Australians are well received as travellers the world over, but we're particularly well received at the Homeless World Cup (HWC). It's taken me a while to work out why that is. But, after an incredible week in Paris, I've decided it's because we make our own way.

Japan's national women's team might be world champions, but their HWC team is much humbler in its skills. The Aussies started an infectious 'Nip-pon!' cheer before the match against them, which inspired the Japanese to respond with 'Aust-ra-lia'. The three syllables didn't quite fit the cheer cadence, but it was appreciated nonetheless.

It's this encouragement and camaraderie that perhaps inspired one of the Japanese players to run down the line high-five-ing our sideline bench when he scored Japan's opening goal. I've never seen it before and can't imagine any of the other, 'more serious' teams making their opponents comfortable enough to do the same.

Street Socceroos coach George Halkias is central to that ethos, instilling in the players the spirit of fair play and emphasising it throughout the tournament. Few teams acknowledge and cheer their opposition before, during, and after a match. And none do it in the way the Aussies do.

This spirit and this fame for fair play comes, Halkias says, from the culture of the street soccer programme. 'Our guiding principles are participation, fun, and respect,' he says. 'We carry that through.'

Our opponents respond to it too. Portugal, for example, is traditionally a finals contender in the tournament. The players are, as a result, under a lot of pressure. Yet when they played Australia, they were visibly more relaxed and clearly enjoying themselves.

Australian referee Hary Milas continues that Australians-making-good tradition. He owns and operates a specialist referee website http://www.refsworld.com.au/ and outfits the event's referees annually. This means bringing a bunch of uniforms as well as some 60 whistles engraved with the event's year and location, which he then distributes to those who demonstrate the event's fair-play sentiments.

Never was Australia's fair-play attitude and even keel more called for than when they played India in the quarterfinals. The scorer lost track of the score and through a score shuffle and a refusal to admit that he might have made a wee mistake, the score (and Australia) was pegged back at 4-6 at half time instead of the 6-6 deadlock it actually was.

Australia won the second half 3-2, but the score mix-up deficit meant that we lost even though we actually won. Other teams would have been apoplectic, but the Australians took it in their stride.

Almost more fun than the matches they played was the impromptu kick around that took place after they'd played the last game of the day. Everyone else was packing up and heading home, but the Aussies stayed on the pitch and took on the coaches and me. It was a mix of football, Aussie Rules, and rampant cheating, but it was buckets of fun and shook out any ill feelings about the match 'loss'.

It's also been incredible how the Australians in Paris been coming out of the woodwork all week to support the Street Socceroos. They just happen to be getting about with a surprising amount of green-and-gold shirts. One tour group circled us on segways (yes, segways), said they would come down to the next game, and then asked in a very Australian manner if they could get beer into the venue.

Another guy who was in Paris for just two days and who stumbled across the event just happened to be carrying an inflatable kangaroo wearing a green jersey. Random, yes, but fantastic, and nothing less than I'd expect. Go the Aussies!

* LATE UPDATE: The Street Socceroos won the tournament’s Fair Play Award.