It's easy to focus on Australia's recent poor footballing form, and I'll admit I've spent hours and bucket loads of emotion rueing the tactical travesty that was the Germany game. But this weekend I was reminded why I love football and what it's really all about: I spent two days pitch-side at The Big Issue's Street Soccer National Titles.
To see match action from the competition...
The location was Sydney's spectacular Darling Harbour, the pitch built on a — wait for it — floating pontoon in the heart of FIFA's Football Fan Fest. The pontoon was incredible to see and even better to stand on, with its parts undulating with boats' wakes and the players' movements. Sydney turned on some cracking sunny, cloudless winter weather and the players turned on spectacular football to match.
Players selected from the some 30 street soccer programs The Big Issue runs nationwide represented their respective states to contest the national title and the competition was fierce but friendly. Each team played the other once during the round-robin event, with goals stacking up and tight games that could have gone either way.
Strong and steady Queensland won the grand final to be crowned national champions at the end of the two days, but they faced tough competition to get there. South Australia, which finished second, boasted a strong team, including the small in stature but big in talent Bradley, who national coach and commentator George Halkias likened to Lionel Messi for his ability to weave through players and score.
Surprise standouts were the TAS/ACT team, whose players met only the night before the competition kicked off and who performed like a team who'd been training and playing together for months, not hours.
Female player of the comp Cindy played both outfield and in goals and won hearts all round with her warmth. Even her opposition congratulated when she saved their shots on goal and more than a few of us — me included — welled up when she received the award.
Likewise with male player of the competition, Matthew, whose footballing talent was equalled only by his spirit of fair play. He was just as likely to be encouraging the opposition or helping a player up from the pitch as he was scoring goals or getting back to defend. He was, quite simply, an absolute joy to watch.
In fact, the overall fun and spirit with which the football was played renewed my football vows which, although not broken by Australia's travesty of a World Cup campaign, had been severely tested by it. It was, I have to say, a refreshing and faith-renewing weekend of grassroots football. And it made me — more than any World Cup game I've watched so far — want to get out and play.
To see match action from the competition...
