CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
As ticket sales and TV ratings throughout the FIFA Women’s World Cup surpass even the most ambitious estimates, it seems the Aussies are real soccer fans after all.
Earlier this week, the Australian and New Zealand tournament hosts crossed over 1.7 million ticket sales. FIFA’s original ticket sales target for the tournament was 1.3 million, and this was later revised to 1.5 million sales. 1.1 million fans attended the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 – already over 1.3 million fans have been in the stands in Australia and New Zealand so far.
This has shattered records for tournament attendance in Australia, surpassing previous international sporting exhibitions including the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
However, while we are turning up in droves for these matches with the same passion usually reserved for European or South American fans – we still don’t know how to cheer like them.
Aside from the odd ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi’ or even a half-hearted Mexican Wave, Australian fans mostly just sit there and yell indecipherable advice to athletes – as well as rather harsh criticism of the referees.
In fact, in some matches the overwhelming number of Aussie fans have even been drowned out by the European minority.
It’s for this reason, the Aussie fans have begun preparations to sing songs like they do in Europe – in an effort to inject a bit of festivity into the competition.
The British sing ‘Sweet Caroline’ and the Italians sing ‘7 Nation Army’ – even the Balkan nations have their own genocidal war ballads. The big question for Australia has been ‘what will be our song?’
With Darryl Braithwaite and John Farnham a bit too wordy, it seems the Matildas fans have settled on the only song that every Aussie knows and can belt out at the drop of a hat.
And that is, the 2000 EDM hit ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ by eccentric Melbourne EDM band The Avalanches.
Other frontrunners included The Divinyls ‘I Touch Myself’ and Kisschasy ‘Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm At Night’ – before the fans decided upon a song the perfectly articulates the mentality of Australian sports fans.
Complete with fans harmonising the sample a mental health professional at the start of the song, overseas fans have been blown away by Australia’s bold choice to sing a song that’s lyrics centre around diagnosing a criminally insane child.
DEXTER IS ILL!
THAT BOY NEEDS THERAPY!!!
#TilItsDone
