Tony Armstrong Is Now A Global Superstar Thanks To John Oliver
Tony Armstrong is expected to be spotted screaming in Fed Square tomorrow after the Socceroos beat France.
I am pleased to inform you all that the ABC’s golden child and Australia’s favourite sports reporter Tony Armstrong has been recognised by John Oliver for his famous reaction to the Socceroo’s World Cup qualification.
It has been a great year for football in this country. We qualified for a World Cup, with the Women’s World Cup on our own doorstep next year, and we’ve fallen in love with figures like the Grey Wiggle and Jason ‘Cumdog’ Cummings. To be quite honest with you, I’m crying just thinking about the incredible summer of football we’re about to experience.
But if you had to pick one moment that perfectly encapsulated our World Cup campaign, it wouldn’t be a cum joke or a goalkeeper dancing like he’s a children’s entertainer. Nope, it’s obviously going to be the time Tony Armstrong lost his goddamn mind in Fed Square when we qualified.
It was a frosty June morning in Melbourne and the Socceroos had just qualified for the World Cup in a nail-biting penalty shoot-out against Peru. But perhaps the only thing better than Awer Mabil’s qualifying goal was Armstrong’s priceless reaction.
Thankfully, Armstrong is starting to get the worldwide praise he deserves for such an iconic performance, so I reckon his Oscar nomination is just days away at this point.
On this week’s episode of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver shared the now-viral moment with his US audience. I imagine the footage now lives rent-free in their brains as it has in mine since that fateful day back in June.
“There is nothing not to love about that,” said Oliver
“From the reporter holding up his microphone to amplify people’s joy shrieking to the guy kissing the camera, to someone stealing his scarf which sadly, he never got back.”
“The reason I know that is… I have it now. Oh, sure, it used to be your mum’s but now it’s all mine.”
Thankfully, that last part was a joke and I can confirm that Armstrong was reunited with the scarf and didn’t end up in his mum’s bad books over the whole ordeal.
So, @iamjohnoliver and @LastWeekTonight reckon they found @Tonaaayy_'s mum's scarf, which he infamously lost when celebrating the Socceroos' qualification for the World Cup a few months ago.
Let's fact check that, shall we? pic.twitter.com/508aL4HT3O
— News Breakfast (@BreakfastNews) November 22, 2022
Anyway, Australia kicks off against France tomorrow in a difficult — but not impossible — first game of the competition and I can assure you that all of us will be channelling our inner Tony Armstrong if the Socceroos somehow manage to bring home the win.