Top 10 Memorable Sporting Moments of the Decade!

 

We take a look at the decade in sport, and 10 snapshots that floated our boats.... or torpedoed 'em!

 

1. Socceroos qualify for the Round of 16. Soccer World Cup, 2006.

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The 2006 Socceroos put in a few legendary performances, the first of which was their penalty shoot-out victory over Uruguay at Telstra Stadium in front of 82,000 screaming fans and a few million more TV viewers, with goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer making 2 crucial saves, and John Aloisi sinking the winning goal to make them the first team to qualify for a world cup by penalty shoot-out. But we’re giving the prize to their 2-2 draw with Croatia in the preliminary rounds of the World Cup to defy all expectations- after a 32 year draught of FIFA WC qualifications, the guys did the unthinkable and took things one step further to qualify for the Round of 16, where they were narrowly defeated by Academy Award-winners Italy in the final seconds, with “Best Supporting Actress in a Melodrama” going to Italian Fabio Grosso for his depiction of life-threatening injuries sustained through minor ankle contact, later described by Aussie assistant coach Graham Arnold and Tim Cahill as a “Joke”. 

2. Man vs. Machine. May 17, 2006.

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On May 17 2006, Danny Green took on longterm rival Anthony “The Man” Mundine in one of the most-hyped and talked about sporting events in Australian sporting history. The Green Machine entered the Super-MiddleWeight WBA eliminator crowd favourite and all-round good guy, to Mundine’s trash-talking anti-hero, who thrived on playing up to hostile crowds. The two contrasting fighters went toe to toe for 12 rounds, Green the power-punching gladiator, Mundine the fleet-footed lightning-fast agitator. Mundine’s tactical strikes and athletic evasiveness proved too much for Green, and The Man took out the fight on a unanimous point decision, making sure the crowd knew the result, asking them “Who’s the Man? Who's the Man?” as he soaked up one of the most memorable victories of the decade. The Green and Mundine camps are in discussions about a possible rematch in 2010.

3. Wests Tigers beat 150-1 odds to win the 2005 NRL Grand Final.

Benji Marshall’s youthful crew’s 2005 NRL Grand Final victory was an effort of titanic proportions following a scratchy start to the season, loitering in the bottom half of the table for much of the season then stringing 8 wins back to back to finish 4th in the regular season. The boys had a clean run in the finals and came up against the Cowboys in the GF. The Tigers started slow, but kicked things into overdrive with a scintillating 98m team try eventually scored by Pat Richards. The 30-16 final scoreline saw Wests take home the trophy and Scott Prince pick up the Clive Churchill medal. 

4. Hawthorn defies the experts to defeat Geelong. AFL Grand Final 2008.

The 2008 AFL Grand Final saw giant-killers, the baby Hawks side come up against undeniable favourites the Cats, who cruised into the GF riding on the equal-best season of any AFL team, boasting 21 from 22 regular season wins, and a clean sweep in the finals leading up to the big game. Reigning Premiers Geelong boasted a wealth of talent including “God Jr” (Gary Ablett), and the youthful Hawthorn squad entered the match overwhelming underdogs having won 17 from 22 regular season games, for their first GF appearance since 1991. The Cats squandered the victory, the sharper and more controlled Hawks coming home 12.16.88 to 11.11.77.

5. Humble Aussie speed-skater Steve Bradbury defies the laws of probability, to take out Olympic Gold. Salt Lake City 2002.

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Journeyman Stephen Bradbury appeared in the public consciousness in 2002 with one of the most mind-blowing victories of the decade. Less well known is the fact Steve toiled for a decade in the sport leading up to that day, taking home an Olympic Bronze in the 5000m relay at the 1994 Winter Olympics and a pool-room worth of hardware in the ensuing 8 years. A series of improbable events at the 2002 Winter Olympics led up to his victory in the 1000m Short Track Speed Skating Final. Steve cleaned up his heat convincingly, then through a series of disqualifications and falls by competitors in the quarters and semis, qualified for the final. Aware that he was the oldest finalist, Steve knew if he pushed it too hard he was more likely to fall, so adopted the strategy of hanging back and hoping the pressure would force the faster blokes into risk-taking. His plan paid off big-time- 15m behind the pack of 4 with 50m remaining, a mass collision occurred, and Steve cruised past the pile of bodies to take out the first Winter Olympic Gold by a Southern hemisphere nation, in the process giving rise to an Aussie icon, and originating the phrase “Doing a Brads”, aka Never…Give…Up…

6. Lleyton Hewitt US Open, 2001

Lleton Hewitt, 20yo kid from Adelaide, took on 17 major final veteran Pistol Pet Sampras on Sept 9, 2001 (2 days prior to the 9-11 terrorist attacks) and cleanswept the match against all predictions, taking out his first Grand Slam title, 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1. Whilst the afterglow of Hewitt’s victory was somewhat overshadowed by world events, this stands as one of the greatest Aussie tennis achievements in an otherwise dour decade for Aussie tennis fans, next to his Wimbledon 2002 victory. We gave the cap to his US Open title due to the sheer enormity of the event, defeating one of the greatest players of all-time, “Im a little dull” Sampras.

7. Wallabies lift their game to defeat the tournament favourites, the All Blacks, RWC Semifinal 2003.

The All Blacks entered the 2003 Rugby World Cup hands-down favourites, despite New Zealand having squandered joint hosting rights to the tournament due to chronic indecision over stadium beer sponsorship rights. The Wallabies turned up to the semi-final on the back of a season of chronic under-performing, unconvincingly beating the 8th-ranked Scots in the Quarters. The kiwis turned up overconfident, riding on 5 consecutive World Cup victories including a 29-9 hammering of the Springboks a week earlier, viewing the Wallabies as a mere speed-bump on their road to inevitable world cup glory. But an early try to Stirling Mortlock and a string of penalties to Elton Flatley unsettled the Blacks, and the home side brought home a 22-10 victory, one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history, and one of the few highlights of a decade scarce in bragging rights for Wallaby fans.

8. Return of the prodigal son, Alfie Langer. State of Origin 2001.

After a systematic disembowelling in the 2000 Origin series, the Maroons came back to level the 2001  series at 1 a-piece entering Game 3. With legendary captain Gorden Tallis out with a neck injury and a pumped-up Blues side keen to give Brad Fittler a memorable representative send-off, coach Wayne Bennett needed to come up with something special. And so he did, in the diminutive form of Allan Langer, who flew home from the UK under a false name, emerging from representative retirement for one last game under a media circus, and going on to shred the Blues defence and bringing Queensland home for a 40-14 victory, arguably one of the greatest in Origin history.

9.  Mick Fanning gets one over his childhood mate, Joel Parkinson, to take out the ASP Surfing World Championship 2009.

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2009 was an epic year for Mick Fanning, taking out victories in Portugal, France, his home town the Gold Coast, and Pipeline, to take out the 2009 ASP world title after a closely contested series against his childhood mate and fellow Gold Coaster Joel Parkinson.  Mick claimed the 2007 World title after winning in Brazil, but we're giving the 2009 win the cap due to the tightness of the competition between the two legendary Aussie surfers.

10. Australia get egg on their face at the hands of minnows Bangladesh. Cardiff, June 18, 2005.

2005 didn’t leave too many highlights for Aussie cricket fans, the most obvious low-point being the loss of the Ashes series. But for sheer bewilderment and shock value, and an epic pre-game all-night bender by the Aussies star player thrown in for good measure, this one takes the prize. Bangladesh had won just 9 games from 107 one-dayers in their history entering this match, against the 1999 and 2003 World Cup-winners the Aussies. As the Aussies took the field, it was announced that star all-rounder and team party-animal Andrew Symonds had allegedly come down with a mysterious flu-like illness, which later turned out to be related to a bender of Boony-proportions. Symo was rested for medical treatment, the team doctor prescribing a stat lamb kebab and 4 litres of Gatorade. The bold Bangladeshis dug deep and came home with a 5 wicket victory over the hapless Aussies.