Jamie Soward and Dean Young during the NRL, Round 4, Brisbane Broncos v St George Illawarra Dragons match at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Friday April 3, 2009. Dragons won 25-12. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan)
Another Dragons game on the box, so another date with my nemesis. If rugby league is all about rivalries, well, as they say, “it doesn’t get any bigger.”
I’ll cut to chase. What is the story with the Saints fan who holds up the “GST, Great St George Team” sign?
Fair dinkum, it is driving me mad.
The sign was sharp and politically incisive halfway through the year 2000. It is now 2010, surely time to rip up another bed sheet and open up the tin of red paint.
Now, no question on the bloke’s commitment. He is there at every game. I know this because I see him EVERY TIME THEY PAN TO THE CROWD, AND HAVE DONE FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS.
But lord above, get a new sign.
Did he really feel that strongly about Federal wholesale sales taxes to begin with? Has no political decision moved him in the same way since?
Now, he clearly is one of those great fans that makes signs, but why has he been so incapable of producing another? Are we dealing with some chronic case of writer’s block?
I should add, I love signs. “Me So Hornby”is my personal favourite at present.
But they need impact, otherwise they have all the humour of bumper sticker on your own car that you’ve seen every day for the last ten years. Only The Footy Show believes a gag can last that long.
Also, watching the match from the vantage point of the sign holders is certainly a unique experience and one I always expose to visiting relatives. That does cause some friction when I’ve spent the last hour or so explaining the rules and the sign holders are using a, shall we say, different interpretation.
But it’s all good fun, so long as no direct eye contact is made.
If all that seems like an odd way to preview a round, it is, because there is no way I’m making any bold predictions on a round in which I can’t confidently predict a single winner.
Next week: Why did Phil Gould repeat a Katie Perry song virtually word for word in his season preview on the Panthers?
The mental imagery still haunts me.
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