Tuesday, June 11, 2013

My Brush With Celebrity

Occasionally in life you get a chance to rub shoulders with greatness. It's happened to me a few times in my fifty years. I've sweat next to the wife of a local newsreader at my gym. I got to discuss the virtues of netting vs tulle for a fairy skirt with a children's TV presenter. I've sat next to the captain of our local NRL team at a soccer match (I'm certain it was Sam Thaiday - well, pretty sure). And I sat directly behind the winner of Australian Idol, Stan Walker, in a Virgin lounge in Sydney.

But today I'd like to boast about my brush with Australia's newest football star. Man of the match from last night's World Cup Qualifier, Robbie Kruse.


Nine years ago Robbie was a skinny little kid playing with my eldest Sam at Brisbane Toro. He was two years younger than most of the kids on the team but his talent was obvious. He was too small to ever play a full match - the bigger boys on opposing teams saw him as an easy target and he was often pushed around and over. But he was a tenacious player with fantastic skills and he just never quit.

At the breakup at the end of the season I was standing chatting with another mum when we saw Robbie head down the hallway to the toilet. He didn't shut the door and we were given a pretty good view of proceedings and it was then that I said to Anda (the mum next to me) that one day, when he was a famous Socceroo, we'd be able to say that we'd seen him pee.

So there you have it - I've seen a now-famous Socceroo pee. 

And that's the closest, most intimate, brush with celebrity that I'll probably ever have because being presented with a gold medal by Hugh Jackman in my imagination doesn't really count. Unfortunately.

Has anyone else had a strange or interesting encounter with a celebrity?

16 comments:

  1. Haha! This is great!! Made me laugh out loud! :)
    I've never really had a brush with celebrity... Maybe one day! :)

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  2. Hee hee. What a pity this was in the day before the smart phone and twitter and nothing-being-private! THen you'd have proof. Or blackmail material!

    Deb

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  3. hah! that's awesome! my only brush with fame is back when i was a hairdresser, i cut the hair of the leader singer of loverboy...he was weird. lol!!!

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  4. An Australian Soccer player, are they really celebrities...

    I think I might write about my "brush with a celebrity" in a couple of weeks...

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  5. I've had a few in the past, but mainly through journalism, so I don't think they really count.

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  6. LOL

    No strange or interesting encounters but did meet some famous Dutch tennis players, I've met a Dutch prince last year, I saw the Dutch actor Rutger Hauer at the airport many years ago (all prove on photos :) ) and we shared a plane once with a Dutch soccer player.

    My dream is that I could be the "Courtney Cox" at a Springsteen concert and dance with him on stage. He still does that almost every concert. We are going to see him again next week but I don't want to stand in front of the stage and prefer to watch it a bit in the back where it's not so crowded. So guess I have to keep dreaming and let someone else take my 5 minutes of fame :)

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  7. Don't give up on Hugh Jackman just yet ;-)

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  8. That's funny, but what is the deal with Hugh Jackman. Michael also thinks that he is one of the sexiest men alive. I'm confident enough in my own manhood to admit when another dude is good looking - but I don't get that one.

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  9. Haha, that is funny! I live so much in my own world that I would never recognize a celebrity. Do runners count? I've set up computers for Bruce Fordyce and often chat to Ryan Sandes, South Africa's top trail runner. He is one of the top trail runners in the world.

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  10. That is hilarious! And you've outed him on international blog space!

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  11. Too funny. I'm sure he'd love to know you are sharing this story! I've had the fortune to train alongside several Olympians over the years, and still keep in touch w/ one who was 4th at triathlon during the Sydney games (and I believe she was just beaten by your Michellie Jones?)

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  12. Great post: you made me laugh!
    I met the British soccer player Kevin Keegan at the airport many years ago ... Maybe, while I was meeting other people I didn't know they were celebrities :)

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  13. The peeing story is funny but I got stuck at the beginning when you were at a Virgin lounge in Sydney!!! Umm...something different in Australia?!

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  14. I've seen different celebs but none in such an intimate pose.

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  15. I guess if you're going to have a lasting picture of a celebrity encounter, it has to be something worthwhile, like this! :)

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  16. Love it! Hulk Hogan turned up to Fitness First when he was on tour, too much of a pussy to do a spin class though!

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