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Bewildered, angry, sad. I have just heard about the sacking of Andy Friend. A flurry of texts and emails between friends, all confused. We turn to ABC 666 – what terrible sin must Andy have committed to be sacked, so suddenly, so ignominiously in week two of the season?
Has he embezzled club money? Apparently not. Been seen drunk at a nightclub with some else’s wife? Nope.
Friend is, from all reports, a clean living man; happily married with two kids. What could have precipitated such bizarre action?
Andrew Fagan struggles to explain it. Words such as “communication style” and “personality factors” are put forward. The term “player power” keeps popping up, no matter how hard Andrew Fagan tries to suppress it.
The players want to decide how many laps they run ? How many push ups? It doesn’t make much sense.
As a parent I can’t imagine letting the kids decide how much sugar they can eat, or when to go bed.
Not surprisingly the Canberra community doesn’t buy it. We stood by when they sacked Nucifora, also stunned, bemused. But we trusted the “grown ups” to make the right decisions.
Tomorrow Jake White arrives. I would like to extend a warm welcome to him and his family.
Canberra is a great place to live and I wish him a great time here. I also want him to understand the role that the Brumbies has played in our lives in Canberra. It feels as if the board, the administration, maybe the players have lost sight of the importance of we, the fans.
We arrived in Canberra in 1993, a young married couple starting a family. We connected with a number of people of similar ages. The love of rugby a common theme.
We would all meet on freezing winter Saturday afternoons at Manuka and enjoy a great game of running rugby. Babies snuggled in strollers, toddlers kicking balls on the sideline. The Super 12 was in its infancy.
Canberra Stadium was built and the games moved out there. For the next 14 years it has been part of our lives. We became foundation members of the Brumbies Club.
It was a way of supporting the club financially. We took the children. Grandparents, uncles, cousins, friends – we had our regular seats with the extended family. It became a meeting place. The children grew. They started playing rugby themselves.
They would don their Easts club jersey and later their school colors to march proudly around the stadium at the beginning of the season, imagining the day when they too would be a Brumby.
They grew older. They stopped sitting with us, enjoying the freedom to wander and meet friends in a safe environment. At Bruce Stadium our children took their first steps, drank their first coke, snuck their first kiss.
We own about 40 Brumbies caps. They would be a source of pride, a conversation starter when worn at the beach at Mollymook, in Sydney’s northern beaches. Proud to be Canberrans.
We felt as if we owned the players. Our Joe. Our George. Our Steve. All home grown. We stood in the snow to watch the semifinal. We relished their wins but we also stuck by them during the losses.
We waited for hours to stand at the fence and shake hands with Gregan and Larkham to say our thanks and our farewells. It seemed important.
“Our Matt” headed off to Perth. We could rationalize it. We welcomed him home with a great cheer. We miss Stirling. My 11 year old daughter doesn’t have Justin Bieber on her wall, she has George Smith.
When the Brumbies administration sacked Andy Friend in February with such a poor explanation leaving Tony Rea with a train wreck it felt as if it had all ended.
My children, without prompting, painted a sign to take to the next game. It said “Bring back our FRIEND”.
I haven’t been back. Yes, I’m sulking.
Maybe an apology from the club or some gesture of reconciliation would help. Maybe if I see a change in the board, the administration, I’ll get over it.
But for now, for me, it feels like the end of an era.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.