Courage Over Comfort

When I had the choice…

Craig Foster was 23, rising through the Socceroos, when he saw something that bothered him. Older players getting injured and being denied medical treatment. Teammates without power getting pushed around.

He had a choice. Use his growing status for himself, or use it differently.

"I was quickly coming into the Socceroos. And therefore, within that setting, I had value and I knew that I had value. Within that environment I had that, and then I started to flex that power... for the other people within that setting."

That choice set the pattern for the next thirty years. Legendary AFL coach Ron Barassi used to say: "The great people are better than human nature." Fozzie understood this is what leadership would ask of him—a 'get to' thing, not a 'got to' thing.

The taxi to Zurich

In 2018, Fozzie found himself in a taxi heading to FIFA headquarters. It was about Hakeem al-Araibi, a 25-year-old Bahraini refugee footballer detained in a Bangkok prison, facing extradition to a country where his life would be in danger. Walking into the FIFA Headquarters that day to confront the game’s most senior people, he understood his relationship with the sport that had been his life might end that day.

He turned to my brother Brendan and laid out exactly what they were walking into:

"I said, we've known each other a long time. I'm just telling you, if you come into this meeting, don't ever come back to me again and say that your career was destroyed... Because I'm telling you after this meeting, there's a high chance that neither you or I will ever be invited back to FIFA."

Both knew there was no doubt they were going into that room. The conversation wasn't about whether, but about acknowledging what it would cost, for Hakeem.

In those moments when everything can seem wrong, when the pressure mounts to walk away, leadership asks you to hold two seemingly contradictory ideas: this might ruin what you've worked so hard to build, and this is exactly what you must do.

Better than human nature

Fozzie talks about moments when stepping back feels natural. When protecting yourself makes sense. When everyone would understand if you walked away.

"You have to understand it. That's true. You have to fight against it and you have to anticipate it... leaders have to be better than human nature."

In Saudi Arabia in 1997, when the Socceroos were being denied prize money, most players would have stayed quiet. Fozzie called a meeting. Twenty of twenty-three players backed him, knowing it could cost them their international careers.

Some did step back later when the pressure came. That, too, is human nature.

The framework

Fozzie studied law, finishing his degree at 50. He's anchored himself to something bigger than opinion—international human rights law.

"The beauty of the human rights and international law framework, for example, is that it is objective... it cuts through a lot of the conversations about this is what I feel or this is what I think or this is my political view."

This framework doesn't resolve every tension, but it helps him find wisdom within them. It guided him through the #SaveHakeem campaign. Through #GameOver for 400 refugees detained on Manus Island and Nauru. To Cox's Bazar refugee camp with a million Rohingya. To Kabul as it fell, evacuating nearly 100 Afghans, including the women's football team.

Each time, the same choice. Courage over comfort.

What you discover

Fozzie learned something about himself through these choices. About all of us.

"You'd be surprised the limits that you're prepared to go to when you believe in something and you think that it's right."

And: "You have to be prepared to go through the greatest level of difficulty in order to reach a new plateau."

Being willing to stay in difficult moments long enough to find what they're trying to teach you.

There is no cliff

After thirty years of choosing the harder path, Fozzie discovered something that might surprise people still weighing their choices:

"What you tend to find is if you stand on important principle, actually others see that anyway, and you'll find that new doors will open for you... You're not going to fall off a cliff. There is no cliff."

NSW Australian of the Year 2023. Member of the Order of Australia. Not despite his choices, but because of them.

The question Fozzie's been asking himself for thirty years is simple: When I had the choice, did I choose courage over comfort?

As leaders, this question will be asked of us all of the time, and only we 'get to' answer it.

Notebook ready.

Play on!