Craig Andrew FosterAM (born 1969), nicknamed Fozzy or Fozz, is an Australian retired soccer player, human rights activist and sports analyst for the Stan streaming service in Australia. Foster played soccer professionally from 1988 to 2003, including for the national team, the Socceroos, from 1996 to 2000, and was chief soccer analyst for SBS from around 2002 until June 2020. He was the 419th Socceroo, and the 40th captain of the national team.
Foster is also known for his human rights advocacies, and is a vocal critic of the Australian Government's treatment of asylum seekers. He played a high-profile role in the campaign to free Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi from detention in Thailand in from late 2018 to early 2019, later co-writing a book about it, Fighting for Hakeem, which became the working title of a 2023 documentary film (renamed The Defenders).
Playing as a midfielder, Foster debuted with Sydney Croatia in 1988, playing in a losing grand final in his first season. Foster has said his time at Sydney Croatia is what began his interest in multiculturalism.[3]
As of 2022,[update] Foster still plays for Waverley Old Boys Over 35s.[12]
Other roles related to soccer
Foster in 2011
Foster started his on-air career with the Seven Network, serving as a soccer analyst and principal commentator on their then pay TV sport channel, C7 Sport, as well as regularly appearing as a panellist on SBS' weekly soccer program On The Ball. He later joined SBS full-time, working with Les Murray and the Johnny Warren at the helm of SBS' hugely successful soccer broadcasts.[14][27] He became known as "Fozz"[28] or "Fozzy".[29]
Following his retirement from professional soccer, Foster became the chief soccer analyst for the SBS show The World Game, from around 2002 until June 2020.[30] He is remembered for his commentary during the World Cup Qualifier in November 2005 against Uruguay,[31][12] and during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Foster was part of the SBS commentary team from Germany.[14]
In 2007, Foster was invited to be the Australian representative to judge the Ballon d'Or, the highest award given to an individual soccer player.[31][14]
Also in 2007, he was a coach for the team assembled by the SBS television show Nerds FC in their second season.[31][39]
Foster has been a strong advocate for players' rights, having served for five years on Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) Executive, as a Director of the PFA's commercial wing, PFAM (PFA Management), and formerly as Interim Chief Executive of the Australian Soccer Players' Association (PFA's former name).[31][3] He is a life member of the PFA, and in 2016 was appointed interim chairman of the PFA.[43]
Foster was vocal in campaigning on behalf of Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi, who was granted protection as a political refugee in Australia in 2014 but was detained upon arrival in Thailand in November 2018 while on his honeymoon with his wife owing to an Interpolred notice put out by Bahrain. Foster travelled to Switzerland to present a petition with more than 50,000 signatures demanding the release of the detained footballer and held talks with general secretary Fatma SamouraFIFA on 29 January 2019, spent time in Thailand speaking to al-Araibi's legal team and visited al-Araibi in prison.[47] Foster's many tweets on the topic were widely shared.[48][non-primary source needed] After al-Araibi's release was secured, others tweeted nominations for Foster as Australian of the Year or even prime minister. Many politicians, including prime minister Scott Morrison praised him for his efforts.[13]
Foster said after the release of al-Araibi that the fight had just begun, and after the incident had shone light on the atrocities against athletes during and after the Bahraini uprising of 2011, what was needed is a full investigation into the matter by both FIFA and the IOC to ensure that justice is done for all athletes. He also implicitly offered criticism of Australia's current policies on refugees, saying "Australia needs to look at how we treat every human being that comes to these shores, irrespective of how they arrive... We are all equal, and should all be treated with equal dignity, care and respect", and "Australia must do better than we have in recent years".[13][49]
On 22 February 2019, Foster published an open letter to the Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and leader of the opposition, Bill Shorten, in The Sydney Morning Herald, in which, after thanking them for their assistance in helping to free al-Araibi, he addressed the issue of how Australia treats its asylum seekers. He said "I have waited until after Hakeem was safely home [from Thailand] to explain that one of the reasons it was so difficult to garner international support was because of our own treatment of refugees. This was a constant theme throughout discussions with international stakeholders" and "The policy of indefinite, offshore detention does not uphold our international obligations...". He said that he was urging others to uphold their human rights obligations in allowing al-Araibi to return to Australia, while "we are failing to uphold our own".[53]
He became the face of Amnesty Australia's "Game Over" (#GameOver) campaign in late 2019, which has been supported by high-profile sportspeople such as Liz Ellis, Benny Elias, Paul Roos, Ian Chappell, Lisa Sthalekar, Paul Wade, Frank Farina, Alex Tobin, Craig Moore; musician Jimmy Barnes, actors Bryan Brown and Anthony La Paglia musicians and many others.[54][12]Sally McManus, and many others. The campaign centres on the plight of asylum seekers kept in indefinite detention by the Australian Government, for many years after 2013 at detention centres on Manus Island, (PNG), and Nauru.[55][56] In October 2020, as part of the campaign, Foster and NRL star Sonny Bill Williams presented a petition containing more than 65,000 signatures to federal parliament, which called upon the government to take up New Zealand's longstanding (since 2013) offer to resettle refugees who had been held Australian offshore detention for many years.[57]
On 23 March 2022 Foster delivered the Australian National University's annual "Australia and the World Lecture", which had been postponed from 2021 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, at the National Press Club of Australia. It was titled "Human Rights, Democracy and Global Citizenry - Recovering Australia's Humanity and Place in the World: 2021 ANU Australia and the World Lecture".[15] The address looked at Australia's role in the world from the lived experience of asylum seekers and refugees, and argued that the nation should live up to its commitments as a responsible global citizen.[58] In the talk, he said that Australia had not performed well Indigenous and refugee rights or on climate change. He bemoaned the lack of good leadership on these issues, and said that the colonisation of Australia had been underpinned by racism, and is still present in policy and media coverage; that it is a "festering sore on the national psyche".[59][60][61] The following day, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews announced that the government would accept New Zealand's to resettle some of the refugees.[62]
Saudi Arabia and Qatar
Foster was a vocal critic of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, particularly on the issue of wage theft and labour abuses on the migrant workers that built the World Cup infrastructure. He has vocally supported the #PayUpFIFA campaign of the Human Rights Watch, which advocates for the payment of US$440 million for the affected families of the mistreated migrant workers.[63] He has also criticised Saudi Arabia's sponsorship of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup as a case of sportswashing, stating that "It would be quite the irony for Saudi’s tourism body to sponsor the largest celebration of women’s sport in the world when you consider that, as a woman in Saudi Arabia, you can’t even have a job without the permission of your male guardian." He also criticised the reform policies of Mohammed bin Salman as mere "publicity stunts" to diversify the Saudi economy.[64]
Foster was the chair of the Australian Republic Movement (ARM)[65] Up until May 2024, he was the co-chair of ARM alongside former Olympian and senator Nova Peris, who resigned to disagreements with Foster's criticism of Israel during the Israel–Hamas war. Peris, a supporter of Israel, accused Foster of making "inaccurate and divisive public statements" in regards to the war.[66] Following this, Foster himself stood down.[67]
He has volunteered with Play for Lives (#PlayForLives), a response to the COVID-19 pandemic by sporting people and bodies, which began in Australia and expanded internationally.[58][68]
He is a driving force behind "#RacismNotWelcome",[58] a grassroots campaign initiated the Addison Road Community Centre,[12] supported by local government associations across Australia.[69] Their strategy includes building street signs bearing the slogan "#RacismNotWelcome" in every local council in Australia.[70]
As of 2022[update] Foster also holds the following positions:[15][58]
Adjunct Professor of Sport & Social Responsibility with Torrens University
Artist Julian Meagher decided that he would paint a portrait of Foster each year until it was shortlisted for the prestigious Archibald Prize. His first attempt in 2020 did not make it, but in 2021 his portrait, named Fozzy, made the shortlist.[29][75]
In 2021, Foster was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to multiculturalism, to human rights and refugee support organisations, and to football.[76][58]
Addresses
2019: Foster gave the opening address for the UN's Centre for Sport and Human Rights Conference in Geneva[58]
Foster, Craig (May 2010), Fozz on Football, Hardie Grant Books (published 2010), ISBN978-1-74273-582-5[28]
Foster, Craig; Engel, Alexandra (29 October 2019), Fighting for Hakeem, Hachette Australia (published 2019), ISBN978-0-7336-4317-0 (Subtitled: How people power challenged two monarchies, a military junta and football's governing body FIFA... and won.)[58]
Personal life
Foster is married to Lara Foster, and they have three children, Jake, Jemma, and Charli.[71] He wrote a dedication to them in Fighting for Hakeem.[78]
He says he is an introvert, who does not relish social situations.[71]
^Oceanian Player of the Year 1997 "This award is open to all players originating from Oceania, no matter where they play. The winner is chosen by a forum of journalists." The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 4 Jan 2000.
^"Craig Foster". Platinum Speakers. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
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