Almanac Footy Poetry: “A Footy Crowd” by Bernard Whimpress
A footy crowd
A footy crowd
has a pulse,
a beat,
a rhythm,
an ebb,
a flow.
A footy crowd
has energy,
poetry,
liberty,
repartee.
I can’t help feeling
the people who build
all seated, all sealed stadiums
have got it wrong.
I can’t help feeling
the people who want to provide
comfort and protection
above all else
have got it wrong.
I can’t help feeling
the people who want to take away
our movement and our space
have got it wrong.
That’s not sanity.
That’s sanitisation.
A footy crowd
is not watching the Adelaide Crows,
an artificial construct,
my home town
rather than my own team.
This is not a footy crowd,
this is fundamentalist religion,
this is positive affirmation,
this is feel good euphoria,
this is lets all go down the gurgler
and have a shit weekend together.
A footy crowd
is Them and Us,
barrack For and barrack Against.
A footy crowd
is an exchange.
A footy crowd
is not about
being locked into a season’s ticket,
sitting next to some loud-mouth dickhead
you wouldn’t normally waste spit on.
Footy Park is bad enough.
Docklands, the worst nightmare
to come.
A footy crowd
is about being able to put space
between yourself
and the source of your aggravation.
A footy crowd
is about sometimes choosing
to go to the Match of the Day,
on the day.
A footy crowd
is about choosing
to go to the Unmatch of the Day,
and having a pleasant surprise.
A footy crowd
is not just about bums on seats,
leave them for the passive
and the decrepit.
The sociologists might be right,
you’re less likely to swing a punch
from a seated start
but think about
what you’re missing.
A footy crowd
is about having legs to stand on,
rocking and a rolling
on the balls of one’s feet,
its part of what’s called,
interactivity.
A footy crowd
is about camaraderie,
brotherhood,
solidarity,
bonding sure,
but its more than an all-male thing.
Its about ballsy feminist women
who’ll kiss you flush on the mouth,
when the star recruit
dobs a sixty metre screwy
to land the points
with the last kick of the day.
Dream on.
A footy crowd
is about shit food,
pies and chips and chico rolls,
and sausage sizzles
from the back of the stands.
A footy crowd
is duffle coats
that never go out of fashion,
until they do.
A footy crowd
is not wining and dining
while peering occasionally
through panes of glass.
Its the slap
of a polar wind
in the face.
A footy crowd
is a special place.
© Bernard Whimpress 1999
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About Bernard Whimpress
Freelance historian (mainly sport) who has just written his 40th book. Will accept writing commissions with reasonable pay. Among his most recent books are George Giffen: A Biography, The Towns: 100 Years of Glory 1919-2018, Joe Darling: Cricketer, Farmer, Politician and Family Man (with Graeme Ryan) and The MCC Official Ashes Treasures (5th edition).
Love it Bernard! Reminds me so much of my days standing in the outer in the late 60s & 70s, me more often than not standing on a few quickly drunk cans, swaying with the crowd, exchanging friendly and not so friendly banter all in good fun cheering my team on. That element, sadly, is missing these days as is so clearly shown in your poem.