Soccermania in OZ?

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Soccermania in OZ?

Pictures of thousands of extatic fans dancing on Melbourne's Federation Square are going around the world at the moment the Socceroos have claimed their place in the final 16 at the World Cup in Germany 2006 for the first time ever. In the SBS studio in Sydney the commentators are shedding tears of joy and officials are already talking about the possibility of hosting the World Cup in 2014. In the rest of Australia people are fast asleep. While the TV pictures on SBS (which covers every game of the tournament) suggest that the country is standing upside down because of Kewells late equalizer against Croatia this is definitely only one part of the story.
Admittedly, the kick-off times are not exactly ideal here in down under but nevertheless there have been games with prime time kick-off. Saturday night, 9pm, in Esperance, WA. The friendly bar staff has readily switched the TV to SBS for us (after interestedly enquiring what's on) and we are getting ready for England to take on Paraguay. However, five minutes into the game we are kindly asked to dilocate as they are shortly going to start their weekly karaoke-competition. While the local crowd is yelling into the microphone we watch the end of the game (without commentary of course) on another TV together with an English couple. The next night we get kicked out at 10pm after the first half of Holland against Serbia and Montenegro. We understand that it wouldn't make sense to keep the pub open for two people.
In Albany, the second largest city in WA, people have also heard of the "big thing" which is on at the moment but that doesn't prevent the pubs from closing at 10pm. We finally find one place which stays open for Australias clash with Japan and watch it together with a dozen of Aussies. One guy watches for a couple of minutes before he remarks in awe that this game is as complex as chess. While the Australian team might have come a long way since 1974 when they last qualified, the Australian puplic (except maybe Melbourne and Sydney) clearly haven't heard about the world game in a while. "There is this very new thing: kicking the ball with the back of the foot", another man is trying to convince us. I have a feeling they 've been kicking the ball like that when Albany wasn't even on any map but I won't tell him. At least we don't have to watch the game alone. There are t-shirts on sale saying "in Guus (Hiddink, the coach) we trust". It is probably not a bad idea.
For the first game of Switzerland we depend on the hospitality of Paul who invites us to watch at his house. Thanks again Paul. Not wanting to risk to miss the upcoming Swiss games we decide to go to the city of Perth where after a good look around we finally find a handfull of places with the ominous licence it needs to stay open late during the World Cup. We still have to remind them to switch to SBS but at least we get to see a couple of matches on the big screen. The police has prevented the erection of an open air big screen because of safety concerns! 10 screaming fans would be considered a riot in the country town of Perth, I suppose. If you go as far as Fremantle the pubs close at 10 again and if you go beyond Midland you won't even be able to pick up SBS anymore (another way to prevent riots).
While the OZ-public definitely takes much more notice of the World Cup than back in 1998 - mainly of course because of the remarkable success of the Socceroos (they are even capable to name their key-players as a little survey in Perths shopping mall has revealed!) - they don't seem to be ready yet to celebrate football like the Europeans, South Americans, Asians and Africans do. The majority of people wouldn't want to watch a game where OZ is not playing. they simply would shake their head if they saw us right now, sitting together with a couple of Chinese fans at the Turkish Kebab place enjoying the match between Germany and Sweden.






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Comments

[Nepe]

Is life possible without?
While in Switzerland BLICK now is entitled KöBI (after Köbi Kuhn the Swiss coach) and there is no meeting without talking about THE GAMES and no food without hint at the game of the games, you describe a world where life goes on without the ball - incredible. It was much fun to read your article - we are looking forward to further ones. Enjoy your big journey - it's the game of YOUR life.