Eat Weet Bix

English Premier League team Everton are currently in Sydney where they are set to play an exhibition match against Sydney Fc Football Club. The game will pit two of Sydney’s favourite football sons against each other- the locally bred Tim Cahill, born and raised in Sydney’s  inner-west and now one of Everton’s most recognisable stars, and Dwight Yorke- Sydney FCs first marquee player who will be returning for a guest appearance for his one time club.

Whilst they are in very different stages of their career, both are internationally recognised as players who possess a special dynamic that typically has them labelled as the danger men of their team. Whilst Dwight’s flamboyance on the field seems to be an extension of his life in general, this could not be further from the truth for Tim; who is a committed father of three young children and has recently married his long time partner and mother to his three kids. Tim’s trip has included his attendance at a charity dinner at Rooty Hill RSL which served as a fund-raiser for the Tim Cahill Cancer Fund for Children.

In between attending training and the numerous media and charity events Tim is aligned with, he was able to devote a couple of hours to Sanitarium, a brand he has endorsed for many years. Smartset were contracted to shoot the latest Weet-Bix commercial, with the stills to be used on its packets, and as life size point of sale cardboard cutouts. Apart from standard type images of him eating and standing alongside Weet-Bix products, a series of  ‘action shots’ were attempted specifically his famous flying scissor kick. Whilst necessary precautions such as a crash mat had been put in place, the capture of such a shot within the confines of a studio is not without its difficulties. Principally, that each time a ball is thrown to Tim and he exerts the necessary effort to complete this highly technical manoeuvre, the photographer is allowed but one frame per go (the relatively slow flash recharge times on studio flashes render the cameras motor drive irrelevant in this situation).

After a few goes, however, Tim was timing his scissor kicks pretty sweetly and I had got my timing right. The general rule for me was to click half a second before I thought I should, and I then had half a chance of getting some boot on ball. Yes, technical stuff.

A couple of hours of this sort of thing and we were done. Besides a couple of signed jerseys he left for us, we were left with a feeling that Tim was a superstar without the ego or attitude that one often associates with football superstars today; a man more interested in spending time with his kids and family than more commonly associated trappings of fame.  In an era punctuated by an endless supply of untalented reality TV divas and their posse of obsequious hangers on, it was a refreshing change.

The message is clear- eat Weet-Bix.