Australia’s ex-deputy PM waltzes with wrong Matildas in World Cup gaffe

Barnaby Joyce had posted a video on Facebook of himself at a rural New South Wales pub on Saturday night, with about a dozen people sitting behind him watching a football game on the wall-mounted TV.

Former Australian deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. (File Photo) | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Australia’s former deputy prime minister said fans in “every country pub” watched the women’s football team make history at the weekend - before sheepishly admitting he watched the wrong game.

Barnaby Joyce had posted a video on Facebook of himself at a rural New South Wales pub on Saturday night, with about a dozen people sitting behind him watching a football game on the wall-mounted TV.

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“In Australia tonight, this is what’s happening,” he said to his viewers.

But the red-faced 56-year-old came clean on Monday morning, admitting to Channel Seven TV that, “I think... we were watching the wrong game”.

“I don’t think it was the right one because when we finished the game, Australia had won 1-0 at full time, but that’s good, we still won.”

Had the gaffe-prone Joyce been watching the right match, he would have seen the Matildas defeat France 7-6 on penalties after a nail-biting 120 minutes of play, meaning they now play England’s Lionesses in Wednesday’s semi-final.

“I know it was an incredible penalty shoot-out, but we went and had dinner because we thought they’d won one-nil at full-time,” Joyce said.

“Whatever was happening, I think it was pretty dodgy -- I don’t think (the pub) had paid for their vision or something. But anyway, such is life.”

Joyce, a member of Australia’s centre-right Nationals party, is perhaps best-known for what was dubbed by social media as the “War On Terrier” -- the saga involving Boo and Pistol, two Yorkshire Terriers brought to Australia by Hollywood stars Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in 2015.

The couple, now divorced, was accused of not declaring their dogs to customs officials, in breach of Australia’s strict biosecurity laws, when they arrived in the state of Queensland by private jet.

Joyce had threatened to have the dogs put down, a move that resulted in an apology video from Depp and Heard.

In 2017, he several other senators were disqualified from sitting in parliament due to a constitutional ban on dual citizens -- he had unwittingly inherited New Zealand citizenship from his father.