'Shockeroos' shirt sales down

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA'S heavy World Cup defeat to Germany has taken a palpable toll on sales of Socceroos memorabilia, with Sydney stores packed with unsold shirts and shopkeepers worried about shifting them.

While Germany jerseys are mysteriously doing a roaring trade, sales of Australia's distinctive gold shirts have slumped since Monday's 4-0 defeat badly dented their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.

'Before the match against Germany, we had 100 sales a day,' Chris Villatora, shop assistant at the Mick Simmons store, told AFP. 'But now it's not so popular.

'We have hundreds of articles in store. We need to sell as much as possible at the beginning, in case Australia doesn't reach the next round.' The opening loss was received badly in Sydney, where thousands of fans stormed out of the official Fan Fest viewing area early and newspapers labelled the team 'Shockeroos'.

Shirts, many bearing the names of Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill, were still selling at full price, but ominously some retailers had already put items on sale with hats slashed from 29 to 20 dollars (S$34.90 to S$24.06).

'We lost the first game, so it's not a very good start. Our sales were better last week,' said Kian Yazdani of the Australian Collection shop at Circular Quay, a tourist area near Sydney Opera House. -- AFP

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Sport/Story/STIStory_541654.html

Yeah, paying $140 for a shirt is pretty obscene when other nations are available for half that...