FourFourTwo (Australia)

FourFourTwo is a football (soccer) magazine published by Haymarket Group's Australian operations. It takes its title and layout from the UK magazine of the same name.

History

It was launched in October 2005, to coincide with the launch of the new A-League competition, and with the upcoming Australia vs Uruguay FIFA World Cup qualification playoff, which Australia won.

Previously, the British edition was sold in Australia, delivered via air freight from the UK. Some retailers still sell this version alongside the Australian edition. However, the Australian version does feature a lot of the English articles, as there is not enough Australia-specific football news to fill 100 pages.

The launch publicity ran with the tagline of "It's footy, but not as you know it", a reference to the popularity of Australian rules football and rugby league and the fact that association football is historically and still occasionally referred to as "soccer" in Australia. This also referred to the launch slogan of the A-league "It's football, but not as you know it" - part of the work Football Australia (formerly known as 'Soccer Australia') is doing to rebrand and relaunch the game. Further to this, the first edition's frontpage contained the motto "Goodbye Soccer, Hello Football".

A small controversy started when an issue contained a special edition cricket article, frustrating many football fans.

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*Editor: Paul Hansford

External links

* [http://www.fourfourtwo.net.au/index.aspx FourFourTwo Australia]