IM SO EXCITED IF THIS IS TRUE! I WILL GET TICKETS! :-)
Sydney Morning Herald, May 18
NSW Premier Morris Iemma might not be able to bend it like Beckham, but he's prepared to twist arms to get the football superstar to strut his stuff in Sydney.
Mr Iemma says he's "aggressively chasing'' David Beckham's new team, the Los Angeles Galaxy, to play a match at the Olympic Stadium in November.
A self-confessed football fanatic, the Premier said it was part of a range of measures his Government was working on with the Football Federation of Australia.
"It would be fulfilling ambitions to stand there with David Beckham to watch him play,'' Mr Iemma told reporters today.
"He has been and continues to be ... one of the greats of football; he's got plenty to offer, his skills and ability are still there.''
Mr Iemma played down the chances of the Victorian Government poaching the game for Melbourne.
He said compared to the harbour city, Melbourne was "mediocre''.
Rejecting claims by Melbourne Lord Mayor John So that it was the sporting capital of the universe, Mr Iemma added: "When [Melbourne] can put on [an] Olympics that is the best ever ... then we can pay some attention to those remarks.''
Mr Iemma said securing the LA Galaxy match was part of the Government's commitment to attract major events to NSW.
But as things stand, Beckham and the Galaxy might skip Australia altogether.
A Galaxy official said in LA today today the club's post-season world tour involving star recruit Beckham and his new teammates may bypass Australia.
"We have nothing confirmed in terms of a trip to Australia,'' Galaxy's director of media relations, Patrick Donnelly, said in Los Angeles.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma said yesterday Sydney was the "natural choice to host the Galaxy and David Beckham".
Reports said the Galaxy were pencilled in to play an exhibition game with Sydney FC on November 27 at Sydney's Telstra Stadium, but there was a rival push for the Galaxy to play in Melbourne against Melbourne Victory.
Beckham, the former England captain and Manchester United star, has signed a five-year deal to play for the Galaxy in America's Major League Soccer (MLS) competition.
Sponsorship provisions in the deal could earn Beckham up to $US250 million.
With Beckham's worldwide appeal, the Galaxy is scanning the globe for cities to show off the star recruit during the post-season tour.
The MLS season ends November 18.
Beckham's name could sell out stadiums in Asia, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
"We are looking to do a post season tour, but in terms of where we are going, we don't have anything that's confirmed," Donnelly said.
"There are a lot of possibilities on where we can go."
Beckham will not join the Galaxy until his current contract with Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid expires on June 30.
The Galaxy are in desperate need of Beckham as the team has won just one of its first four games and sits with two other teams at the bottom of the MLS table.
