The AFL is many things, but above all else it is a master of staying relevant.

In Australia’s southern states, it dominates the sporting conversation in a way few leagues anywhere in the world can.

It fills newspaper back pages, drives talkback radio, dictates television coverage and ensures there is always another storyline around the corner. Whether it’s the middle of the season or the middle of summer, the AFL has built an extraordinary ability to keep itself at the centre of attention.

As an attention seeker myself, you have to admire it.

The league wants to be part of the national sporting conversation 52 weeks a year, and more often than not, it succeeds.

But every now and then, that determination to dominate the conversation feels less like confidence and more like arrogance and the decision to schedule an AFL match opposite Australia’s World Cup match was one of those moments.

This isn’t really about ratings. It’s not about which sport is bigger. It isn’t another tired and boring code war between football and Australian rules. Most weeks, the AFL wins those battles in many states comfortably. It has earned its position as one of, if not the, sporting giant of this country.

What bothers me, however, is the refusal to recognise that some occasions are simply bigger than the usual fight for attention.

Whether the AFL want to believe it or not, the World Cup is the biggest sporting event on the planet. When Australia is involved, it becomes more than just another sporting contest, it becomes a national moment and the bandwagon is over flowing.

We’ve seen it before. We saw it during the Matildas’ remarkable run at the Women’s World Cup in 2023. We see it every Olympic Games. For a brief period, club and code loyalties disappear and the green and gold fever takes over.

Australians who spend most of the year arguing over codes, teams and rivalries suddenly find themselves cheering for the same side. We rally around our national teams because we love an underdog story. We love seeing Australians take on the world. We love believing that, just for a moment, anything is possible.

This Socceroos side is particularly easy to embrace. It reflects modern Australia in all its diversity. Players from different backgrounds, cultures and communities united by what we love the most here in Australia - sport. At a time when division often feels easier than unity, there is something powerful about seeing a team like that bring people together.

That’s why the AFL’s decision felt so disappointing. The league knew a clash was coming six months ago after the World Cup fixture was realised in December. There was an opportunity to acknowledge the significance of the occasion and simply step aside for one night. Instead, it chose to compete, and not for the first time.

The AFL has shown a similar instinct before, scheduling AFLW preliminary finals against the men’s Ashes last year. Once again, it found itself competing with Australian representatives on the international stage and one that these women just never can win yet the AFL do it anyway because stepping aside isn’t what they do.

That’s what makes this feel less like an unfortunate scheduling coincidence and more like a philosophy. The AFL doesn’t just want to be Australia’s biggest sporting competition. It wants to be part of every sporting conversation, all the time.

What makes this particular clash even stranger is that the league didn’t seem fully committed to winning it. The fixture featured St Kilda and GWS, two clubs with smaller supporter bases than many of the competition’s heavyweights.

A game to ensure the AFL remained part of the conversation, but not important enough to risk one of its biggest clubs being overshadowed by the World Cup.

It’s difficult not to see that as a disservice to both clubs involved.

And there were other victims of the timing as well. The debut of Channel Seven’s first female AFL play-by-play commentator, Jo Wotton, should have been a landmark moment for the sport. It deserved attention, discussion and celebration. Instead, it was dropped into a night where a significant portion of the sporting public was understandably focused elsewhere.

The AFL often talks about leadership. About growing the game. About its role in Australian sport. But leadership isn’t always about winning every battle for attention and instead is recognising when something else deserves the stage.

The World Cup isn’t a rival competition. It isn’t a threat. It is a global event that transcends the usual boundaries of sport. When Australia takes part, every sporting organisation in the country should be proud to get behind it.

This was an opportunity for the AFL to demonstrate confidence rather than insecurity. To put network rivalries and code wars aside. To acknowledge that supporting the Socceroos for one night would not diminish its own standing.

Some things are bigger than television ratings. Bigger than fixtures. Bigger than winning another weekend’s news cycle.

The Socceroos deserved the stage. Australian sport deserved the stage. And the AFL should have been big enough to recognise it.