Ten years to the day: We'll never see another game like it

Surely he never said that about a man receiving a cancer diagnosis?

One island with one republican nation state and one sub-national country who together constitute a single nation of the Irish people. It's complicated.

The comparison with the Americas Cup (and Freeman's 400m final win at Sydney 2000) is important. What all three of those events, departed being very different sports and contexts, is that all three were about the nations sense of itself.

I think it had alot to do with what someone alluded to before, coming from such a football mad country the English immigrants just wanted to see the game prosper here so you saw them get heavily involved at a grassroots level and generally supporting football at all levels including the Socceroos. I think being hard nosed working class Englishman and being told how crap soccer is and how less of a man you are for following it made them even more intense about pushing the game forward. Physical confrontations in the name of the sport were not uncommon from what i was told, i guess most dockers from south london don't approve of being called a poofter! It's different now though i think most newer arrivals from the mother country stick to supporting England and their clubs from back home and that's cool and totally natural. Maybe when we beat them at Upton Park they were like " ok you blokes are doing alright now you're on your own" haha

I use the term "nation" as distinct from "country" specifically because I recognise that fact. A "nation" of people can exist over more than one legal territory. For instance, the "Pashtun Nation" covers territory that covers both Pakistan and Afghanistan in spite of not having a "country" of its own. "Nation" can mean different things to different people, but I'm very much using it to refer to the shared culture and history of Ireland.

"They’re separate countries, but one nation." The Republic of Ireland has its own Government, its own currency, its own Constitution, its own judicial system, its own police force, its own army. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. It's all one island; but it's not one nation. Well not at the moment.

They're separate countries, but one nation. With regard to the Irish Rugby Team, that's incorrect. In Rugby, Ireland play under a separate flag specific to representative of all the regions and play a song called "Ireland's Call" instead of either north or south anthems.

The Republic of Ireland is a separate country. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. As far as I know, Ireland played under the flag of the Republic of Ireland at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

True. That said, there is a subset of the Irish community that loath both Rugby and Soccer due to them being English sports and would rather everyone just play Gaelic Football and Hurling. One thing I do find odd is how the Irish soccer sides are divided into North and South... why don't they do what Rugby do and have an All of Ireland approach?

Indeed. Again though, I was largely un-attached and unaware of that history at the time, so for me it felt a little different. But again, I recognise this is different for those who suffered through those long years - hence the comparison to the Waratahs 2014 triumph after 20 years of waiting.

Interesting reading English blokes who've come out here and identified so heavily with Australian soccer. I can certainly see how that could be the case for some immigrants, but equally I can see how Rugby League and Union has been a welcoming community for those of Pacifika extraction. These days if you look at the Wallabies the ratio of non-white and anglo players is over 50 percent. I suppose it's all about what you're brought up with. My partner is a Tongan Australian and her family have all played Rugby and are heavily involved in the rugby community in general. They generally don't have any connection to soccer communities, which still have a much stronger bond with Eastern European and Mediterranean immigrant communities. That said, this is something that has actively changed over the past few decades. 20 years ago Australia didn't have a big Pacifika community and the Wallabies were a much "whiter" team. These days the Wallabies look more racially varied than most of our other national teams.

Whatever mate. I was at the game and booed like crazy. Why? Well, 4 years prior our Socceroos were spat on and kept up all night with their supporters outside our hotel in Uruguay. Then, in 05 we were treated poorly when we were in their country. On top of that, the Divine Right call had us angry. YOU DON'T SPIT ON PEOPLE. Because of all this, I LOVE THAT WE BOOED TEHM!!

Mike - Good to hear from you again and as usual with a subject that gets one thinking,While it is extremely difficult to define the word " greatest" and what it means to different people, like another poster "Daniel", I found my mind wandering back to a night some 3 years earlier to a supposed "friendly" match ,with nothing other than reputation at stake, when I got the impression that perhaps we were on the right track after all. I refer to the game at Upton Park in 2003 when it was felt the "colonial upstarts" were being set up as "cannon fodder" for the pride of England a game that by the end had achieved headline status in the media but not for the end result. Lets examine the pedigrees of those taking part side by side England Australia David James - (91 games with West Ham in EPL) Schwartzer - (367 games with Middleborough in EPL) Gary Neville - (400 games with Man U. in EPL) Neill -(188 games with Blackburn in EPL) Rio Ferdinand - (312 games with Man U.in EPL) Moore - (102 games with Rangers in SPL) Sol Campbell -(135 games with Arsenal in EPL) Popovic (123 games with Crystal Palace in EPL) Cole - (156 games with Arsenal in EPL) Lazaridis (191 games with Birmingham in EPL) Beckham - (265 games with Man U. in EPL) Emerton (92 games with Feyenoord in Holland) Lampard - (429 games with Chelsea in EPL) Okon (15 games with Leeds U. in EPL) Scholes - (466 games with Man U.in EPL) Skoko (100 games with Genk in Belgium) Dyer - ( 190 games with Newcastle in EPL) Chipperfield (269 games with Basel) Owen - 216 games with Liverpool in EPL) Viduka (130 games with Leeds U. in EPL) Beattie - 204 games with Southampton in EPL) Kewell (181 games with Leeds U. in EPL) These teams,especially England,reads like a who's who of English ,if not European football at that time.Our lads were equally represented as indicated by where and for how long they had played. The result at half time England 0 Australia 2. The English partof the crowd were stunned and at half time the England manager Erikkson(another super coach) changed his complete team bringing on some other known names,Rooney (Man U.) and Jeffers (Everton). No matter. Final score England 1 Australia 3. I think that was the night a warning bell was rung around Europe that perhaps the "colonials" were no longer tobe regarded as "whipping boys". A very memorable night.indeed. Cheers jb

Lighten up Ian - I remember at the time that Midfielder and Fussball found that line quite amusing. Australia loses to the tiny nation of NZ at rugby because Australia doesn't really play rugby. Well, not much anyway.

Australia v England at a world cup?, i can't imagine how massive that would be. Maybe throw Uruguay in there as well with Italy for good measure.

Anti climactic? As you say, context is important. The context was 32 years if disappointment.

You might be right "as a rule" but there have been indigenous socceroos and matildas, and particularly early on, they looked on the soccer community as a respite from the treatment they received elsewhere. http://mobile.news.com.au/entertainment/books-magazines/the-aboriginal-soccer-tribe/story-fna50uae-1226261625402 it's easy to see in general how the socceroos became a team for many migrants and their sons and daughters.

My fathers side are English, my Grandfather moved the family here in 68. My Grandfather was a passionate 3 lions fan but a big Australian fan also as are my father and uncles, it was huge thing for him to see us qualify for a world cup and i watched both the 93 and 97 qualifiers with him and he was absolutely gutted with both failures. Unfortunately he passed a few months before we qualified but i can tell you there wouldn't have been a prouder Bermondsey boy on the planet when Aloisi slammed home that penalty.

Yeah completely agree freddie and towser, same here. The Socceroos were the first aussie national team I supported because I also felt they represented all aspects of australia, people who look different, have a different last name or a different accent. I didn't feel ostracised watching football shows hosted by people with migrants names or migrant accents. I have met a fair few foreigners in my time here and most of us are in agreement that football in Australia was one of the first and few 'families' that helped us feel at home. People were not afraid to talk about a sport foreign to them and for us foreigners who sometimes felt aussies were very insular and only cared about 'their' things, it was great to share the few things we had in common. Watching Ange's mum last night talk in Greek actually reminded me of how welcoming the football family must have been. That's why I think many new migrants adopt it before any other oz NT imo.