Redmayne’s stupendous save joins Australia’s list of Capital Moments

Ain’t sport grand?

After 120 minutes of regular and extra time in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifying match between the Socceroos and Peru, journeyman goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne was more anonymous than a wrong number.

But now look.

Having just come on to replace the goalkeeper captain in the final minute of extra time, the Ned Kelly lookalike starts prancing around the goalmouth trying to put off the Peruvians in the penalty shoot-out – moving from side to side, while jumping about and waving his long arms. At home, Australians lean into the television. What? Who? What is going on? Who is this bloke, did you say? Why is he prancing about like that and . . .

And wait! Soon after Australia miss their first penalty shot, Redmayne perhaps gets a hand to one to even the score with the Peruvians! This doesn’t yet save the day, but it gives us a chance!

As the Australian and Peruvian shooters continue to shoot, Redmayne will have to do it again for Australia to win.

And now the Peruvian sharpshooter Alex Valera steps ups, as Redmayne prances.

Feeling lucky, punk?

Am I going to dive left or right?

Valera skips in and draws back his boot.

Redmayne dives . . .

Valera connects.

And hits the ball . . . left . . . even as Redmayne dives . . . right! He’s got it! He’s blocked it!

Australia win, and are off to the World Cup, courtesy of a bloke most of us have never seen before, or heard of!

Redmayne’s open-mouthed look of pure delight, will also linger long.

George Gregan makes a famous tackle against the All Blacks in 1994.Credit: Tim Clayton

But this was not just Redmayne’s “Gregan-moment,” as my wife calls them – the single act that would define his career and be chiselled on his sporting tombstone, a la George Gregan’s famous tackle on Jeff Wilson at the SFS on August 17, 1994, to win that Bledisloe. Oh no, it was bigger than that.

It was one of Australian sport’s Capital Moments, where something is so important, so beloved, so pivotal in the course of events that it will forever after be referred to with capitalised reverence, in this case “The Save”.

It is possible that a few years from now Australian soccer will be teetering on the edge of the abyss of World Cup elimination and a Socceroo goalie will step up to save the day in such dramatic fashion, but it feels unlikely, yes?

Far more probable is that The Save can now be added to our other Capital Moments:

The Pass! You remember it well, yes? It was the blind pass David Campese gave to Tim Horan in the semi-final of the 1991 World Cup, with three All Blacks about to hit him. Campo shaped to move the ball left, only to somehow flick it right, blind, over his shoulder to Horan who went over unmarked. I have watched it in slo-mo fifty times and still don’t quite get it. And as I have said many times, before Campo did that we had never conceived such a pass was possible. The rugby league equivalent was Benji Marshall’s flick pass to Wests Tigers teammate Pat Richards in the 2005 grand final, which helped put the Cowboys to the sword. Carrying the ball in his right hand, while moving left, Marshall flicked the ball blind to Richards moving right, allowing Richards to go through for the try.

The Ball Of The Century. I know it. You know it. It was Shane Warne’s ball to Mike Gatting, the first delivery Warne bowled in the 1993 Ashes campaign, at Old Trafford. As you’ll recall, the ball bit the turf miles outside leg-peg before hissing in, buzzing 10 times around Mike Gatting’s stumps, all the while whistling Waltzing Matilda, before putting the brute out of his misery by dropping down to knock his bails off. As a foundation stone for the subsequent Warne legend – his Gregan-moment coming with his first ball bowled in an Ashes Test, they don’t come much better.

The Goal. Socceroo attacker John Aloisi nailing the winning goal in the penalty shoot-out against Uruguay at the Olympic stadium to qualify the Socceroos for the 2006 World Cup. Not since 1974 had Australia figured in the biggest sporting event on the planet.

The Try. Steve Jackson’s try in the 1989 rugby league grand final between Canberra and Balmain. I have written about it too many times to go into too much detail again, but it was in the final minutes that the Canberra reserve forward – as anonymous at the time as Andrew Redmayne – got the ball on the right side of the field 25 metres out, only to break through several tackles, shimmy, shake, bump and bulldoze his way to the line for the best try in the history of the world.

The Race. Cathy Freeman’s gold-medal win in the Olympic 400-metre final at Sydney 2000. ’Nuff said?

The Mark. I am advised that nothing will ever get close to Alex Jesaulenko’s effort, in the 1970 VFL grand final. Just before half-time, Carlton are losing by 44 points to Collingwood when the ball is kicked to the mob. Collingwood ruckman Graeme Jenkin is right under it, only for Carlton’s Jesaulenko to come in from behind, and soar so high his knees connect with the back of Jenkin’s head, whereupon he takes a screamer! Carlton go on to win the game, and The Mark will be forever more.

In this Pantheon of the Perfect, Redmayne’s effort, The Save, can now take its proud place.