The Big League

Reporter: Charles Wooley
Producer: Julia Timms

It's not often we common folk get to hang out with the richest man in Australia. But then Clive Palmer's no ordinary billionaire.

He's a big bloke with a big heart and he's got a big dream he wants to sell. And if you were a rugby, a league or an Aussie Rules boss you’d start worrying about now.

Clive Palmer wants to make the world game, our game, to make soccer our national sport. And what Clive Palmer wants he usually gets. He's already spent millions buying his own team and setting them up on the Gold Coast.

And there's plenty more where that came from, no wonder kids are flocking to the sport in droves.

Story contacts:

Trey O'Sullivan is coached at Doc Football Academy in Melbourne. For more info check out their website www.docfootball.com

You can follow Gold Coast United's progress on their website www,goldcoastunited.com.au and keep up with Melbourne Victory's success at www.melbournevictory.com.au

Full transcript below:

STORY - CHARLES WOOLEY: He's an unlikely looking sporting hero, but Clive Palmer might well be the future of soccer in Australia. You may not have heard of the man, but everything about this baggy-suited iron ore magnate is big - his enterprise, his size and his plans for what they call "the beautiful game".

CHARLES WOOLEY: Do you love that electricity?

CLIVE PALMER: I do, yeah, I love it. It's wonderful to discover something when your life's nearly over and say, "Yes, there is life after death. There is hope."

CHARLES WOOLEY: Clive's now reckoned to be Australia's richest man, believed to be worth a staggering $12 billion. This A-list billionaire has just bought his own A-League soccer team outright - Gold Coast United. And, in the style of a true football mogul, he's treating his players like rock stars.

CHARLES WOOLEY: I like your egalitarian airline, Clive! Even the journos travel first class.

CHARLES WOOLEY: A one-class airline.

CLIVE PALMER: Very important, journalists.

CHARLES WOOLEY: The private jets and the fleet of helicopters might seem extravagant but, don't worry, Clive can easily afford it. With a tax bill like his, $6 million for a football club is small change.

CLIVE PALMER: We gave them a cheque last year for $70 million. We gave another one last week for $49 million. Actually, that was my personal tax, and it didn't have enough zeroes on the form. I couldn't fill it out!

CHARLES WOOLEY: Can I say on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you, Clive.

CLIVE PALMER: It's a pleasure, Charles. It's a pleasure. It is, too!

CHARLES WOOLEY: Clive has bought into the biggest game in the world, with an incredible 5 billion fans across every continent. And the big bloke's determined to turn Australia into the world's next soccer giant.

CLIVE PALMER: It's a game that's not based on violence, or breaking your nose or getting the other guy, it's based on skill, and it's a game where Australia's ranked 16th in the world and, one day, we could be ranked first.

CHARLES WOOLEY: When you're with Clive Palmer, he calls the shots. Well, mate, you have certainly taken me a long way from the green fields of the east coast.

CLIVE PALMER: Well, it's worth it, Charles. You are going to see where all of the gold and treasure of Australia is hidden and see what our future is for the next 50 years. Just hop in.

CHARLES WOOLEY: So, we are on an 8,000km detour just because Clive wants to show us where the money comes from to pay for all his sporting largesse.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Well, it's pretty cool hanging out with the richest man in Australia, Clive.

CLIVE PALMER: We have had a good time and I think that's what life's about, enjoying it together.

CHARLES WOOLEY: 25 years ago, Clive Palmer recognised a future bonanza in the striking gorges and the red earth of Western Australia's Pilbara, and he bought up as much as he could.

CLIVE PALMER: And here we've got over 160 billion tonnes of magnetite iron ore, the world's largest ore body.

CHARLES WOOLEY: We're standing on the world's largest mineral ore body?

CLIVE PALMER: That's right. We see this as the future for Australia.

CHARLES WOOLEY: How does it feel to own something like this?

CLIVE PALMER: Very tiring, Charles. I've been up here for 25 years, so...

CHARLES WOOLEY: It's enterprise on a vast scale. Kilometres long and wide, Clive's gigantic money pit holds 6 billion tonnes of iron ore at $100 a tonne.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Clive, even you are dwarfed by the scale of this operation.

CLIVE PALMER: I am. It is really daunting to come here and realise that 15 years ago we drew lines on a map and, today, they are becoming reality.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And, what's a truck worth?

CLIVE PALMER: Around $9 million - uh, Australian.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And, here's the rub - any of these trucks are worth more, are gonna cost you more, than owning your own football team?

CLIVE PALMER: That's right, yeah - even the wheels. I think if we look at the consumption of tyres - that amounts to a lot more than the money we're using on our football team.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Clive, who has doubled his wealth this year, knows a winner when he sees one. He likes to kick goals and, so far this year, that's what his team has been doing. Gold Coast United, in its first year in the A-League, hasn't lost a game. It's alright to hobnob with the owners, it's alright to hang out with the highly paid stars but, in the end, if soccer is going to make it in Australia, if it's going to rival or overtake the other codes, these are the people that matter. It's these people - the fans - who are going to drive the game.

SOCCER FAN: There's a reason they call it "the cup of life". There's a reason it's the world game. The world speaks football - it's the language of the world, and there's no other sport like it. It just happens to be football. It's not so much the sport, but it's the culture, and it's just...it's something else. And when Australia finally sees it and when you go to a game and you can stand with your mates, there's no other sport like it.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And no other sport, apparently, that the mums like so much. It's the approval of the so-called soccer mums that drives the game's growth.

SOCCER MUM 1: Years ago, there was just the Aussie Rules football but, now, you see the soccer ball everywhere - at the schools and on the Saturday and Sunday, everyone's kicking the round ball as well.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Every weekend across Australia more than 300,000 kids play soccer, making it the most-played junior sport.

CHARLES WOOLEY: So, how much time do you spend on it?

SOCCER MUM 2: Tuesday nights, Thursday nights, Wednesday nights, Friday nights, Saturday mornings and Sunday games.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And the stars come out early, like 13-year-old Trey O'Sullivan, who plans to be an Australian David Beckham.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And would you like to have a girlfriend like Victoria?

TREY O'SULLIVAN: Yeah, I would - that'd be good.

CHARLES WOOLEY: How much money do you think you might make if your dream came true?

TREY O'SULLIVAN: Millions.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Millions?

TREY O'SULLIVAN: Trillions.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Huge amounts of money, which you'll give back to your mum...

TREY O'SULLIVAN: Yep.

CHARLES WOOLEY: ..for all the early mornings...

TREY O'SULLIVAN: ..and all the broken plants in the back yard.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Trey has already tried out for top UK club Sheffield United and, according to his coach, David O'Connor, he's up there with the best in the world.

DAVID O'CONNOR: If I was to predict that he will go all the way. I think he's going to be a star.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And hazard a guess at the kind of money he can make?

DAVID O'CONNOR: Oh, millions - millions.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Like, how many millions?

DAVID O'CONNOR: You know, the sky's the limit. The money they're making overseas now, he could end up with, you know, $40 million, $50 million before his career's finished. And I hope he remembers his old coach if he does!

CHARLES WOOLEY: Everyone in Australia wants to live here.

JASON CULINA: Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's a winter's day and people out there are swimming. I would never have thought I would be here looking at this.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Gold Coast star player Jason Culina has already made his fortune playing in Europe. Clive Palmer lured him home to a transformed Australian soccer league with a modest million-dollar pay cheque - less than he was getting in Holland, but, given the sun, sand and glittering lifestyle, not a bad trade.

JASON CULINA: Money's not everything, happiness is. I love playing football and, for me, coming back to Australia was a new challenge in my career. I gave up a lot of money to come back here but, you know, that's life, that's football and it was something I was looking for.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Jason's certainly no unsung hero. Down at the Dog and Parrot, the musical Gold Coast supporters laud his name. These vulgar hymns of praise have always been part of the overseas soccer culture. Now, they're as Australian as a schooner of XXXX Gold.

CHARLES WOOLEY: "Oh, Jason Culina, you are the love of my life, Jason Culina, I'd let you shag my wife." It's a delicate little lyric.

JASON CULINA: Yeah, it is, and my wife's not going to be too happy about it.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Is it still a buzz? I mean, they love you so much they sing hymns in praise of you, as if you were the centre of some religion.

JASON CULINA: When you come to a point where people start to sing songs about you, it sort of touches you and, you know, it means you're doing something right.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Every religion needs a cathedral... ..and they're raising one down in Melbourne in the AFL heartland. Where the grounds have always been ovals, now, there's a new shape in town!

CHARLES WOOLEY: A rectangular stadium in the heart of AFL country. What does that say?

KEVIN MUSCAT: Look, for me, personally, I didn't think it'd happen in my lifetime, certainly, but I suppose it just goes to show how far we've come as a footballing code.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Melbourne Victory's Kevin Muscat can't wait to move into the team's new home - soon to become "holy ground" for Victoria's soccer fans.

KEVIN MUSCAT: I've told all my friends to become members this season because, if you're a member this season, you get a priority to become a member and you certainly, hopefully, won't miss out.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And buy your corporate box soon, hey?

KEVIN MUSCAT: And get in one of those boxes, yeah, because I can't play on forever and I'll be sitting in one of those, hopefully.

CHARLES WOOLEY: But, for now, like the rest of the A-League, Kevin's main goal is beating Gold Coast United, going after the big bloke.

KEVIN MUSCAT: I'm pretty sure after we play he'll know who I am.

CHARLES WOOLEY: After you beat them?

KEVIN MUSCAT: Yeah, hopefully, fingers crossed.

CHARLES WOOLEY: You sound like him.

KEVIN MUSCAT: I'm pretty confident. If you don't believe you're going to win, then you're certainly not going win.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Clive Palmer's Gold Coast United is shaping up to be the team to beat this year. Clive's happy about that, but whether it's about kicking goals in the field or winning metal from the ground, in business, as in sport, is it simply about being the biggest bloke in the game?

CHARLES WOOLEY: You don't own a football team for ego?

CLIVE PALMER: No, I don't. I own it for enjoyment. We play very positive football. We try to score as many goals as possible, and we're really saying to the people - the kids, everyone watching - "If you've got it, this is your opportunity, this is your life, make the best of it." You saw the reaction we got from the crowd, and isn't that satisfying to think you can stand there and there'll be a couple of hundred people wanting to shake your hand because they're happier than they were yesterday? What's wrong with trying to make people happy?