Glutbusters

June 22, 2006

Why I Have Been Away #1

I have been watching a lot of the World Cup. And it has been putting tremendous demands on my time.

As that previous post shows, I am not from a soccer family. But like so many others, we were always a World Cup family, starting with my Dad shaking me awake in a motel room in Healesville to see Cameroon beat Argentina in the opening round of Italia '90. Because of our heritage, our team was Italy, which is kind of like barracking for Richmond. They often show a lot, but they are more often cruelly denied.

So it is magnificent to have my own country there. I've always found it fascinating the way national characteristics are played out in national football teams. Traditionally, the Brazilians are flamboyant, exciting, attacking; the Germans are defensive, well-organised, efficient; the Italians are passionate, but prone to falling apart under pressure; and the Japanese are industrious without being spectacular. Gross generalisations, all of them, but I loved the way they played out.

It's been ace for me to see Australian national characteristics coming through in our national team. We're determined, we're hard-working. We're physical, and we don't dive. And we absolutely refuse to give up until the very end. These characterstics got us through the Japan game, and prevented us from falling to pieces against Brazil (as Australian teams of old might have done).

Times like this, when I am filled with the good side of Australian spirit, I get depressed that Australian nationalism has in many ways become associated with things like Cronulla. So it's nice that we're having a little bit of success in something that is truly international - hopefully it will remind us that we are just an island at the bottom of a very big world after all, and go some way to breaking that association.

Filed under Sport