Support for The Bachelorette’s “Socceroo”
I stand with Michael Turnbull.
For those of you who haven’t been watching The Bachelorette, or don’t follow soccer, or have avoided social media over the last few days, he’s a goalkeeper who has been accused of exaggerating or even lying about his career … on national television.
Of course fans are entitled to correct his claims. But some of the outrage has been way over the crossbar.
As a contestant on The Bachelorette, Turnbull created a stir by saying: “the highlight of my career was playing for Australia, and the Socceroos, and also playing in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000”.
Turnbull never played for the Socceroos. And that shouldn’t be overlooked.
But the insertion of just one word would have made the statement true. If only he’d said this: “the highlight of my career was playing for Australia, and the Young Socceroos, and also playing in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000”.
Indeed Turnbull represented Australia several times at youth level. And our national under 20 team is nicknamed the Young Socceroos.
You might like
He played for the Young Socceroos in two World Youth Championships (now known as the FIFA U-20 World Cup). His teammates included some chaps who would represent Australia at senior level and become heroes at Germany 2006.
Even though Turnbull never made it that far (which is not uncommon for those who show promise at youth level), as a Young Socceroo he would have enjoyed many of the experiences that accompany international soccer: travelling around the world as a member of a national team, lining up with your teammates for the anthems before games and facing star players from other countries.
That’s the stuff kids dream about and perhaps it might make a young Aussie lad feel like he is a Socceroo.
In the rush to criticise Turnbull, his claim about playing in the Sydney Olympic Games has also been attacked. But this is a boast he’s entitled to.
Yes, he never got on the pitch – Turnbull was the reserve goalkeeper in all three of Australia’s matches.
But, like it or not, he can call himself an Olympian. He won selection in the squad – ahead of a couple of other keepers who also played in warm up games earlier in the year – and would have been an important part of preparation and training matches (contributions that are too often underappreciated). Had first choice Danny Milosevic been sent off or injured, Turnbull would have taken the field at a moment’s notice.
And come on, this is showbiz. If he’d said the highlight of his career was “being part of the Olyroos squad in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000”, the producers of The Bachelorette would have probably asked him to go back and try harder.
In the midst of this hysteria, one journalist even had a dig at Turnbull’s brief stint with Melbourne Victory.
Stay informed, daily
Going into the 2014-15 A-League finals (only five months ago), Victory needed a temporary replacement goalkeeper and came for Turnbull who was playing for Brisbane Strikers in Queensland’s top division.
In a rerun of his Olympic experience, Turnbull was selected as a substitute for the grand final and would only have been thrust into the action if starting goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas had to come off.
But apparently, when Victory won the championship, Turnbull should have recognised that he was a bench warmer and withdrawn himself into a quiet corner.
This from the aforementioned scribe: “He (Turnbull) didn’t play any minutes during his brief spell, but was photographed celebrating front and centre with the Victory players following their grand final triumph.”
How dare he?
I don’t condone Turnbull saying that he played for the Socceroos. Regular readers would know how much reverence I have for the team and its history.
Nevertheless, in doing so, he does show how strong the Socceroos brand has become. For fans who waited decades for the sport to achieve wide appeal in Australia, that’s something to celebrate.
But as we’ve seen since this controversy began, members of Australia’s soccer community can be hypersensitive.
Rather than focus on Turnbull’s career, why not just chill out and enjoy that a popular show has selected a bloke whose claim to fame is playing our sport, one that was largely ignored by mainstream Australia for so long?
Goodness, I may even start watching The Bachelorette. And though I might find I prefer other contestants, I’ll support Michael Turnbull.
Socceroo or not, he’s one of us.
Paul Marcuccitti is InDaily’s soccer columnist. He is a co-presenter of 5RTI’s Soccer on 531 program which can be heard from 11am on Saturdays.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
