james o'brien

In my office sweep for the World Cup I drew Paraguay. Or maybe it was Uruguay. I’m sorry, I can’t remember. My interest in the World Cup is purely tokenistic and probably relates more to an interest in the world in general, more than in interest in sport.

My interest in the Eurovision Song Contest, of course, is much greater. And so generally speaking, I use that as a guide to which country I should support.

Sweden, of course, failed to make the final of either contest this year, which is a source of national shame, I am sure.

And so when a Swede asked me which country he/she thought they should support, I suggested they support Australia, because, generally speaking, Australia (well, me), supports Sweden in Eurovision.

It would have been too much for Germany to have won both Eurovision and the World Cup, and so I’m glad they failed to make the final. Also, because they whipped our arses.

As to whether I should support Spain or Netherlands in the final, I’ve been a little confused. I had a great time in Amsterdam a couple of years ago, but I’ve never been to Spain so I’ve been struggling to choose a team without a point of comparison.

Where would I like to be if either team wins? I think the party in Madrid would be lots of fun. Lots of sex and dancing in the streets I’d imagine. But it would also be fun in Amsterdam. With sly reference to both the strength of Dutch beer and the legalisation/decriminalisation (I can never recall which) of marijuana in Holland, a listener on 702 ABC Sydney joked yesterday morning, “can you imagine the party in Amsterdam if they win…?”.

Unable to choose, I’ve come back to Eurovision and asked when was the last time either country came first in the more important international competition.

Spain is a little tough. In 1969, “Vivo cantando” (“I Live Singing”) was one of four songs which tied for first place in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Unfortunately, it’s a crap song, especially compared with the song they previously won with.

Though of course, Spain gets a special mention for their song which failed to make the top position in 1973, Eres tú by Mocedades. Great song!

The more recent winner from the two countries was the Netherlands in 1975 with “Ding-A-Dong” (Dutch: “Dinge-Dong”), sung by Teach-In.

It’s always been a favourite of mine, and so on the basis of preferring the Dutch Eurovision winner over the Spanish Eurovision winners, I’m going for Holland this time around.