When John O'Neill, the man primarily responsible for Australia's exemplary hosting of the last Rugby World Cup, was appointed the Chief Executive Officer to the body then known as the Australian Soccer Association in February, 2004, he must have wondered if he had accepted a poisoned chalice.
Soccer had traditionally been the poor relation of sport in Australia, and its national selection routinely underachieved.
But over two years have passed and Australia has qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in 32 years, what is now known as Football Federation Australia has been embraced by the Asian Football Confederation and the country's revamped national club competition, titled the A League, is being proclaimed a remarkable success upon the conclusion of its inaugural season.
Perhaps the advent of the league will provide the most long term benefit to local football. Certainly, O'Neill could not hide his elation after 41,689 fans (500 over the official capacity) crammed into Aussie Stadium to see home town favourites Sydney FC overcome Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in the Grand Final.
'I'm incredibly proud and relieved,' O'Neill said. 'This is the culmination of a lot of planning and preparation. The sell-out crowd shows what the competition means to supporters.'
By engaging Pierre Littbarski as their coach and fielding the redoubtable Dwight Yorke, Sydney immediately established themselves as the team to beat from the opening round and it was Yorke's class which tipped the scales in the title decider.