For nigh on 30 years, players in our academies and leagues were routinely plundered by massive, cashed-up overseas clubs that offered fame, glory, worldclass competition and astronomical pay packets. Until 2005, when Frank Lowy and John O'Neill staged an extraordinary rejuvenation of the local competition and our Socceroos went on to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, what our best players left behind was a sport wracked by internal power struggles and locked in a perpetual battle to attract fans, sponsorships and television coverage.