A Proud Australian

A Proud Australian

Commentators tell us that we should be proud of the Socceroos performance at this years’ FIFA World Cup in South Africa. I am a little confused about exactly what I am meant to be proud.

Am I meant to be proud that Australia successfully argued to change its zoning so that qualification into the finals has been made easier because we now only have to be one of the strongest teams in the weakest region?

Should I be proud that in their first game of the tournament the Socceroos let the Germans walk all over them on a scale unseen since Austria let the Germans dominate them without even the hint of a fight in the 1930s?

Can we be proud that arguably the world’s best goalkeeper, and current Australian ‘keeper let through 6 goals in the tournament?

Is Australia proud that its best and most famed player only played 20 minutes of the entire tournament?

Will the history books show the nations pride that the team’s two best strikers only scored one goal between them?

Was I expected to experience a sense of pride in our strikers scoring individual red cards in successive games resulting in subsequent one-match bans for each of them?

Have our standards dropped that Australia is proud of its team winning only one match throughout its short-lived role in this year’s World Cup.

Are we proud that the Socceroos played at a level equal to the insipid motivational farewell speech delivered by then Prime Minister, the day prior to their departure from Australia to South Africa - a Prime Minister who in turn proved to be as successful as the team he farewelled, and who like the team will be forced to see out the end of his tournament from the benches?

Am I allowed to be proud that although three weeks later, without an election that the Socceroos will be welcomed home be a different Prime Minister than the one who wished them well.

Do we forget all the lessons that history has taught us and be proud of and Australian performance that is worse than that of the New Zealand national team?

I am a proud Australian. I am proud that I live in a country where our national team can perform so inadequately on the world stage in a sport we by and large care very little about and that we can still be proud of the performance.