It made me a Socceroos fan and encouraged me to head out and search for my first copy of FIFA’s flagship video game offering.
To this day my support in English football lies with Swindon Town — the first club I played a season with on FIFA — rather than any of the top dogs of the English Premier League.
But back home, my passing interest in Melbourne Victory following the heights of 2006 waned year-on-year.
It was only through work — and mainly the Kuol family’s involvement — that the fires of passion for the A-League began to burn once more over the past few years.
But what Graham Arnold’s charges — which of course included Shepparton’s Garang Kuol — managed to produce in the Qatar 2022 edition has been nothing short of extraordinary.
From scoring in every game — including Mathew Leckie’s wondrous solo effort against Denmark at the Al Janoub Stadium to send his side into the final 16 — and pushing football giants Argentina right to the final seconds, the Aussies executed a superb campaign.
Forget the fires of passion, Arnie’s Army harnessed lightning and trapped it in a bottle for not only myself, but tens of thousands of Australians across the nation.
I’ve always been a middle-of-the-night sports watcher, but never did I think I’d be battling mosquitoes at 5.30am on a Sunday to watch the Socceroos at a live fan site.
Kudos to Greater Shepparton City Council for standing that site up at extremely short notice as well — all 100-or-so of us down there were riding every shot and save with the same energy as if we were in the stands in those final 15 minutes against Argentina.
What the custodians of the game in this country need to do now though is make sure that lightning doesn’t escape meekly from the bottle — it has to be put to good use.
From a fan perspective, what you can do is simple: keep supporting the game.
I’ve purchased my first A-League membership this week (Sorry Victory, I’m a Mariner through and through these days), snared some Goulburn Valley Suns merch and will be scoping the Shepparton Junior Soccer Association and Bendigo Amateur Soccer League ranks for my eldest daughter’s first future club.
If you’re able to put even a third of the energy and passion you felt for the Socceroos over the past week into the sport at any level in this country, it will be hugely beneficial.
Tyler Maher is the editor of the News.
