Meeting Luke Hodge at East Coburg Cricket Club

by Jackson Kane

 

Thursday 20 March 2014 was a special day for me. I kicked a couple of cool snaps from impossible angles playing footy during lunch-time at school. I also went to this African American music incursion (Shekere Beats) at school! But that wasn’t the special thing about today. Today was special because I got to meet one of the great footy players. Luke Hodge!

How did I get to meet him? Well, my dad is an enormous fan of bloody Hawthorn. Dad is also part of the Footy Almanac which I’m writing for now. My dad had to sell Footy Almanacs at this cricket club function at the East Coburg Cricket Club, where they always have a famous guest speaker. The guest for this month was Luke Hodge! So my Dad asked if I wanted to go along and I said yes even though I barrack for the best team in the world (Geelong).  Anyway let’s talk about interesting bits not boring bits.

I took a GWS footy (which has really good hand grip) to the function so I could have a kick. I know what you’re thinking, why would have a GWS footy? It’s because I like GWS. Yeah, I actually do. I also brought an Ipod with me and a Luke Hodge footy card (I love footy cards). I brought them to get autographed and to take a photo and guess what, I got it all done.

Anyway we got there and there was a footy oval and a playground so I bounced out of the car like a jumping kangaroo. First I started kicking goals from really hard angles. Then I went on the playground. There was a flying fox where you sit on a swing and then push and you go flying. I was on that for ages. I was just about to go up to my Dad and ask if I was allowed to go into the clubrooms but my Dad just turned his  back on me like a normal dad (sarcastic). So I had to stay outside for another 15 minutes until he realized I was outside.

When I got inside I ate a delicious sizzling sausage and I had a refreshing soft drink so I was nice and comfortable and ready to hear Luke’s speech. Before the speech I got his autograph on the footy card and football. I was pretty jovial after. Then he answered the host’s question (Stephen Milne) (Not the footy player). After that we got to take photos and I had my photo taken with Luke Hodge. Again, I was very happy for what he did.

After taking photos Stephen let the audience ask Luke questions. Everyone had their turn doing that. I decided to put my hand up to ask a question. My question was “What do you expect from Jack Gunston this year”. Luke said it was a very good question so I blushed. He answered the question but I was confused with what he was saying. What I wanted to say was this: Sorry Luke, I didn’t understand a word you said. I don’t speak Hawthorn Language.

They had an auction for Hawthorn memorabilia and the night finished with a raffle. I was asked to draw tickets from the raffle bucket. When it was time to go I helped Dad carry boxes of Footy Almanacs to our car and we were all set to go home. I told my Dad about what I wanted to say to Luke Hodge after he answered my question and he cracked up laughing.