...Australia did take defeat to Germany very badly. Fair enough, four nil is a drubbing, but the way they were going on was funny, as if they were one of the 'second tier' clubs (like England?) and that four nil was a humilation, rather than a slightly worse defeat than the one everybody predicted.
It's a bit schizophrenic, because in one sense the Aussies never expect to lose at anything, and if they do they assume it'll be a tight battle. Even when they're playing their fourth sport against one of the world's best teams. On the other hand, with Tim Cahill getting sent off, there's lots of talk about his world cup having finished already if he gets a two game ban. Now, that's obviously true, as one way or another they're going to be without their best player against Ghana, who they have to get at least a point off to keep their hopes alive, but it's weird that they're so stunned to get beat by Germany and yet aren't looking beyond the group stages.
They didn't go potty about the red card either. Like everyone else they thought it was a bit harsh, but they saw that he was roaring in so late that he had ample time to see the ball get passed away, realise he was going to get in trouble for such a late challenge, and start to pull out if it, before finally clattering him with his knees.
My boss is mates with the legendary HG Nelson, and he got him to write this yesterday, which I knocked into shape and stuck on our site (terrible speller). The lads who play Roy and HG (John Patrick Doyle and Greig Pickhaver) were made members of the Order of Australia in the Queen's birthday honors list. Years of great work for charidee mate...
There is a lot of attention on the football though, which has been to rugby league's benefit, as they've had a racism scandal in the run up to the second leg of the State of Origin series, and the detriment of tennis, as Leyton Hewitt beat Federer on grass for the first time in a hundred years.
Andrew Johns, brother of Matty "I love a bun with the lads" Johns, and the lad who got done outside the Church in Kings Cross with pills on him and later coughed to years of drugs whilst a legendary player, is helping coach the NSW origin team and has been liberal in the use of somewhat "old fashioned Alf Garnett-style" language when describing the aboriginal members of the Queensland team. Click the link to see a video of a NSW player who walked out of the team then gave his reasons for doing so on camera.
Once again, Australia feels like it's still in the '70s, and not in a good way. Still, it makes me feel like some liberal progressive man of the world. Which I am, obviously.
1 comment:
Now, obviously racism is a bad thing. Onviously. However, I caught some of the highlights of the 2nd state of origin match last night, and it certainly seemed to me, as a first time viewer to such a game, that something had added a certain frisson to proceedings. I'm not advocating racial provoction before every sporting encounter, merely stating that the incidents before the game surely led to a more robust encounter than usual, which made for quite a spectacle.
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