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This may seem like the most ridiculous statement ever written, but while breaking a nations heart but, what Peter Hore did at the MCG on that dark night on the 29th November, 1997 was, in the long run, a good thing for Australian Football.
Now before you stop reading in disgust, I think the game in Australia is in better shape than ever.
Along with 88,000 others, I was there at the MCG, sitting in the Olympic stand on cloud nine when Aurielio Vidmar put Australian football on the map, more importantly putting them 2-0 up just after half time. It was 3-1 overall, after a young Harry Kewell had silenced the Tehran fortress a week earlier, scoring Australia’s goal in a gutsy 1-1 draw.
Terry Venebles’ Socceroos were clearly dominating, the crowd were dancing in the isles: “we’re going to France, we’re going to France” was the catch-cry from large sections of the crowd.
I don’t believe we were being cocky, we were dominating play and Iran had to score two goals. And the way the Iranians were playing, this looked very unlikely.
Nothing could spoil the mood of everyone at the ground. People were hugging strangers, chanting that ridiculous “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi,” until our lungs gave in.
There was something magical about those few moments at the ‘G.
What happened next will stay with me for the rest of my life. Someone had run onto the ground and disturbed the net on the Iran goals. The game had to stop for a number of minutes and the Socceroos’ momentum was disturbed.
And as we now know, the national team never got going again.
From that moment on, Iran owned the game — scoring twice and going through on the away goals rule to France 98′.
The ground intruder was serial pest Peter Hore.
He is a well-known offender and has made offending appearances at INXS frontman Michael Hutchence and racing legend T J Smith’s funerals. Amongst other events, he has run onto the track at the Melbourne Cup, and also interrupted the Australian Open men’s tennis final.
In a crazy few moments, Peter Hore had ruined the the dreams of 23 of the finest Australian footballers ever assembled. And while Iran were collecting the France stamp on their passports, Australia would watch the 64 games of the 1998 World Cup with a distinct hatred for Peter Hore.
Fast forward to 16th November, 2005.
This time we faced South American side Uruguay, with a World Cup berth for either nation on the line through the lottery of the penalty shootout. We all know what happened when Mark Schwarzer made two of the greatest penalty saves and John Aloisi wrote himself into footballing folklore.
This was a night for redemption. After so many near misses and heartbreak Australia were joining another 31 nations at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
People were dancing in the street, cars were honking their horns, the nation was ecstatic. Never before had football in this country been celebrated by so many, for so long.
During the World Cup campaign, everyone from tradies to bank tellers stayed up all through the night to watch Cahill, Kewell and company display their skills. You didn’t have to explain to the boss why you only had a few hours sleep because across the country it seemed everyone was on the same page.
Since then, the A-League seems to be growing stronger every year. We have changed Confederations and are one of the powerhouses in Asia.
We have players in the best leagues in the world, Westfield chairman Frank Lowy has given his financial backing to the team, and we now have reached the top 20 in the FIFA rankings.
Would this have all been possible if that serial pest Peter Hore not ran onto the MCG that fateful night?
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