I’m a massive football fan. And as a football fan, there are two particular events you’d want to attend – the UEFA Champions League or the FIFA World Cup. Through a friend of ours, we managed to score a few tickets to the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final between Italy and France. And not just any tickets – dead centre, and four rows from the pitch. They were, quite literally, the best seats in the house.

Now as an Australian, I couldn’t conceivably justify (and still can’t) supporting the Italian team after their cheating tactics saw Australia kicked out of the tournament. I wanted to see them thoroughly outplayed and beaten. But as history would have it I wasn’t so lucky, and the Italians won in a penalty shoot-out.

Despite the bitter disappointment of the Italians prevailing to be world champions, it was an absolutely incredible experience. The songs the fans were singing, the tension in the crowd and the mass celebrations post-match were pretty epic. It’s an experience I’ll probably never get the chance to repeat.