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For the first time, in a long, long time, football is good. I’ve heard the phrase ‘how good’s footy?” quite a bit this week.
First time I heard it was from a mate early this week, who thought it would be a good name for our made-up radio show during a radio-training program. Not the best name, but it was between that or ‘Leather Poisoning’.
Yeah, we’re not ideas guys.
Since then, “how good’s footy?” is all I have heard this AFL round. Sydney and Essendon, Bulldogs and Kangaroos, Geelong and Fremantle, that’s all I’ve heard.
Even I’ve muttered out the phrase ‘how good’s footy”, but for a slightly for a different reason to the rest of the bunch.
I met somebody at work today. Older guy with his wife, he looked about 50 odd, maybe 60.
He stands with his things, his arms thrust into the pockets of a retro Melbourne FC hoodie.
“See the footy last night?” I grin, packing his items into a bag.
He turns to me and laughs.
“Did I see the game?” He grins back, nodding his head. “Mate, I’ve been a member for forty-one years. What a bloody win.”
He laughs once more, and turns to leave with his wife, his bag in one hand, and the other still in the pocket of his hoodie.
“How good’s footy?” He asks happily, as he leaves the store.
41 years. That’s a long time.
(AAP Image/Tony McDonough)
I’ve followed the Melbourne Football Club my whole life.
I was born into the club, and every Australian knows that when you’re born into a footy club, they’re a part of your life forever. It’s sacrilegious to support anyone else.
I think you can go to jail for it in some parts of Perth.
Some kids are lucky. They were born into families of Geelong, Hawthorn or Sydney supporters. They have seen the glory days; they’ve been to the Promised Land.
Others, not so.
Richmond fans know what I’m talking about. Close losses this year to GWS, Fremantle and Sydney all are torturous to young fans. Finishing ninth is has become so expected that it’s turned into a running gag.
I distinctly remember a close Richmond loss a couple of years back. One youngster, decked out in Tiger colours, was in tears.
“I feel sorry for the young kid,” one commentator remarked, as the cameras panned onto the child’s face.
“I feel more sorry for the Dad,” another replied. “He’s been crying for 25 years.”
Ever wonder why the Western Bulldogs 2016 Premiership was celebrated so much?
Why did everyone, every ‘man and his dog’ get around the boys from Footscray?
Why was their drought-breaking success so inspirational, so uplifting?
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Footy is a weird, but wonderful thing. Our game is like no other. The cultures fostered within the AFL and the game of football, as a whole, is incredibly unique, unlike anything in the world of sport today.
Soccer, basketball, rugby, they all have their own brand of culture and club within their sport, but AFL football is different, somehow.
The Western Bulldogs represented the everyman. The club that was founded in the muddy grass of Footscray, a club that had only won a single premiership before.
A club who were always good, but not good enough.
It is the same reason to why footy fans enjoy the success of Melbourne, or St Kilda, or (case in point) the Western Bulldogs.
Small clubs, with not many members, forming premiership-winning midfields, exciting forward lines and strong, stable defenders.
Clubs that will break the trend. Clubs that can win a flag.
Roughly a year ago, I wrote an article, following a Melbourne loss to West Coast in Perth.
I wrote of the disappointment of another loss, of another streak that would continue to haunt us.
But I also wrote of an improvement in the club. I wrote about the exciting times ahead, how we are building a team who could contend for a flag one day.
I concluded the piece with the line “in three years time, who knows where the Melbourne Football Club will be?”
One year on, look where we are now.
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
We broke yet another streak, this one coming off the boot of Tom McDonald. Not victorious since 2004, haven’t beaten the Eagles since 2009, haven’t beaten them in Perth since 2002.
Not anymore.
As a supporter of a club who had been diabolically bad over the past ten years or so, it is a surreal feeling to be sitting at fifth, and equal third on the ladder.
I’m used to mediocrity. I went through high school, getting crap from mates about how bad Melbourne was. It was the norm for me; I followed a club that reeked of inferiority.
Now, I’m supporting a club who maybe, just maybe, could contend for this year’s flag.
I’ve never experienced winning four in a row. I’ve never experienced success, and I’ve never experienced such strong hope that we, as a club, could do it.
It’s crazy. Other clubs are feeling it too.
Richmond, they’re that close to their first flag since 1980. Apart from an Adelaide demolition, every game they’ve lost has been close. Even some of the wins have been hard-fought.
Carlton is a young, inexperienced side, but with Brendon Bolton at the helm, the signs are extremely bright.
St Kilda and the Bulldogs have had rough patches, but they’re coming, and the Saints have just entered the eight.
Adelaide has had a stellar year thus far, along with the Giants, as well as Geelong.
Sydney have come from a 0-6 start to sit one game outside the eight, winning six out of their last seven games.
Essendon have been outstanding off such a tumultuous few years, and they would be eyeing off finals.
Even clubs like the Gold Coast and Brisbane have shown enough for supporters to be excited. They’ve won games that nobody expected them to win, and are developing sides which are competing with the best in the AFL.
For the first time in a while, the AFL is teeming with hope. There is hope for every single side in the competition.
And hope is a powerful thing.
2017 has been one of the most exciting AFL seasons in recent memory. I’m sure you would have heard the stat, 16 games this year have been decided by 1-3 points. And we’ve just hit the halfway mark into the season.
This is an AFL dream come true. The unpredictability is almost unheard of in the modern age of football, everyone is in with a chance.
For the first time in a long time, football is interesting. Tipping is the hardest it has been in years, every match, fans go in with the belief that their club could walk away with a victory.
The dynasty of Hawthorn is dead. Powerhouses such as GWS aren’t particularly powerhouses. From first to 16th on the ladder, you’re in with a shot of making finals.
Personally, this year is the best I’ve had as an AFL fan.
Melbourne are on the up. It’s an exciting, pulsating season, and something which I haven’t had in nearly ten years.
I follow a club who are good.
And I cannot predict a single match with confidence. Footy is fun, it is back to its exciting, unpredictable best.
There is hope too. For the first time in a long time, every club has that hope. The hope to win a flag, and nearly every club could win the premiership this year.
It’s madness.
We’re living in the golden era. These are the days we will be telling our grandkids about, these are the glory days. These are the days where you sit back after a round and think to yourself – how good’s footy?
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