AUSTRALIA'S GREEN BECOMES PURE GOLD
Peter Holmes

Usually in balmy Perth on a Satdee morning, with the scene gently bathed in pale gold sunshine, I grab a coffee, put my feet up and go through the usual ritual of disseminating the local rag, 'The West Australian', which is thicker than a card carrying Mackem.

That's once I've got the bloody thing home as it takes two flaming arms to carry, then when I've taken all those bloody lifestyle sections out, got rid of the advertising bumph, given the TV magazine to the Bride, I'm usually exhausted so have a Nana nap.

No! Like any sport loving bloke I flip straight to the back pages, as all us Gadgees do, (well once we've perved at page three) and usually put my magnifying glasses on to spot the single paragraph about football buried amongst the page after page of Dockers and Eagles guff about the AFL, aerial ping pong.

Now don't get me wrong, the stubbornly unique code of Australian rules deserves it's iconic status in the sporting minds of Aussies. The same goes for rugby union and rugby league but the time to give credit to football, our football, is well and truly here.

So, what a pleasant surprise I got as this weekend's half a tonne edition of the paper actually had two and a half full pages of football, with wide ranging articles from the chic Socceroos through to the boom in the game at junior level.

One story informed about the local team Perth Glory, and it's possible A-League buyout from no lesser figure than a consortium including the great Gabriel Batistuta, who now lives here by choice for family reasons.

A report of record TV viewer numbers tuning in for the Socceroos 1-0 friendly win over the Greeks, who felt very at home in front of 95,000 in Melbourne, a city which has the largest ex-pat Greek community outside the homeland. A full page of articles about 'the formative lives of three of the Socceroos very best', Boro's own Schwarzer, Viduka and Liverpool's Kewell, more of which later.

The most telling article though, was one which highlighted the fact that there is a massive upsurge in participation in the ever so beautiful game at junior level in this country. So great, that there aren't enough facilities to cope with the influx of football mad bairns, boys and girls, who have been possessed already by the bug that is Association Football.

This pleasing situation will only worsen as the aura of the wonderful World Cup weaves it's magic around the globe over the next month or so as the finals unfold in Germany. Co-incidentally, official figures were released this week by the Government, about junior participation in all sports in this country. This nation as a whole is totally besotted by sport. It's a religion and a mainstay of life and society.

Interestingly the sport that the highest number of youngsters participate in is football. Finally, it's given it's true title here now, not that Yankee bastardisation we've had to put up with for far too long, Soccer.

Does that mean the Socceroos must now become the Footeroos?

As I've said, participation is growing every year and the problem now is literally, keeping the ball rolling at the grass roots level of the game. Now that's where the realigned administration at all levels really need to act with vision and leadership by keeping the building momentum forging onwards and upwards.

Roots grow trees and roots need plenty of nurture.

Let's hope all those many false dawns for the game in this country of twenty million sports addicts finally become one glorious sunrise.

It's inching ever closer, that anticipated 9th day of June when the World Cup kicks off and Australia can finally end those thirty-one plus years of pain, by taking part in the finals of a competition which could redefine the round ball code in the Great Southern land.

It's probably true to say that the game is healthier than it's ever been after some rank amateur attempts at putting it onto the sporting map of Australia. Aussies are the most sport conscious nation on the planet and it's a major facet of the national psyche, the competitive sport gene. Ferocious competitors, very bad losers, mainly because they tend to compete and win at the highest level in everything possible. Second best doesn't equate or matter. They've dominated many sports over the years.

But, the rarefied world of football has always been a far harder nut to crack, because it quite simply is the one and only truly world sport.

The media attitude towards the game has certainly changed for the better and the obvious catalyst for this was that glorious night in Sydney during November last year when the Socceroos dragged the nation screaming into their first World cup finals series since '74. The great bandwagon of sponsors, media and hierarchy, is well and truly rolling at breakneck speed. The green and gold supporters' gear is flooding retail outlets and the talk is of 'how well will we do and how far can we go?'

The Socceroos stars are now popular media darlings who are filling the wide-screen with appearances on various talk shows and starring roles in news and media reports. Adverts are filling the between bits of programmes, featuring the main stars and the print media love the boys in green and gold.

No one more than our own Skippy Schwarzer, who is a now an Ocker legend after those diving heroics against Uruguay in that definitive qualifying penalty shoot-out in the cauldron of Stadium Australia in Sydney.

Apparently, Schwarz was put in goal by his Dad, Hans, the coach of his junior team Colo SC in the working class West Sydney suburb of Blacktown. He was all uncoordinated and gangly playing outfield but eventually turned into a real star between the white posts. Sheer hard work, commitment, physique, professionalism and no little skill eventually got him to the highest levels of the game and a very loyal stint with Boro.

Now he can top his career off in a World Cup finals series in Germany. Dreams fulfilled at the pinnacle event of any pro's career.

The youth of this nation are getting tuned up and surfing the web for knowledge to learn more about Schwarzer and Co. and the world game in general with it's multitude of sparkling superstars who will grace the wonderful stadia of a unified Germany.

Every shop in Oz is on the bandwagon with windows full of World Cup displays and merchandise is being pumped to the masses. The cool, the sporty, the fan, the convert, the expert, the old and the new are getting into the mood. Television audiences will obliterate every viewing record ever set in this nation and viewer-o-meters will go into meltdown.

Unlike many, I was very glad that Australia were drawn in a difficult and hard group, with the fact that Brazil with their Samba magic await in Munich on Sunday the 18th of June as something to savour. This game will require the employers of thousands of people to be prepared to man the sickie phone the next day, and, to accept any old excuse no matter how lame as the game broadcast will finish at 2am on the West coast and 4am on the East coast.

AND that's a bloody Monday morning too!

But, what a platform to shine, as the game will be held in one of the World's most modern and architecturally stylish sports venues, the brand spanking new, 59,000 seater, all singing, all dancing, Allianz Arena. A truly breath-taking and remarkable venue, costing the equivalent of five average Chelsea transfers! This architectural space-ship has a spectacular gossamer skin which has a multi-hued, multi-versatile lighting system U2 would be proud of.

Now, scripted to perfection, what a stage to announce you've arrived, with the World's greatest ever footballing nation for company and the unbackable favourites for this and every Cup, mighty Brazil. Wonder who will wear their preferred green and gold, I know the stadium will be lit in those hues for sure!

People may have wished for easier opponents but not me. I'll enjoy every bloody pulsating minute. I love the World Cup, always have, always will. Clichéd I know but what's not to love as it quite simply has it all!

It's the definitive one sport international tournament, one in which every participating nation who can muster a team of eleven gets a go at making the prestigious finals series.

Pluck a superlative from the dictionary - it has it all and some. Pride, drama, tears, blood, underdogs biting, breathtaking battles, memorable cameos, crushed egos, precocious skill, flamboyant style, disappointments, penalty shoot-outs, shocks, fabulous fans, Brazil!

Regardless of what happens to the Socceroos, the financial windfall that heads Football Australia's way will turn battles on the green into Gold.

Bring it on and let battle commence!

Enough Said,

ErimusRed.

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