An Australian writes!
My recent Blog on "Fandom" prompted many responses for which many thanks. Among them was one from the doyen of Aussie Sports Writers Murray Hedgcock. As well as a cricket fanatic Murray is also a fellow Wodehousian so entirely to be trusted if you overlook the unfortunate accident of his birth. Murray turns 88 next month and will no doubt be relieved to get off the Australian Devil Number ! He has kindly agreed to my sharing his response with you all.
Afternoon Paddy
Interesting that you should record the stress of being a fan just as Matthew Syed (The Times) writes under the line, “I’ve never supported a football club, but I genuinely envy those who do”. He admired early Wenger Arsenal days, but as an aesthetic pleasure, not an emotional enthusiasm for the club.
I find the English football fan’s love of his (often her) team baffling, as few have any logical reason to be supporters, and simply pick a club that grabs their attention. (As to the hordes of Man U fans worldwide – words fail me. What’s it got to do with them?). I’m a romantic purist, believing you should barrack for the team with which you have a personal affinity – either by birth, or residence. At the same time, I think teams in any sport should represent the community in which they are based, rather than being imported mercenaries – which is why the lure of the Premier League leaves me baffled (and why I stick pins in my Eoin Morgan doll, and approve the problems of Jennings, SA-raised).
To expand.: I was born in South Melbourne, so barracking from childhood for that team in the Victorian Football League, as well as for its cricket club (you will recall that South has produced more Australian captains than any club country-wide, nine in total, including GHS Trott, Jack Blackham, Bill Woodfull, Lindsay Hassett and Ian Johnson). To my horror, in 1982, as the newish Australian Football League sought to expand, South (the Swans) went North to become “the Sydney Swans”. I can’t really barrack for them today as they live in alien territory, so I tend to be more concerned with the AFL doings of Geelong, where I worked in the Fifties, writing on that team in the local paper.
As to soccer – I have a mild interest in the doings of Crystal Palace, as post-Geelong, I was sports editor of the Crystal Palace Advertiser (knowing next to nothing about the code: I was twenty before I saw it played). So I applaud their performance against Spurs, while feeling some sympathy for you and yours.
And for cricket, the one that truly matters ….the only big contest I really care about is the Ashes. I don’t much mind if Australia loses to other national sides, it’s the Old Enemy who must be beaten. Which is why I barrack in any sport for any team opposing England – at the moment, I am a proud West Indian, and wallowed in the First Test result. (In football, I especially enjoy barracking against England when meeting their nemesis, Germany – given that my wife is German).
Ah – what would we do without sport and its passions, its loyalties and prejudices, its irresistible opportunity for debate?
Cheers - Murray.
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