Gillard coming eclipses Socceroos going

BRISBANE LETTER:THE SOCCEROOS bowed out of the World Cup with pride restored after their win over Serbia but, for a variety of factors, it didn't register too highly here. Heretofore, Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill, especially, have been featuring in a variety of television commercials, while Harry Kewell, who has his own clothing range, was declared Australia's best-dressed man on one Saturday magazine cover, and the Socceroos' World Cup exploits dominated television news as well as sports.

Gradually though, they and the World Cup appear to have slowly ebbed from attention. In Australia, life and especially sport moves on. When rugby league and Aussie Rules aren’t dominating screens and back pages, Wimbledon and the one-day cricket internationals in England have removed replays of World Cup matches from the sports channels, while Australia’s game against Serbia kicked off at 4am on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

But what really moved the Socceroos off centre stage was the very Australian Labour Party coup which yesterday morning saw Julia Gillard installed as Australia’s first female prime minister at the expense of Kevin Rudd, who thus became the first Australian PM to be removed from office without seeing out his first term.

Oh what Raymond Domenech and his disgraced players would have given for a heave against Nicolas Sarkozy . . .

In any event, judging by the TV vox pops of Socceroos supporters in South Africa and in Darling Harbour in Sydney, their team had bowed out with pride after recording only their second World Cup win. One fan even ventured, “Watch out rugby league and Aussie Rules. This was just a stepping stone. We’re going to get our hands on this trophy one day. Go Aussies, Go.”

IN AN Irish context, Queensland would be most akin to Munster. They have that same second-city mentality which makes beating the city slickers from Sydney all the more pleasurable, and the Wallabies will experience this first hand when they play Munster next November as part of their end-of-season tour, even though they are not playing Ireland again after tomorrow until the countries meet in the pool stages of the World Cup.

As a former Queenslander who played in the State of Origin, Les Kiss is particularly enthused about Ireland playing at the Suncorp Stadium tomorrow. Over 45,000 tickets have already been sold, with a typically sizeable Irish contingent of ex-pats converging on an Australian venue and Kiss likened Suncorp to Newlands.

“The atmosphere that it creates is like a big lunchbox and the noses stays in there – it’s very similar. It’s what I call a place where you just want to get out and play, and our guys love that type of atmosphere as well, and the type of vibe that comes with it. A Queensland crowd is a unique type of crowd, so it will be fantastic.”

NO STONE is left unturned, no pasta dish left unchecked as the Irish management use this tour as a reconnaissance mission of sorts for the World Cup. Hence, the management ticket was expanded to 18 for the two weeks the Ireland squad was in New Zealand, as they checked out three of their four pool venues at RWC 2011, with Seán Dempsey, head chef at the Killiney Castle Hotel.

The food, amongst many other things, was an issue at the 2007 World Cup in France, and so Dempsey was brought to New Zealand, before returning home last weekend. The players were happier with this arrangement and so the likelihood is Dempsey will be part of the management ticket at the World Cup.

THE BUZZ of downtown Brisbane and the warmer climes of Queensland has been a welcome finale to the tour and the season for all concerned. Yesterday, nine of the aforementioned management ticket rolled up in the Botanical Gardens to play a dwindling Irish media pack of eight (the economic climate we live in).

Victory for the management by 8-6 in a free-scoring game refereed by Mark Tainton, with Declan Kidney resigned to sideline photographer after, much to his angst, he was ruled out of consideration. This follows on victories for the management in Argentina and in Bordeaux in 2007, thus further casting into history the media’s epic victory in 1999 in Perth.

The management, with one or two exceptions, appear to be getting younger whereas the media has perhaps had its golden generation.