It's not un-Australian to cheer against Australia - in fact, in our favourite sports, it is the best option

By Mike Meehall Wood / Editor

Australians are among the sportiest people on Earth.

Much as we like to play code wars with each other, the fact that we can even juggle three national sports at maximum popularity is frankly remarkable. Most countries struggle for one.

This journalist has lived in five different countries, and in four of them – England, Germany, France and the Netherlands – it is football, fresh air, then whatever of cricket, handball, cycling, and speed skating is in season.

In my native Ireland, we do manage to split between Gaelic sports, rugby union, boxing and soccer, but that does somewhat depend on your region and ethnic group, and they don’t really exist in a code war sense like in Australia. Here, we manage to split obsessions like nowhere else.

It does present a bit of a problem on a global scale, because the Australian market power is so dominant that Australia’s own representatives often face the problem of having nobody to play against, and thus a fanbase that, whisper it quietly, often wants their own side to lose for the good of the sport.

In that sense, Shamar Joseph and James Fisher-Harris are unlikely bedfellows as they have done the unthinkable this summer: defeated Australia in a way that made a large portion of watching Australians very happy indeed.

Australia is, obviously, not the global power of cricket, but it is one of the three global powers that hold the keys to whether Test cricket will continue to be a thing or not.

In rugby league, the NRL is the undoubted powerhouse, with a league that obliterates the UK and France, and provides the players for 50% or more of the World Cup.

In AFL, Australia is literally is the only nation that plays and is something of a canary in the coalmine for what a sport looks like when nobody else participates. At least the GAA has a diaspora.

It was hard to ignore the groundswell of love for the West Indies on Sunday afternoon, which was written large across social media.

We could put that down to the stunning performance from Shamar Joseph and the fairytale that he has embodied over the last two matches of this tour, but a lot of it comes from the knowledge that the game itself is bigger than Australia.

Playing cricket on Friday afternoon, when the news filtered through at the drinks break that Australia were 4/24, the reaction was not despair, as it might have been if James Anderson had ripped through the top order. It was excitement.

Test cricket, the format itself, needs a strong West Indies.

(Photo by Chris Hyde – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

Those of us old enough to have enjoyed Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose – not to mention anyone older who may have seen Messrs Richards, Marshall and even Sobers – know the potential in the Caribbean.

But the same was true for Pakistan in their visit this summer, and you didn’t need to have seen Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis bowl to know that. People wanted them to win because it was better for the game, including a lot of Australians.

Sat in the SCG Ladies’ Pavilion on Day 1, the feeling was that Aamir Jamal and Mohammad Rizwan’s swashbuckling 10th wicket stand was exactly what was needed, and that wasn’t just from the Pommy contingent. It was a lot of Australians too.

The same was seen in November during rugby league’s Pacific Championships, where the outpouring of love for Fisher-Harris and his Kiwis following their superb victory was there for all to see.

These were majority Aussie fans celebrating the defeat of Australia, not because of a lack of patriotism but because they knew that it was the best outcome.

Even at the start of that tournament, when the Kangaroos defeated Toa Samoa with relative comfort, the principal story was not the green and gold, rather the Melbourne Storm wunderkind Sua Faalogo. Another Australian win meant nothing.

Ditto last year, when the Kangaroos won the World Cup in Manchester: it wasn’t about James Tedesco and co, but the narrative that had seen Samoa overturn a thrashing in their first game to defeat eternal rivals Tonga and then hosts England in dramatic circumstances to make their first Final.

(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images for RLWC)

The images of fans from Apia, Auckland, Campbelltown and Utah celebrating in the middle of the night were the best of the tournament and showed what international rugby league could be.

This isn’t some sort of anti-Australian rant, by the way.

In other sports, the shoe is on the other foot and Australia winning is the best option for the advance of the sport itself.

One only needs to remember the Matildas’ dream journey in their home World Cup, or the scenes in the middle of the night at Fed Square as the Socceroos advanced in Qatar, or even Tim Tszyu and George Kambosos’ progress in making boxing mainstream entertainment again in this country.

We might even include the Wallabies in that.

As much as the All Blacks enjoy it when they retain the Bledisloe Cup for the 700th time, their marketing department would probably prefer it if they had a competitive opponent across the Tasman.

In England, few things are funnier than Australia losing – the Barmy Army trumpeter could be heard playing ‘Rally ‘Round the West Indies’ in Hyderabad on Sunday – but they would still like the rugby union team to be a live proposition to tour and host rather than a basket case to prop up.

It’s better for global rugby union if Australia are good at it, something that Socceroos and Matildas fans would feel about football in Australia, but that doesn’t carry over for cricket and rugby league, because there’s a difference between Australia winning all the time and being one competitive nation among many.

Steve Smith of Australia reacts during day four of the Second Test match in the series between Australia and West Indies at The Gabba on January 28, 2024 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

In cricket, Australia mostly wins and when they lose, it’s generally to one of England or India, the other two financial powerhouses.

Given that they will be the next two nations to tour these shores, the question of allegiance won’t be on the table as much as it has been this summer.

It won’t be until 2026/27, when Australia have Afghanistan (if that happens) and Bangladesh (whom they have avoided hosting since 2008) that this question comes up again.

Between now and then, they will need to continue their recent streak as good global citizens, preferably by working with the other two bigger nations to work out of a funding pool so that our new favourite tourists, Joseph and Jamal, actually get to play Test cricket at all before they next visit.

If this summer has taught us anything, it is that competitive opposition is what Australia needs most, to the extent that their own supporters want them to lose so that it is encouraged further.

In rugby league, this is old news. The international game has long lived or died based on how much the Aussie public wants to pay for it.

When the Kangaroos lost in November, it immediately galvanised support for next year’s event, with the Kiwis having something to defend and Australia a top spot to reclaim.

Those who supported the upset against their own country this time might not next time – and that’s OK. The international game needed the Aussies to lose.

What is best for sport in general is a competitive balance, and it is something of an international outlier that the three sports most popular in this country are among the most imbalanced internationally.

The only comparable example is perhaps the United States, where they have one sport in which nobody else bothers, the NFL, then another two in which need to lose to someone to make it interesting.

They’ve won 24 of 29 basketball gold medals across male and female competitions and in the recent FIBA World Cup, sent a side that slanted towards youth over big names. They lost, but nobody cared.

Conversely, the US only recently began sending a full team to the World Baseball Classic, such was the lack of interest on the home front. Their big guns played in 2023 and were rewarded with an all-timer in the final against Japan. They lose and this time it meant something, setting up international baseball for years to come.

Australia finds itself in a similar position now, with very little competition in the sports that it cares most about and a need to lose a little more often for the betterment of the game as a whole.

It might be un-Australian to cheer against the national team – but it is the best option for those who love the sports themselves.

The Crowd Says:

2024-02-02T02:21:33+00:00

DaveJ

Roar Rookie


“Australia mostly wins and when they lose, it’s generally to one of England or India, the other two financial powerhouses.”? Shouldn’t forget that South Africa had the better of us from 2008-18, winning three consecutive series in Australia before the sandpapergate series in SA. Never got as much attention as the Ashes, but they were the best team in the world across that decade. It’s a good point about Aussies wanting some of the smaller teams to do well. Though the Windies occupy a special space in cricket, due to history, flair, small size and now underdog status. A total population the size of New Zealand, and an extraordinary amount of talent from just one small island, Barbados, just a bit bigger than Hobart: could field an all time team to challenge any country, of whom 2-3* in a World’s XI best ever: Greenidge, Hunte, Weekes, Worrell, Nurse, Sobers*, Walcott, Marshall*, Garner*, Hall, Roach. Its unfortunate for a football mad country like Australia that the two most popular codes are ones that no else takes seriously. I’ve lived in six countries in three different continents and can say that almost no one has heard of rugby league, no one takes it seriously outside Australia and PNG, Aussie rules is known about as a curiosity. Whereas rugby union is a big deal on the world stage. The obvious solution is to bring in a dictatorship, ban at least one of those two irrelevant codes, and march on to world domination in rugby!

2024-02-02T02:21:07+00:00

DaveJ

Roar Rookie


Good point. I guess the difference is we’re never seen as underdogs as a country, The Windies are a special case in cricket - underdogs, population similar to NZ , but with such a great history and flair and doing it tough for a long time. I would never barrack for NZ, losing to them is almost a disgrace.

2024-01-30T21:53:37+00:00

Tony

Roar Guru


You do know the difference between Australia and South Africa don't you....or haven't they covered that at school yet?

2024-01-30T21:13:17+00:00

jamesb

Roar Guru


I would never barrack against Australia in cricket or in any sport. When I watch live sport, I take it as it comes, whether its a thrashing, close game or something in between. With the regards to the opposition, you should always be respectful of them, irrespective of their ranking. And when they do well, you have to give them utmost due credit for their success. That is my modus operandi when it comes to following international cricket and sport. PS: in another sport like Rugby, do opposition fans barrack for the Wallabies?

2024-01-30T15:16:49+00:00

ojp44

Roar Rookie


I agree wholeheartedly with this Ben.

2024-01-30T15:09:55+00:00

ojp44

Roar Rookie


The captain of Holland is a South African. I assume you are referring to the captain of the Dutch cricket team Lazza... ? If yes, that would be Scott Edwards... an Australian.

2024-01-30T11:52:54+00:00

Ben Pobjie

Expert


Well, yeah. I love it for the sake of the people playing and fans in those countries. I don’t think it’s a sign of the game’s booming popularity.

2024-01-30T11:49:50+00:00

Ben Pobjie

Expert


Lucky they’re notoriously a peace loving people

2024-01-30T11:44:55+00:00

Lukas

Roar Pro


I reckon most Kiwis have now finally decided the Bledisloe is boring and want Australia to get one back just so they can enjoy taking it right back again. But boy oh boy are they torn. Once they won the WC in 2011, it's more about the pain of losing more than than the not winning, if that makes sense. For an example of machine like skill execution even when humiliating an opponent, go no further then Germany in soccer. There's not a team in the world that would have been Brazil 7-1. At 4-0 they would have switched off out of pity. Would not want to fight those guys in a war....

2024-01-30T11:16:04+00:00

Morshead

Roar Rookie


Bit of a stretch comparing a relatively small country by population against the whole continent of Europe.

2024-01-30T09:22:55+00:00

Caniva

Roar Rookie


Sure. But before they are drafting in players from RL state leagues, there is obviously no greater value between Greece versus Serbia in a rugby league test and Croatia playing Denmark in an Australian football game?

2024-01-30T09:18:36+00:00

RayinSydney

Roar Rookie


Make your point, but learn to control yourself and leave out the personal insults.

2024-01-30T09:16:17+00:00

Caniva

Roar Rookie


I don't think its a problem to have international competition that is not the pinnacle of the sport. I think it is only a problem when you are hankering for it to be something it won't ever be. I.e. If you are urging for people from the best nation to cheer on the team from the second best nation because you think it will increase interest you are missing the essence of why people are drawn to competitive sport. Anyway, I wasn't meaning to have a crack at rugby league's international scene, clearly some people get a kick out of it which makes it worthwhile, I was just trying to induce (unsuccessfully) an elaboration from the writer about “what a sport looks like when nobody else participates”. I can only conclude, stripped back, there was nothing there

2024-01-30T08:42:30+00:00

matth

Roar Guru


It’s now a hybrid Commonwealth / Asian game pretty much.

2024-01-30T08:38:54+00:00

matth

Roar Guru


Well said

2024-01-30T08:37:31+00:00

matth

Roar Guru


But that one state you mention only has 5 reps last I checked, which is around their proportion of total population. Plus which of those five are undeserving? Plus we are world champions in two formats, so underperformance is certainly not an issue right now. Did you want to drop Warne just to give MacGill a go? Should we have dropped Lillee to get Geoff Lawson in earlier?

2024-01-30T08:35:06+00:00

matth

Roar Guru


Or a two format world championship team that has lost a total of one series since whenever, so with no one smashing the door down, there are few openings. Except for Neser in England, that was brainless :silly:

2024-01-30T07:58:11+00:00

Ben Pobjie

Expert


There’s quite good international competition at a lower level. The fact that most countries can’t compete with Australia doesn’t mean there’s no value in the fact that Serbia can play Greece in a test. Not all of a sport’s value exists at the elite end.

2024-01-30T07:50:44+00:00

Ben Pobjie

Expert


Honestly, I’ve appreciated Australia’s opponents this summer more than I usually do, and I agree that it’s a good thing overall for the West Indies to have won. But I still wanted Australia to win and would be happier if they had.

2024-01-30T07:49:40+00:00

Ben Pobjie

Expert


I think he’s saying that because he personally knows people that he described, those people do, in fact, exist.

More Comments on The Roar

Read more at The Roar