Anne’s Choice

by Anne Fedorowytsch

When the NAB Cup fixture was released late October 2010 my reaction to the draw was a very long and exasperated ‘Nooooooo!’

The Crows’ opening round matches versus Port Adelaide and Melbourne had been scheduled head to head against Adelaide United playing their biggest rivals, Melbourne Victory, at Adelaide Oval in the last round of the regular A-League season.

Now usually this would not be a dilemma at all. I would be at AAMI Stadium no questions asked but this year I had a tough choice to make.

 

For the majority of the 2010/2011 A-League season I’ve been volunteering in the communications department at Adelaide’s premier soccer club. My involvement sees me doing all sorts of things on match days including signing match photographers in, handing out team lists to journalists, and manning the press conference room door.

My initial thoughts had me choosing the Crows by far. By February I would be itching for the footy to start again and lets face it when ever have I picked soccer over Aussie Rules?  But as the date drew nearer and nearer I began to ease into the idea of missing my first Crows game in Adelaide for seven odd years.

Adelaide United was having a great season and the competition between them and the Victory certainly wasn’t dying down. I was also thoroughly enjoying my time at the club alongside a great team of fellow volunteers and staff.

When I woke up last Friday morning it suddenly dawned on me. My heart skipped a few beats as it had finally sunk in that I wouldn’t be making the trek down to West Lakes as I would always do on game day. Instead I would be driving into the city to cheer on the Reds.

I remained relatively anxiety free during the night as I kept reassuring myself that it was only the pre-season and only the NAB Cup. But there was something so strange about hearing ‘Walker lines up for a shot on goal 55 metres out from home’ and ‘Gunston looks like a real goer’ on the small radio I was listening on in the ground’s media centre. Thankfully the soccer turned out to be a ripper of a game with a crowd of about 21,000 (beating Footy Park’s crowd by around 3,000 people) witnessing the Reds secure third sport on the ladder in a 2-1 win over the Victory.

After my night at Adelaide Oval was done I raced home and watched the Crows’ match against the Power on replay on Foxtel. I felt the smallest tinge of regret as I saw a favourite youngster of mine, Shaun McKernan, seemingly come of footy age and I wasn’t there to see it. Hopefully though the Crows will make it through to the second round of the NAB Cup competition and I’ll be able to redeem myself as a die-hard supporter. Let’s just hope there are no more scheduling clashes as United progress through to the finals of the A-League season.

Comments

  1. Nice piece from the person with sporting journalism’s greatest ever surname. (Who else do you know with a surname where no vowels appear in the last six letters?)

    It must have been a tough choice, Anne.

    I can’t ever see myself choosing a soccer match over an AFL one.

  2. Dare I say, though, as you sniff out stories Caro could only dream of, the footy stiffs will be calling you ‘The Witch’.

  3. Haha thanks guys! The surname certainly stumps a lot of people.

  4. Disappointed Anne…….Brett told me you were NEARLY as big a crows supporter as myself. Clearly he was wrong! haha Happy Brett and I can both go to the Reds this week though!!

  5. Alovesupreme says

    Anne,
    I bow to your level of engagement with both your teams, but Saturday night forced a similar choice on me. I’m a lunatic Blues fan, but I’ve also committed to the Melbourne Heart. I decided early on that between two nothing games (Heart out of contention for the finals, Carlton playing the lightning premiership), that the farewell to Skopo, Aloisi and Sibon was a greater obligation. It was peculiar travelling on the train with a large contingent of footy fans, and just a sprinkling of Heart devotees.

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