Footy Gone Wild, Footy Gone Mad!

I have thought long and hard about letting anyone hear this track. Perhaps it’s a bad idea. But hell, it was recorded for public consumption and my involvement was consensual and (however slightly) remunerated so here goes. This is how it came about.

Some time ago I was approached by a promotional company to sing on a demo for a promotional campaign for football - for the code of Australian Rules Football - in South Africa. They said they were attempting to sell the game to the youth of that country and had subsequently planned to rebrand the game over there as… (wait for it) Footy Wild!

(Mick, Ash Cook and Squeezebox Wally in the wilds of South Africa!)

They claimed they had conducted some sort of straw poll among Australians living in South Africa and that my voice - yes my voice - was considered to be recognisably Australian and iconic enough to be a part of this track written by someone else and obviously performed and recorded by (I assume) some local South African session players and singers. There was talk of a demonstration match in Capetown which I would be flown over to perform at and, as I said, there was some money involved for Craig at Audrey Studios as well as something for me and so - I was in!

The thing is, the day I recorded my vocal part (which doesn’t kick in until about half way through the song - at 1.43) was the last I have heard of it. I can’t remember who it was running the campaign and that one studio day completed my involvement. I have spoken to people in South Africa who say they have never heard of Footy Wild and (thankfully) the song you might (or might not) want to listen to at the end of this episode.

I have chosen to go with it here for a couple of reasons. One is that I reckon it’s good for people to know just what we get up to in our day to day experience as career musicians. There’s quite often someone at a given point in time with an offer or an idea that is presented to me as a potentially invigorating and lucrative experience. More often than not these things can vanish in an instant. But occasionally there will be something that works and is rewarding and ongoing. I am guessing there was a day when David McCormack’s (from Custard) phone rang and someone suggested he do the voice-over for a cartoon dog and he probably said ‘yeah, why not, I’ll give it a go’. (I am referring to Bluey here, of course). So I suppose I am saying in our game you need to keep your mind open to possibilities.

The other reason is that the thing that reminded me of this track and this whole experience, was the recent attempt of Fifa president Gianni Infantino to sell off stakes in the World Cup. The prospect of someone like Joshua Kushner being involved in this made a lot of football fans very worried indeed. The backlash was fast and furious and so the thing was thankfully dropped. But the prospect of people meddling with something that so many have held dear, for so long was pure anathema to most football fans. And as I said - it got me thinking about this song and my own fledgling experience with sports marketing.

In sport, everyone has a different idea about where their respective codes are, or should be, heading. The point I would make is that so much of why, and how a club or a sport is supported, is something that occurs over a period of time. At best the development of support is gradual and organic. In most codes it is tradition that wins out over artificially created and commercially promoted entities. Who could forget the St Kilda football club’s aborted attempt to market the club in New Zealand? I shudder to even write that sentence.

For someone to suddenly suggest that the goals on a soccer pitch would be made bigger so more goals could be scored or that games could be shortened for television is pretty extreme as this would render every existing statistic null and void. And really - the World Cup seems to be doing pretty well without Mr Infantino’s tinkering or the involvement of Mr Kushner’s and his odious bankroll.

And so when you listen to this song, what I think you are hearing is someone’s pretty ill conceived idea of how one culture can be affected to fit in with another. It’s not folk-rock, it’s not cultural fusion and it’s not post-modern. It’s someone from an agency trying to graft an idea on to something that is uncomfortable and highly unlikely. The song says, ‘it’s footy gone wild’. But no, it’s footy gone mad. Have a listen and then eat the document folks. And please forgive me.