WE are in the middle of World Cup fever, and people everywhere are celebrating soccer.

Last night the Test series decider between Australia and Ireland had rugby union fans in raptures.

Two weeks ago the MCG hosted League’s State of Origin in front of a record-breaking crowd of 91,513.

Should any of this worry the AFL? No way. Embrace it, I say.

Aussie Rules has been around since the late 1800s.

Coincidentally most other football codes originated at a similar time. Soccer began in England in 1863. English rugby in 1883, league in 1895, and American Football, which broke away from rugby, in the late 1880s.

We have a wonderful sport, which is uniquely homegrown.

Yes, it will have its detractors and go through various stages of the way it is played, but there are enough good-to-great games every weekend for us to remain rapt in our product.

Ireland, with a population of 4.5 million, fills Croke Park (the equivalent of the MCG) with Gaelic football supporters on a regular basis. And thousands turn out weekly to watch hurling.

Still the Irish can produce the No.2 rugby union team in the world and have enough elite athletes left over to play world soccer.

The sporting world has an order. Some sports are international, and some are simply national.

The US has developed gridiron into America’s NFL, where it will stay and continue to prosper.

Ireland doesn’t export Gaelic football or hurling, but it hasn’t diminished either sport’s popularity.

And nor should the AFL take Aussie Rules beyond our boundaries.

There is an increasing negativity about our game, through the media and public opinion, which seems to be influencing the opinions of the league’s hierarchy.

But the very best we can do for football is to accept that rugby league, union and soccer will always be a part of our culture, and stop trying to compete against them.

Hurling has survived for so long because it isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. It has hardly changed through the years, and it hasn’t tried to become a universal sport.

The last thing we need is for our game to start resembling other sports.

It is distinctly different. For a start it’s three-dimensional as opposed to the two dimensions of rugby.

And players of all shapes, sizes and speeds can play it — from the 211cm Aaron Sandilands to the 168cm Caleb Daniel.

The fabric of most sports changes little over the years. Yes there will be a consolidation of the rules, mainly around player safety, but that’s basically it.

Some in the football community think we need to keep tinkering to get nine perfect games of football every weekend. We don’t.

For those wearing the rose-coloured glasses, I started playing VFL in 1972 and there were only one or two really good games per round then too. That’s all you need.

Supporters have been very happy or unhappy for a century.

Last weekend Fremantle supporters loved seeing their side smash Carlton, Blues fans hated it. It’s the way it is. With 18 teams and nine games a round, it’s impossible to please everyone all the time.

I went to the Geelong-Richmond game and watched West Coast and Sydney — neither game was high-scoring (83-65 and 72-57) but the skill and intensity of both made for thrilling spectacles.

Let’s look at the positives.

Dustin Martin, Patrick Dangerfield, Nic Naitanui and Buddy Franklin are ambassadors for the game because kids love watching them play. We need more of these superstars playing Aussie Rules.

It is no coincidence Great Britain started winning a number of Olympic medals after an influx of money from the sports lottery was directed down to grassroots.

It is a wonderful lesson that in this day and age we need to pump more money into grassroots football to keep up with the demand and supply of quality players needed to keep our game elite.

By trying to spread our wings beyond borders or into hostile territory, the AFL is wasting precious money. The focus should be less on competition and more on regeneration. Tasmania is abundant in football talent and crying out for an AFL team. Queensland and NSW are stretched beyond all Aussie Rules limits.

If we neglect grassroots football, if we abandon the plight of Tasmanian football, if we ignore the struggles of country football, we are effectively strangling our game of its most important ingredient — the players coming through.

We live in a multicultural society — multi ethnics, multi interests, multi pursuits. We have players from Ireland, America, Africa and other countries playing our game.

The grand final is televised to supporters all around the world. Aussie Rules is big enough, bold enough and great enough already — let’s keep it that way.