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'Becksmania' entices Aussies
28/11/2007 09:22 - (SA)
Sydney - Australian football may be forever in the debt of David Beckham after 'Becksmania' enticed 80 000 fans to watch an international club friendly.
Los Angeles Galaxy's 5-3 loss to Sydney FC was immaterial. It was the prospect of watching the international football phenomenon strut his stuff for the first time in Australia that attracted the fans in their droves to Sydney's Olympic stadium on Tuesday.
Only Australia's World Cup final eliminators have drawn more home fans than the 80 295 at Tuesday's exhibition.
Charismatic Beckham didn't disappoint his legion of admirers, stroking home a signature "Bend it like Beckham" free kick in the first half and even getting steamed up enough to earn himself a yellow card for a square-up tackle.
Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley declared it as the night football, jostling for media exposure with the rugby codes and Australian Rules, came of age in this country.
Broader group
"The true value in this event is the legacy to the game," Buckley said Wednesday.
"The thing about athletes like David Beckham is that they transcend their sport and get a much broader group of people interested in the game in some shape or form.
"That can only be a positive and only a handful of athletes have been able to achieve that.
"It might not have satisfied some of the purists in the football world, but it will certainly leave a lasting legacy for those 80 000 fans to get excited about the game and either come out and support A-League or national team matches after this," he said.
Former national coach Rale Rasic believes, on a marketing level, the David Beckham experience is so powerful the English superstar's Sydney visit will create a new wave of young players across Australia.
"It is going to have a tremendous effect on the game in Australia for many years to come," said Rasic, who took Australia to the 1974 World Cup finals. "The effect has already begun, because people have been talking about the Beckham visit for months. I don't think you can underestimate the power, in a marketing sense, of this one man.
'Professional level'
"The effect we're going to see in Australia, from him being here, is that all these seven-, eight-, nine- and 10-year-olds will be playing football long after he has left the country because they will have been touched by the excitement of it all.
"I really believe that in eight or 10 years from now we will get players coming through to the professional level who will have been sparked by what they saw when Beckham came out here - and that some of them will be stars. That's how powerful he is as an influence."
The appeal of the former Real Madrid and Manchester United superstar, who earns $1m a week playing for Galaxy, is widespread with youngsters, women, families, football fans all in his thrall.
And even when there were fears that he mightn't see out the game after injuring his ankle in a tackle in the 28th minute, the 32-year-old icon toughed it out for the fans, who had paid big money to watch him play.
"I always try to stay on the field whether I'm injured or get kicked in games, it's part of the game," said Beckham, who lasted the whole game.
"I'm quite a stubborn person so when I want to play and when I want to stay on there are not many people who can bring me off and convince me to come off.
"The first time I heard about the 55 minutes I was contracted to play here was yesterday, but I wanted to stay on for the whole game, there were so many fans and they expect you to perform and be out there for as much as possible."
The Beckham roadshow continues on to New Zealand for LA Galaxy's second and final tour match against Wellington Phoenix on Sunday.
- AFP
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