Strange News from Down Under

I picked this Sydney Morning Herald story up via Fark.com and thought it was odd enough to re-tell here.

Basically, Sydney FC’s Robbie Middleby was attacked by a couple of jealous fans in the parking lot after a match. What were his fans jealous of you may ask? He was leaving them! He had just announced his intent to transfer to the year round summer of North Queensland and play for the Fury.

Middleby is quoted in SMH as saying, "I was just walking along, and then I hear a guy saying 'You're f--king leaving us are you Middleby? He must have jumped out from behind a car. His mate just stood there, and he kneed me and starting throwing punches. I tried to back off, but then my wife - who was waiting at the car but saw what was happening - came running over saying 'leave him alone'. The guy turned towards her, and I thought he was going to attack her, so I threw a punch or two, and then my mate, who was also at the car, came over as well. That's when the two of them ran off."

From my time in Australia, I knew that soccer was growing in popularity by leaps and bounds, largely catalyzed
By Australia’s impressive showing in World Cup 2006, but I didn’t realize they had fans going full hooligan!