigenous players at a significantly higher rate than the Australian population and dwarf the proportion to be found in the A-Leagues.
In the face of these challenges, independent organisations such as the John Moriarty Football (JMF) foundation have attempted to plug the gaps in providing services and development opportunities at a community level, while organisations such Indigenous Football Australia have also emerged to provide strategic leadership.
In their letter, dated July 21 and signed by 15 members of its council, Indigenous Football Australia accused Women's World Cup organisers of empty symbolism in the way they have approached First Nation outreach.
It follows on from an event in March where Indigenous and Māori representatives signed a "Football Treaty" calling for the implementation of a new footballing model that recognises self-determination, direct funding and recognition of Indigenous representative teams.
"Despite ubiquitous Indigenous culture, symbolism, traditional ceremonies and installations at the World Cup and the holding out of Indigenous culture as something of central value to football, not a single dollar from the legacy program has been committed to organisations that are Indigenous-led, managed and have long carried the burden for First Nations in the Australian game," the Indigenous Football Australia letter states.
"Without support for the Indigenous community and their programs, we consider this symbolism empty.
"The privilege to use cultural assets that belong to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community must be predicated on giving back to community-controlled Indigenous football programs so that Indigenous players have somewhere to belong and develop in the game."
It is only in the last few years, and under new management, that Football Australia has begun to develop a vision in this First Nations space, including making the goal of becoming "a leader in Indigenous sporting programs and the reconciliation process for Indigenous Australians" part of its XI Principles mission statement in 2021.
These efforts include the establishment of a National Indigenous Advisory Group by the federation (which is different to the independent Indigenous Football Australia group), the implementation of a reconciliation action plan, and lobbying FIFA to ensure the incorporation of First Nation and Māori culture at the core of the World Cup's identity.
Pushing back against the Indigenous Football Australia letter's claims, a Football Australia spokesperson pointed ESPN to funding that helped produce an NSW-delivered NAIDOC Cup tournament as evidence of investment directly linked to its Legacy 23 programs, as well as the targeted reservation of 5% of scholarships for First Nations women in a development program as evidence of legacy spending in action.
"The claim that there has been 'no evidence of funding for grassroots indigenous football programs' within the Legacy 23 initiative is not accurate," the spokesperson said. "We want to make it clear that the support and advancement of Indigenous football programs are integral parts of our commitment."
A FIFA spokesperson, meanwhile, told ESPN that FIFA chief women's football officer Sarai Bareman, who was CC'd in on the open letter and who is New Zealand-born and who has Samoan heritage, had responded to the letter on Tuesday.
The spokesperson said Bareman had pointed to a 2021 Human Rights Risk Assessment, wherein meaningful and authentic engagement with First Nations and Māori communities had been identified as a key human rights priority for the tournament and written that FIFA would collaborate with Football Australia to provide ongoing support for Indigenous Australians in football and that specific investment to boost participation, leadership and development within the community would come.
The spokesperson also pointed to the creation of a First Nations and Māori cultural panel, the First Sisters of Country, that was formed to provide cultural oversight for the World Cup as evidence of FIFA's commitment.
Ultimately, at the core of the issue suddenly engulfing the World Cup is the decades of neglect, inaction and failure in this space by various footballing governing bodies in Australia, the failures to listen to and elevate the voices of Indigenous peoples, and the resulting massive deficit left for First Nations people in football -- setting the stage for the current storm over Indigenous Football Australia's open letter.
It's a longstanding problem, one with deep-seated issues that have set the stage for the present, ugly spat between parties. Those parties all agree that progress needs to be made but are contesting their views with the eyes of the world watching on.