There can be nothing that illustrates the power of celebrity more than the 80,000 who attended the Sydney FC v LA Galaxy match at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. The attraction was, of course, David Beckham, who made the difference in swelling Sydney FC's average crowd of 15,000 to a record for a non-international fixture in Australia.
Aware he was the centre of attention, a single pre-match smile from 'brand Becks' magnified on the Telstra Stadium's rather erratic big screens, generated rapturous screams from the crowd screams that confirmed the non-football make up of the crowd.
For the crowd were certainly a mixed bag consisting of more regular fans in their replica shirts (usually showing allegiance to English Premier League clubs), groups of twenty something girls (the age who would have been Spice Girls fans at the height of Becks and Poshmania), football playing youngsters with obliging if rather confused parents and the curios the latter confirming that Sydneysiders love a big event.
Collectively, while their understanding of the game was perhaps limited (I heard one father call a throw in a 'line out'), the crowd loved the goals, of which there were lots. They loved Beckham more though, the stadium lighting up with camera flashes when he moved to the edge of the playing field to take one of many corner kicks. (My son suggested that one thing you wouldn't hear in the LA Galaxy team was a Beckham teammate saying "I'll take this one" at set pieces).
Playing in a rather withdrawn role, Beckham sprayed Glenn Hoddle-like long passes around the field, interspersing this with simple short passing and even simpler dummies (with quality players it's often not about what they do, but what they don't do). However, it was at set pieces where Beckham excelled, the referee, perhaps mindful of Beckham's presence, giving LA Galaxy some rather soft awards near the edge of Sydney FC's penalty area positions from where Beckham has cemented his playing reputation.
So, as if it was scripted, as the first half closed, Beckham duly obliged by scoring a trademark free kick. And a very good free kick it was too, reminiscent of his match-saving free kick that closed England's qualifying campaign, against Greece, for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
By the time of Beckham's goal, comedic defending saw LA Galaxy trail by three goals, and the goal fest continued through the second half. The aggression of several fringe players within the Sydney FC squad also rose as the game progressed, with Beckham on the receiving end of some hefty challenges that would have resulted in less committed players leaving the field.
Proving he was made of stern stuff, Beckham earned himself a yellow card for some 'afters' on one of the aggressors, before some farcical refereeing decisions reduced the visitors to nine players.
But before then, despite all his skill, achievements, adulation and wealth, I was feeling rather sorry for Beckham. With his fame (he surely eclipses Pele as the world's most famous footballer) masking his significant talents, and just one week from having played what will probably be his last international game, I wondered what the future holds for Beckham.
Recruited, at significant cost, to use his fame as a figurehead for 'soccer' in the USA, exhibition games such as this are for his new employers to recover their investment. Yet in such games, and in US Major League Soccer, a league whose talent pool is surely beneath that of a player who just earlier this year was part of a Spanish La Liga Championship winning team, what is Beckham expected to do?
With his fame, famous smile, and well managed and tactful statements he remains, like Pele, a wonderful ambassador for the game. Yet on the field, he resembles a once great boxer brought on to enliven a side show, going through his trade mark routines and hoping no one fells him with a cheap shot.
All players as they got older, whether great or not, attest to wanting to play for as long as possible. But surely, at a mere 32 years of age, Beckham is capable of displaying his undoubted footballing talents as competitive rather than a celebrity footballer.
Beyond international friendlies, exhibition games such as Sydney FC v LA Galaxy are something of a rarity in international football. The greatest similarity between Beckham and LA Galaxy's current tour coming in the 1960s when Brazil's Santos sought to capitalise on the presence of Pele in their team by playing regular tour games in Europe. While Pele rather spuriously counts the goals he scored in these games in his 1,000 plus career goal tally, these games gave non Brazilian fans the chance to see the 'world's best' player in action while also swelling Santos' coffers.
(To compliment David Beckham's trip to Sydney, one of Australia's main current affairs programs saw fit to develop the celebrity angle with a story on a Victoria Beckham impersonator parading around the city.)
Nigel Benton, Publisher, Australasian Leisure Management. 28th November 2007
http://www.ausleisure.com
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