John Pirie holds up his Boxing Kangaroo flag
John Pirie is a Hinterland resident and Maleny chiropractor. He is also a Canadian ice hockey ‘tragic’ who flew to Vancouver to join the biggest congregation ever to witness a Winter Olympic ice hockey event. John told the Hinterland Times how an Australian icon helped Canada win the gold medal.
A few days before my departure, a news item in an Australian newspaper caught my eye. The Aussie athletes at the Olympic Village had hung a ‘monstrous boxing kangaroo’ flag outside their quarters in the village. The International Olympic Committee wanted it taken down because the flag wasn’t ‘official’ The Aussies refused to budge, and eventually the flag stayed. I decided then to take one of the flags with me and hang it from the balcony of my apartment in Vancouver. Trouble was, I couldn’t find one anywhere on the coast so flew off to Vancouver empty handed.
The Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey tournament is one of the toughest tournaments to win in sport. The Canadian team got through to the quarter final, which was against Russia – the tournament favourites. This would turn out to be the biggest game of the tournament.
The post arrived on the morning of the game and to my surprise it contained a notice indicating a package was waiting for me to pick up at the local post office. About an hour before I had to leave for the game, I dashed over and picked up the package. It was from my wife Pippa. Inside was a
giant 6 foot boxing kangaroo flag. I decided to take it to the Canada/Russia game for good luck.
Our seats for that game were the best we’d had. Two rows from the ice and right behind the Russian net for the first period. I decided to ‘give it’ to the Russians. I got that boxing kangaroo flag up on the glass at ice level and started to put the ’hex’ on the Russian goalie in the warm up -“Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy”. It worked! Canada scored four goals in the first period and ended up crushing the Russians 7-3. The boxing kangaroo had come through.
That flag is now hanging from a doorway in our Hinterland home and I can’t help but smile with the memories it brings… go Canada go!
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