Aussie’s $10k sacrifice to watch Socceroos stun World Cup
VANCOUVER: When the Socceroos completed a major upset against Türkiye at BC Place, an Australian fan walked past the media zone holding two fingers up.
“Dominated,” he yelled. The salute and passionate one-word statement was a reference to Hakan Calhanoglu’s pre-match declaration that Türkiye would “dominate tomorrow”.
Australian fans celebrate at BC Place. Getty
As that Australian fan made clear to the press pack, the script flipped. The iconic hit Down Under by Men At Work played throughout the stadium and sent shivers through the spine.
Who would have thought that Down Under would be bellowing throughout Vancouver on a Sunday evening at the FIFA World Cup? Not many.
But the seeds were there over the prior two days.
On Saturday (local time), the bond in the Socceroos squad was spotted on this scribe’s plane from London to Vancouver.
It was the injured Riley McGree who had flown to support his mates, despite the pain of injury ruling him out of the competition.
McGree then sat with the fans at BC Place, taking in an iconic moment.
Then there are those fans.
On the morning of game day, Australians were making their presence known.
Socceroos kits, an Adelaide United jersey and even Wellington Pheonix attire were seen at the Spanish Banks Beach parkrun.
A walk downtown revealed the Turkish presence had grown, but it was even with Australians.
With three and a half hours until kick off, the sight of green and gold was clear on Granville Street.
An Australian fan does a shoey outside of Dublin Calling. Lachlan Harper
A flag that read, “girt by the green and gold” was draped out the front of the pub Dublin Calling with fumes of those colours choking out those below. The line for the establishment went around the block.
“Türkiye’s in the bin” was one chant. Harry Souttar’s name was chanted frequently. ‘Ole Ole’ took over the airwaves, too. One man, of course, did a shoey.
For some of these fans, the sacrifice has been huge.
Minh Pham, who travelled with the Fanatics group, told Nine.com.au the trip for all three matches cost over $10,000.
“I came all the way from Adelaide, it was a long flight, but it’s good to be here now,” he said pre-match.
“It’s my first experience being in a World Cup atmosphere and it’s been amazing so far.”
The Fanatics were a big reason behind the strong Australian presence, as was the country’s obsession with Whistler. Many who live there had travelled down to Vancouver for the match.
Plenty of fans had travelled to Whistler from Vancouver pre-match or after too. The cost of staying in Vancouver during the World Cup is a burden.
Some places cost $1000 for a night.
But, evidently, that hasn’t stopped Australians from securing a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Australia is in the top 10 nations at the tournament overall in terms of tickets purchased by country of residency. That includes host nations USA, Canada and Mexico.
Countries like England, Germany, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and France round out the rest of the 10, and have significantly less travel involved to get there.
FIFA’s data suggests more than 10,000 of Australian fans will attend each group stage match.
Three hours away from kick off and Socceroos fans are upbeat. Lachlan Harper
With a strong expat community in the USA, the same support can only be expected in Seattle.
It’s there where Australia’s biggest showdown will be. The Socceroos face the USA at 5am on Saturday (AEST).
The Aussies were once described as a “lay-up”. It’s difficult to see that coming true.
