Harry Kewell: the man Australia fell in love with twice
He never reached his full potential, but Harry Kewell was a symbol of Australia's rise on the international
Harry Kewell retires from football. An outstanding career, a great player, a true legend of the Australian game. But imagine what could have been.
The answer to ‘what could have been’ starts with the final World Cup qualifier between Australia and Iran in Melbourne in November 1997 when almost the entire MCG – and many more thousands watching at home – believed that this would be our time: after what was then a 24-year gap, Australia would finally make it to the World Cup once more in 1998. It didn’t happen, of course and that moment has become the Gallipoli of Australian football. Wasted effort. A generation unfulfilled. A glorious defeat.
But it was the first-leg of that two-match qualifier that really set Australia up in the first place. The Socceroos had come away from an inhospitable environment in Teheran with an unexpected 1-1 draw that favoured them nicely at home under the away goals rule. Who scored that goal? A 19-year-old called Harry Kewell.
Harry Kewell's best performances at club level came during his time with Leeds United, where he was named PFA Young Player of the Year. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Allsport
Nineteen. This is when we began to love Harry. He became ‘Harry Kool’, and Australia watched him grow up. But he hasn’t always shown the same love for Socceroos fans. Between 1998 and 2005 he played 13 games for the national team. The Socceroos had 67 matches in this time.
His unavailability for internationals began in 1999 in what was nothing more than an exhibition match against a Brazilian ‘B’ side. On the evening he was due to fly out of Manchester for the trip home, his club Leeds sent a fax (nothing official was done by email back then) saying: “Harry Kewell has succumbed to an injury and is unavailable to play for Australia”. A pattern was set: time-after-time he was selected; time-after-time, he had an injury.
In those days, the Socceroos were not a well-resourced machine with their own physiotherapy and fitness staff on-hand in London as was the case in 2006. The Socceroos coach at the time, Frank Farina, met with his counterpart at Leeds, David O’Leary, and Australia’s medical staff asked if they could assist with rehabilitation. Approaches were given short shrift. Kewell left most of the talking to O’Leary, or his personal manager, Bernie Mandic, who was with him until two years ago.
And, as much as we admired Kewell for his sheer talent and the entertainment and excitement he brought to the field, this was also the beginning of the love-hate relationship that has endured with many ‘pre-2005’ Australia fans to this day.
Not that Harry was alone. In a sign of the times and the status of Australia in world football, some other big name Socceroos players did the same. They were constantly torn between their high-paying clubs on the one hand, and national team duty that was either a friendly match or, if competitive, against a team from Oceania. Joining the Asian Football Confederation has changed those dynamics for the better.
In 2003, Harry joined one of the most famous football clubs on the planet, Liverpool – the second Australian to do so after Craig Johnston. After a solid first season, he endured a second from hell culminating in being booed off the ground by Liverpool fans in the Champions League final in 2005.
He was also to blame for the second goal in Athens when a lackluster effort to track back let AC Milan March freely towards their second goal.
Kewell, as it happens, really was injured: he had a torn adductor and a then undiagnosed condition known as ‘Gilmore’s Groin’. It was the start of an injury-plagued remainder of his career.
Only a few weeks after Kewell had limped off for Liverpool in the 2006 FA Cup final, we fell in love with him again – and certainly a new generation of Australian football fans did for the first time.
It was the 2006 World Cup. He was nursed through injury – and eventually could not continue after the group stages because of a bacterial infection – but he was immense in that tournament, culminating in a man of the match performance for a 2-2 draw against Croatia that put Australia into the second stage.
When the ball came near Kewell, you felt the hope, excitement and anticipation within the stadium, and crackling through the TV screen. Something was going to happen.
Kewell had changed in other ways in his absent years. The reserved and wary teenager had matured into being a more outgoing, friendly and relaxed person. It was a combination of marriage, parenthood, an ambition realised and becoming his own man.
He went on to play another 37 games for Australia including the 2007 and 2011 Asian Cups as well as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Some of those performances have shown us the ‘Harry Kool’ we first loved – none more so than when he captained the side in Dubai against Iraq in a World Cup qualifier in June 2008. Australia lost that game 1-0 in difficult conditions, but Kewell was immense.
An English colleague recently remarked that, for him and his friends, it was Harry Kewell who made them take notice of Australian football. They realised that “Australians could play”.
Others thought so too. When Australia was planning its 2018/2022 World Cup bid, international research showed that Harry – who was then playing for Galatasary in Turkey – was the best-known and most recognisable Australian player at the time. By a long shot. It is why he became the centrepiece of this initial promotional film that launched the bid.
I worked with him on the bid and I can confirm he did not demand payment. There was no fuss, no hangers-on. He was patient and enthusiastic. This was something he did for Australia. Imagine what could have been had Kewell not been burdened by injury.
Well played ‘Harry Kool’. Thanks for the memories.
http://www.theguardian.com/football...ell-the-man-australia-fell-in-love-with-twice
He never reached his full potential, but Harry Kewell was a symbol of Australia's rise on the international
Harry Kewell retires from football. An outstanding career, a great player, a true legend of the Australian game. But imagine what could have been.
The answer to ‘what could have been’ starts with the final World Cup qualifier between Australia and Iran in Melbourne in November 1997 when almost the entire MCG – and many more thousands watching at home – believed that this would be our time: after what was then a 24-year gap, Australia would finally make it to the World Cup once more in 1998. It didn’t happen, of course and that moment has become the Gallipoli of Australian football. Wasted effort. A generation unfulfilled. A glorious defeat.
But it was the first-leg of that two-match qualifier that really set Australia up in the first place. The Socceroos had come away from an inhospitable environment in Teheran with an unexpected 1-1 draw that favoured them nicely at home under the away goals rule. Who scored that goal? A 19-year-old called Harry Kewell.
Harry Kewell's best performances at club level came during his time with Leeds United, where he was named PFA Young Player of the Year. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Allsport
Nineteen. This is when we began to love Harry. He became ‘Harry Kool’, and Australia watched him grow up. But he hasn’t always shown the same love for Socceroos fans. Between 1998 and 2005 he played 13 games for the national team. The Socceroos had 67 matches in this time.
His unavailability for internationals began in 1999 in what was nothing more than an exhibition match against a Brazilian ‘B’ side. On the evening he was due to fly out of Manchester for the trip home, his club Leeds sent a fax (nothing official was done by email back then) saying: “Harry Kewell has succumbed to an injury and is unavailable to play for Australia”. A pattern was set: time-after-time he was selected; time-after-time, he had an injury.
In those days, the Socceroos were not a well-resourced machine with their own physiotherapy and fitness staff on-hand in London as was the case in 2006. The Socceroos coach at the time, Frank Farina, met with his counterpart at Leeds, David O’Leary, and Australia’s medical staff asked if they could assist with rehabilitation. Approaches were given short shrift. Kewell left most of the talking to O’Leary, or his personal manager, Bernie Mandic, who was with him until two years ago.
And, as much as we admired Kewell for his sheer talent and the entertainment and excitement he brought to the field, this was also the beginning of the love-hate relationship that has endured with many ‘pre-2005’ Australia fans to this day.
Not that Harry was alone. In a sign of the times and the status of Australia in world football, some other big name Socceroos players did the same. They were constantly torn between their high-paying clubs on the one hand, and national team duty that was either a friendly match or, if competitive, against a team from Oceania. Joining the Asian Football Confederation has changed those dynamics for the better.
In 2003, Harry joined one of the most famous football clubs on the planet, Liverpool – the second Australian to do so after Craig Johnston. After a solid first season, he endured a second from hell culminating in being booed off the ground by Liverpool fans in the Champions League final in 2005.
He was also to blame for the second goal in Athens when a lackluster effort to track back let AC Milan March freely towards their second goal.
Kewell, as it happens, really was injured: he had a torn adductor and a then undiagnosed condition known as ‘Gilmore’s Groin’. It was the start of an injury-plagued remainder of his career.
Only a few weeks after Kewell had limped off for Liverpool in the 2006 FA Cup final, we fell in love with him again – and certainly a new generation of Australian football fans did for the first time.
It was the 2006 World Cup. He was nursed through injury – and eventually could not continue after the group stages because of a bacterial infection – but he was immense in that tournament, culminating in a man of the match performance for a 2-2 draw against Croatia that put Australia into the second stage.
When the ball came near Kewell, you felt the hope, excitement and anticipation within the stadium, and crackling through the TV screen. Something was going to happen.
Kewell had changed in other ways in his absent years. The reserved and wary teenager had matured into being a more outgoing, friendly and relaxed person. It was a combination of marriage, parenthood, an ambition realised and becoming his own man.
He went on to play another 37 games for Australia including the 2007 and 2011 Asian Cups as well as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Some of those performances have shown us the ‘Harry Kool’ we first loved – none more so than when he captained the side in Dubai against Iraq in a World Cup qualifier in June 2008. Australia lost that game 1-0 in difficult conditions, but Kewell was immense.
An English colleague recently remarked that, for him and his friends, it was Harry Kewell who made them take notice of Australian football. They realised that “Australians could play”.
Others thought so too. When Australia was planning its 2018/2022 World Cup bid, international research showed that Harry – who was then playing for Galatasary in Turkey – was the best-known and most recognisable Australian player at the time. By a long shot. It is why he became the centrepiece of this initial promotional film that launched the bid.
I worked with him on the bid and I can confirm he did not demand payment. There was no fuss, no hangers-on. He was patient and enthusiastic. This was something he did for Australia. Imagine what could have been had Kewell not been burdened by injury.
Well played ‘Harry Kool’. Thanks for the memories.
http://www.theguardian.com/football...ell-the-man-australia-fell-in-love-with-twice
