Cup Fever dream
Cam and I were roving reporters for SBS's Cup Fever in 2010, and it was lovely to salute our 2026 fan experience with an appearance on the show. Our segment starts at 12.00 on clip below.
I’m sitting at the Cup Fever desk, Cam to my left, Santo Cilauro and Ed Kavalee next to him, and there’s less than a minute to air when I receive a tap on the shoulder from the floor manager. ‘Your legs’ she says, motioning down. ‘A little closer together if you can.’
‘C’mon Tone, don’t give us the man-spread,’ Cam adds, and we are laughing going into a nationally televised full stop to the incredible fan experience that has been World Cup 2026.
I clap my knees together as the numbers descend on the monitor in front of us.
Moments later a small but noisy audience that includes my youngest two children is whooping and hollering and we are live, or at least live to tape.
Ed gives us a glowing introduction, leans into the fact that Cam and I were part of the Cup Fever team at South Africa 2010, but just as he’s about to stick the dismount — a hiccup. He wants the audience to welcome us. He wants the audience to thank us. What we got was a fairly spectacular portmanteu.
‘They’re documentarians, they’re football fanatics, they’re just legends, can you please wank … ‘
It’s a perfect intro really. Ed pauses and opens his eyes and dwells on the calamity and everyone is alight. One thing I notice during the segment is just how fast and practised Ed and Santo are. They are thirty one shows in, completely in a groove of daily rapid fire repartee, and Cam and I do our best to keep up. I’m particularly pleased that I manage to link Ed’s inadvertent ‘wank’ to Cam’s status as a full kit wanker, which has taken considerable commitment and laundry discipline across two world cups.
I’m also pleased that I say (quite earnestly) how much going to world cups has meant to me. It’s utterly bizarre that I’m at my sixth (mens’ - 98, 06, 10, 18, 26, womens 24), and I figure that Cam and I are on that panel to represent everyone who loves going to these tournaments, who has been lucky enough to go, who has somehow become addicted to this as a form of sports travel and fun:
The happiness you get in these stadiums, I just can’t overstate it Ed. It’s like a feeling of being full of life, and being full of the world. And I had many people come up to me and say ‘this is the best day of my life’. My daughter said it, the person standing next to Cam. FIFA are terrible at a lot of things [laugh] they are really terrible at a lot of things … but what they do is they create a feeling in these stadiums, where it’s not some person paddling some oversized beach ball. It feels important, it feels glorious, and it makes you feel bigger than yourself.
The last episode of Cup Fever was on SBS main channel tonight at 8.30pm. You can stream the whole 32 day journey On Demand, including our outing. (ep 31 below)
We were ecstatic to have our moment with Ed and Santo.
Wank you very much.
Santo and Ed gave a terrific plug to our film, Ange & The Boss: Puskas in Australia which is currently streaming On Demand at SBS as well as DocPlay.
This is a piece Cam and I conceived in 2010. We met Martin Tyler in an SBS studio, and asked if he’d mind calling a series of ridiculous scenarios for Santo, Sam (Pang) and Ed to act out. The Cup Fever team embraced the challenge.
I really love this segment.
For some great World Cup related reading, check out Declan Fay’s substack.
