Witch doctor, PM and the 'curse' of Aussie footballer
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If Australia perform well at the World Cup, they may want to thank a witch doctor and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who have combined to exorcise the "curse" affecting injury-prone star Harry Kewell.
Rudd chipped in with a goodwill greeting on Friday at the insistence of South African healer Bishop Isaac Nonyane, who said the prime minister's best wishes would oust the "malicious spirits" plaguing the striker.
An injury to Kewell's groin has dominated Australia's build-up to the World Cup, with coach Pim Verbeek desperate to have his key forward fit for Sunday's opener against Germany.
"No one has bewitched him," Nonyane, who claimed to be communicating with his dead grandmother, told the Daily Telegraph at his shanty town home, as he held a Bible and a picture of Kewell.
"But it is because of malicious spirits, and the main intention of those malicious spirits is to hurt him... A get-well message from the prime minister will do. From the prime minister's mouth.
"Let the guy know that the whole Australian community rallies behind him to get well, and that they do believe in him, to get well."
Rudd, struggling in the polls and keen to appear helpful, duly obliged.
"I think Harrys fantastic, and I wish him the absolute best -- and Ill be out there watching on Monday for the first game," he said, though he drew the line at massaging Kewell's groin.
"Its a family program," he said on Channel Seven's Sunrise show.