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Opinion
I think I’m a pretty resilient person – I’ve lived through six COVID-19 lockdowns so far – and I think I’m a pretty normal sort of AFL supporter too.
I love my team and I suffer when they lose. I deeply resent teams that have poured misfortune, humiliation and hurt upon my team, and I quite justifiably have deep feelings that can only be satiated not just by their defeat by my team but by their downfall in general.
I would use the word schadenfreude if I didn’t think it pseudo-intellectual (if not self-satisfying) and the sentiment not quite strong enough.
But 2021 is messing with my mind, my comfort and my sense of wellbeing. I feel like the Christians in the 1600s. Everything was nicely ordered. They knew where they stood in the world, had God to love, devils to hate and bishops to respect, support and tell them what to think. And this mad scientist named Galileo Galilei said he had proof that the earth was moving. The earth was meant to be fixed, as were their beliefs. That’s how I feel. All my certainty has been cut loose and is drifting.
Hawthorn Hawks
I’m unsure if it is just Cats fans or all AFL supporters – maybe excluding Hawks fans – who really want Hawthorn to lose and lose badly. Do all people put an extra 30 seconds onto the 1989 grand final so another team wins? In fact I forget: did the Cats come back and win the game, and is Gary Ablett Sr a premiership player as well as a Norm Smith medallist? The Kennett curse was the most enjoyable four years for Geelong. From 2008 they suffered not a single loss to Hawthorn, some via kicks after the siren.
The 2021 season was always going to be risky for the Hawks. They had topped up their team with former champions who were recovering from serious injuries. They could have pushed for the top four, or the injury-prone players could have succumbed to injury. Unfortunately (for them) it was the latter. I enjoyed a narrow victory in Round 3, as it always is.
I noticed Hawthorn’s injuries build and their slow march down the ladder to the bottom two or three. And then something really strange happened. I wanted them to win, and when they did I was happy about it. The sand beneath my feet was shifting.
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
West Coast Eagles
The 1990s was a decade of interesting music and also of much pain. West Coast in 1992 and 1994 claimed their first two premierships by pushing the Cats onto their knees, anointing them bridesmaids. No matter that it had been 1963 that the Cats last won the cup.
This year the Cats gave West Coast a 97-point thumping at Kardinia Park. This caused a little flakiness in the side. In Round 16 the Swans recorded a 92-point shellacking at the same ground. As I said at the time, the team had become a herd or Bambis. They still can’t pull their gaze from the car headlights. I don’t think they have changed. But I have. I am starting to support them. I want them to make the eight.
Collingwood Magpies
Collingwood are not really my team’s enemy. They are more like the enemy of all AFL supporters. They have a huge supporter base and an even larger number of supporters who hate them. For me the qualifying final in 2019 resonates. But any game at the MCG in front of 80 per cent Magpie supporters is enough.
Then 2021 happens. Eddie McGuire humiliates both himself and the club (again) and is forced to retire. Nathan Buckley goes on a losing streak, humiliates himself and his club and is forced to resign. The Magpies start dwelling at the base of the ladder with a temporary coach and half the side out injured.
And then it happens. It used to be ABC – anyone but Collingwood. Then I start to barrack for them. I wanted them to beat Melbourne, Richmond and West Coast, and they did. I even wanted them to win when they played turgid football against free-flowing teams.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Richmond Tigers
Richmond is only a recent addition to my list of reviled teams. They were always my second team, dear to me from my youth and my godmother’s family. I have been cured the last few years. A close come-from-behind defeat in the 2019 preliminary final followed by a come-from-behind defeat in the 2020 grand final cured me of my ailment.
The relentless fan confidence certainly encouraged this, but ultimately the pointed overconfidence of the coach, captain and full-forward made it a fait accompli.
Now the mighty have fallen. Last year’s premiers have had a run of seven losses in nine games, and some of those losses are to the cellar dwellers. Two thumpings by the Cats gave me a nice warm feeling inside. There were lots of jokes about Ninthmond – hilarious to all but the fans who put up with 37 years in the wilderness.
But then they were locked out of the eight, no possibility of sneaking in, and all that feeling evaporated. They were in the same boat as North Melbourne. And I didn’t care – no, worse: I felt for their supporters.
So has 2021 destroyed your peace of mind? Have you been able to maintain your traditional rivalries?
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