Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!!

I admit that I'm not much of a soccer fan, give me AFL or NBA any day of the week. However, with the frenzy surrounding the World Cup here in Europe I have watched Australia's last two matches (vs. Brazil and vs. Croatia). Before this though I would have been pushing it to have watched 5mins of soccer. The TV we have at home is a small one with those wiry antenna things and I'd rather watch no TV than TV of that poor quality.

All the Aussie expats are very into it and patriotic. Earls Court/Fulham/Shepherds Bush are suburbs full of Aussies and Kiwis and all the pubs have huge Australian flags outside and they are packed with said Australians cheering the team on. Went down to the Elk on both soccer watching occasions and saw it on the big screen. Its nice to have the games shown at a decent hour ;-) Yesterday evening was a much happier atmosphere than on the Sunday before... :)

The English are quite amazed at Australia's performance and marvel at how such a small country can be good at so many sports (from motorcycle racing to lawn bowls). It's been eye-opening to see how the rest of the world (well Europe) views Australia in the last 12 months. Generally Australians are well liked and are seen as easy-going and friendly. They may be somewhat lacking in culture, sophistication and refinement but that is forgiveable. Snobbery in the UK sense (class, education) is non-existent and snobbery in the American sense (money) is little in evidence (partly because people care less and partly because income differentials aren’t as pronounced as they are in the US). Our relationship with the Aborigines does bring us into disrepute and people wonder about it considering how multicultural we are otherwise.