When Bob Dylan took to the stage at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric band on July 25th 1965, sections of the crowd booed the songwriter who had become the “spokesman of a generation.”
Dylan’s journey down the path of electric instrumentation, which had begun earlier that year with the release of his Bringing It All Back Home album, put him both at loggerheads with the folk scene and also helped revolutionize contemporary music.
So when you hear Dylan sing “the times they are a-changing”, which ironically had been released a year earlier, know that the then 23-year-old was about to take a bold but controversial step into the unknown.
Almost 46 years on from the Newport Folk Festival, similar, but much more humble, change is a foot at the home of the Newcastle Jets as Nathan Tinkler’s coal mine funded revolution continues.
This transformation was typified by Wednesday’s press event announcing the signing of Socceroos midfielder Jason Culina.
As pots of beer and fancy looking h’orderves were handed out, Jets executive chairman Ken Edwards was confirming the capture of a current senior Socceroo on big money.
What a departure it was from the way things were run under the last regime (the Jets are even going to have a full-time strength and conditioning coach next season!).
It reminds me of a remark a colleague recently made as we discussed the change of strip the Jets will have next season.
As one journalist admitted he thought former Jets owner Con Constantine would have done the same thing if he were in charge of both the 2007/08 A-League champions and NRL outfit the Newcastle Knights, another interrupted, explaining, “Forget sharing colours! If Con was in charge they’d be sharing the same shirts!”
Considering all this, it’s hard not to be lured in by the glamour the Tinkler Sport Group has brought to the Jets who were on their deathbed late last year.
Yet, with TSG’s investment spilling into numerous other sporting ventures around the area, I still have concerns over the viability of what’s going on in the Hunter Valley.
With one man either funding or propping up football, rugby league, netball, basketball and surfing events in Newcastle, my worry is that Tinkler will create something of a false sporting economy in the region.
Having said that, it will be hard to criticize Tinkler if his development of the Jets goes beyond the playing and coaching staff.
TSG now have to grow the club by extending its reach, both with fans, and as a commercial entity. If they do this then no matter what else happens throughout his tenure, Tinkler will leave the football community of Newcastle with the best possible legacy.
So in that spirit, I hope Tinkler’s Newcastle revolution will be remembered as fondly as Dylan’s.
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