Flash back to August 3, 2002 at the newly renamed Telstra Stadium.
Matthew Burke is lining up a kick at goal after the siren in the Bledisloe Cup test with Australia trailing New Zealand 13-14.
He’s just behind the 22m line and about 15 in from touch, if he makes it, the Bledisloe Cup is retained by Australia.
With nerves of steel, he steps up and nails the kick through the uprights and the referee’s whistle signals the end of the game, the Wallabies have won.
It has been over 18 years since the Wallabies last won the Bledisloe Cup and the world has changed a LOT since then.
The Roosters were on their way to an NRL title
It’s easy to forget just how good the Roosters were in the early 2000’s and they were on their way to a second Grand Final appearance in three years and the middle of four Grand Final appearances in five seasons.
While their results during the home and away season weren’t great, they were good enough to finish in fourth place, defeating the Sharks, Knights, Broncos and Warriors on their way to the only title they would win in that decade.
With Adrian Morely running over everyone, it was no surprise.
Brisbane was in the middle of an AFL dynasty
Leigh Matthews, Michael Voss, Alistair Lynch, Simon Black and many more were the foundations of that Brisbane Lions 3-peat and on the weekend the Wallabies won, the Lions were chasing back to back premierships.
It was Round 18 of the 2002 season and Brisbane defeated Essendon 108-71 at Colonial (now called Marvel) Stadium.
In 2002 the Lions finished second in the minor premiership race to Port Adelaide… a sign of things to come this year for the Wallabies perhaps?
The Crusaders were Super Rugby champions
Ok, some things never change, but it’s reminder of just how good that Christchurch based dynasty has been.
Remember when they put 96 on the Waratahs?
Brazil had just won the FIFA World Cup
Back in 2002, the question “what’s with Ronaldo’s haircut” was about the Brazilian striker instead of the Portuguese forward.
It didn’t matter how he had styled his hair though, he had just finished ripping through the 2002 FIFA World Cup, scoring a second half brace to win his nation’s most recent World Cup.
Australia had the Ashes and the Cricket World Cup
While that Bledisloe Cup game started a Wallabies drought, another national team were in the latter stages of their own dominant run.
At that stage it had been 13 years since Australia had won back the Ashes from England, taking seven straight series and were preparing to make it eight straight.
The ODI side was also preparing to defend its World Cup title next year in South Africa.
John Howard was the Prime Minister
Back in the days when a PM saw out their whole term before being knifed in the back or voted out.
Howard was a proper sports nut and was notorious for going for his walks in a Wallabies tracksuit so naturally he was on hand to present the Bledisloe Cup to George Gregan.
New England had just won its first Super Bowl
Remember when New England was the likeable underdog?
The five and a half states in the north east of the USA were celebrating the franchise’s first Super Bowl title and gearing up for the 2002 season since the Red Sox were still in their eight decade World Series drought.
That was also before their quarterback married a Victoria’s Secret model and thought doing this this was a good idea.
Michael Jordan was playing for the Washington Wizards
Jordan’s second unretirement didn’t really go to plan and is largely forgotten (thankfully) as injuries and age finally caught up to the NBA legend.
His 2001-2002 season had its moments including scoring 51 in a game but it ended early due to injury but his second and finals season was a bit more successful, playing all 82 games and making the All Star Game.
About a Boy Was the Number 1 Film in Australia
While not Hugh Grant’s most popular or successful film, About a Boy is one of his more enjoyable efforts and spend two weeks atop the local box office charts, replacing The Sweetest Thing (it’s ok, take a minute to search whatever that movie was about).
Vanessa Carlton was topping the Aussie music charts
It’s a miracle this song wasn’t the number one release for the entire year, as soon as that piano starts playing you can’t help but break into “Making my way downtown…”
After a fortnight at number one, it was replaced by Avril Lavigne’s breakthrough “Complicated”
Australia found out how smart it was
Two nights before the Wallabies beat the All Blacks, the nation sat down to find out its IQ with Eddie McGuire and Catriona Rowntree hosting the most watched TV show of 2002 (just beating the FIFA World Cup Final).
The studio was packed with several different groups but the standout performer of the night was Red Symons who blitzed the celebrity field and registered an IQ of 131.
Kath & Kim was taking the nation by storm
The first episode of the series aired in mid-May with an eight episode run and by August everyone was walking around saying “look at moi!”
Peter won series 2 of Big Brother
It was the second season of the show that saw a bunch of people locked in a house for a few months (sounding awfully timely so far) where they were filmed for a TV show (less familiar) and the winner took home $250000 (ok definitely can’t relate to that).
Season two brought about plenty of highlights with Marty and Jess starting a relationship and getting married, only to separate in 2005 (a success story according to MAFS).
All up the winner Pete spent 86 days in the house and unlike a lot of contestants, didn’t manage to forge a career in breakfast radio.
The celebrity version of the show was nearing its end with Dylan Lewis taking out the 2002 Celebrity Big Brother crown.