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I had to ring a federal member of parliament from Victoria to get therapy. Not her job. Not trained to do it. But she made me feel better about my life.
I am a Souths supporter. Been that way since birth. Good times. Bad times. No times, when the ancient club was forced into the wilderness for three long years. Cardinal and myrtle run in my veins. I’ve stayed loyal despite pressures. I’m married to an Eels fan. We spawned a Tiger.
Latrell Mitchell has once again been the target of an attack on his character.Credit: NRL Photos
Sports fandom is a peculiar thing. I’m not athletic in any way, shape or form. But something about watching brilliant athletes makes me go all gooey in the head, shouty on the couch and very vigorous in my text messaging to family and friends.
Anyhow, this Friday Souths play the Roosters – a team I utterly despise – and I am not at all confident. In fact, I’m dreading it. Here we are, just one more game before the finals and my team is in the headlines every single day. You know, don’t you, that when you see your team make daily news, it’s not because everyone turned up for training and there were no injuries. Those headlines are not about peace, love and brotherhood.
I’ll be honest. For the past few months my team has not done well. It’s the team I was born into because, straight after he got off the boat, my dad was recruited by an Aussie neighbour. Souths. They’ve played badly against teams they should have flogged. Poor discipline on the field. Grumpy players. Coaching staff upheavals. Now leaked emails and text messages. Even the South Sydney district is in trouble with an all-out brawl in Redfern on Sunday.
So yes, Souths deserve the headlines. And the star of the show is Latrell Mitchell. My god that man can play. When he does, that is. This year, it’s been a string of one thing after another. Some of it his fault, most not. He’s inconsistent, just as many other 26-year-olds on the planet are inconsistent (sure Daly Cherry-Evans was a child genius, but he’s the unusual one, not Mitchell. Oops, nearly forgot club captain Cameron Murray, only 25, now signed up until 2028).
But for a 26-year-old in the brutal headlights of NRL, he’s not done too badly. Personal life in good shape. He’s scored nine tries from 16 appearances this season. Thing is, everyone expects him to be a genius every week because he’s paid a truckload of money and, on his good days, he plays like an angel. I’m team ‘Trell despite inconsistencies. I am definitely not team Rod Churchill, whose texts about Mitchell should embarrass him forever and, as the Herald’s Andrew Webster wrote earlier this week, should forever be banned from giving out the medal in his father’s name. At least I’ve got my brother to console me when the going gets tough. Let me leak his text from last Saturday: “Not sure why Rodney Churchill’s opinion is relevant.”
I’m all South Sydney Rabbitohs and Melbourne MP Zoe Daniel is all Essendon Bombers. Credit: Penny Stephens
And this is why I called a member of parliament who represents a seat in Victoria and is therefore AFL down to her DNA. Not her job but she kindly took my call. Yes, Zoe Daniel and I have something in common. Our beloved football teams are in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Sure, she’s all Bombers, and I’m all Bunnies. But crossing these two cultures in a conversation late one night made me feel better about my life. The Bombers have not looked like contenders for decades. The Bunnies are a newish emergency. The Bombers, an endemic of constant failure.
Daniel too was born into the team she supports. Her dad played for Essendon. She was born at Essendon Memorial Hospital: “My whole childhood was about football.” As Greg Baum put it so miserably last year, “This probably won’t lighten the mood, but in 10 days time, Essendon’s finals win drought will be eligible to drive.” And this year’s been no better. They last won a grand final in 2000. I shouldn’t complain. South Sydney last won a grand final in 2014, well within the decade.
And my spouse, the Eels fan, reminds me that at least Souths FC was never ripped off by a team which breached the salary cap (for those who don’t know this story, Melbourne beat Parramatta in 2009 but lost its title as premiers after it was revealed the Victorian team cheated its way through the salary cap). He reminds me every time the Eels play the Storm. Every year. My son has had no joy from the Tigers since 2005, not long after he started supporting them in stark disobedience to the wishes of his parents.
And it turns out that despite Essendon’s woeful record for decades, Daniel at least gets support from her kids. That’s more than I do.
Jenna Price is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a regular columnist.
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