Last year, Socceroos goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne shot into superstardom with his penalty shootout heroics against Peru to send the Aussies to a fifth-straight World Cup.
Redmayne, who was only substituted minutes before the shootout in a bold gamble, showcased his trademark dancing moves to distract Peru’s penalty takers – and earn him the moniker the ‘Grey Wiggle’.
He also cheekily tossed aside the Peru goalkeeper’s water bottle which had a ‘cheat sheet’ of where to dive against Australia’s penalty attempts.
The 34-year-old’s heroics in the do-or-die qualifying clash earned him a spot on the plane to the World Cup in Qatar last year, where the Socceroos stunned the world with their best-ever World Cup showing.
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Speaking to Fox Sports’ The Back Page program on Tuesday night, Redmayne opened up on the incredible victory over Peru, saying it was: “Surreal. I just pinch myself every day I think. Every time I think back on it or walk past (where) we’ve got a little bookshelf in our house that’s got some photos and jerseys and whatnot.
“And just thinking about being there and having my family there as well, and just sharing that whole moment with them was utterly surreal.
“If I keep talking I’ll probably start crying again.”
Asked about his decision to toss the Peruvian water bottle over the advertising hoardings, Redmayne revealed the shoe could easily have been on the other foot.
“We actually had a drink bottle prepared! I’ve got it at home. We said if the Peruvian goalkeeper sees my drink bottle with notes on it it’s gonna get tossed. And that might leave me a little bit uneasy about where to go, so we fell back on our proven and tested method.
“When I saw he had notes, I just thought – well we had a meeting prior to these two qualifying games. It was actually Milos Degenek who spoke about: ‘It’s us or them, it’s our families or their families.’
“That kind of resonated with me in that moment. I just thought: ‘Now’s my time. I need to do something that goes against my moral fibre but it’s going to help better the team.’
“You actually saw after the next penalty he was signalling to the bench he didn’t know which way to dive.”
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Since his heroics in that shootout, Redmayne has become a phenomenon in Peru, with people dressing up to recreate his dancing displays in parades and even one incredible bullfighting scene.
Redmayne’s social media has also been flooded by the Peru faithful – sending messages both friendly and otherwise.
He said: “When you talk about social media critics, I’m glad I can’t speak Spanish! My social media is all Spanish and a lot of Peruvian flags!”
In the aftermath of that famous victory, Redmayne also linked up with The Wiggles – yes, really – to make his ‘Grey Wiggle’ nickname a reality.
Netball legend Caitlin Bassett asked Redmayne whether saving a goal in a penalty shootout or dancing with the Wiggles was more stressful.
He joked: “Probably dancing with the Wiggles!”
Why? The gloveman said of penalty shootouts: “That’s kind of your bread and butter.”
But Redmayne’s Socceroos heroics almost didn’t happen, as the keeper’s up-and-down career had nearly ended years earlier.
After playing a handful of games in his early career with the Central Coast Mariners and Brisbane Roar, Redmayne joined Melbourne City (then called Melbourne Heart) in 2012, before another swap to Western Sydney Wanderers in 2015.
But two seasons later, his career appeared finished – only for current Socceroos coach Graham Arnold and goalkeeper specialist John Crawley (who first worked with Crawley at the Mariners back in 2008) to hand him a lifeline and bring him to Sydney FC.
Redmayne said: “I mean I’d put in place plans for my retirement. I’ve only just graduated my primary school teaching degree (something he finished during the Qatar 2022 World Cup) but I was going to kind of fall back on that.
“I was just very lucky that there were some people still in football, John Crawley and Graham Arnold at Sydney FC at the time, who believed in me more than I believed in myself at the time. I wouldn’t be sitting here today if it wasn’t for them.”
Now, he’s racked up 150 games for the Sky Blues (and plenty of trophies to boot) – not that he realised he’d hit the milestone until after the weekend’s win.
Asked if he is comfortable being labelled a Sydney legend, he said: “No, not at all. Doesn’t sit well with me at all.
“I actually didn’t even know about the 150th until after the game when my father-in-law texted me! I found out from my father-in-law.”
“He just said: ‘Congratulations, good win on the milestone’. I just replied: ‘milestone?’”