Round 14 – Sydney v Hawthorn: One of the pleasures of life, beating Hawthorn!

The heading itself could be repeated and repeated, taking up an entire A4 page, but, you get my gist.

The sentiment applies at any time, but especially this week; a week in which that football club embarrassed itself big time. Not only did their captain do despicable things on the footy ground, and only receive a two–week ban, but their President, Jeff Kennett, put his foot in his mouth again, evoking racist overtones about the employees of Marvel Stadium.

To give their players credit, it was a wonderful call by them to pay tribute to Adam Goodes before the game at the SCG on Friday night, having admitted they could have done more at the time of the consistent booing. The Age had reported on Friday morning that the players would wear No 37 in their warm–up before the game. It was also reported that some of the club’s members were extremely unhappy with the players’ gesture, and threatened to tear up their memberships.

I only have one message to those disgruntled Hawthorn supporters: “Go ahead, tear up your memberships, and never come back to the footy – at least the rest of us can then enjoy the game without your abhorrent racist attitudes”. (And that would apply to all other clubs’ supporters who took apparent pleasure in booing one of the greatest indigenous champions of the game.)

*******

Gradually adjusting to Melbourne’s weather – especially this recent cold snap – we headed off to Sydney on Friday afternoon, expecting a typical Sydney almost–winter’s day: 20 degrees and sunshine! Alas, it was a coolish 16 degrees and a cold bitter wind that persisted until late Saturday afternoon when we boarded the flight back to an even colder Melbourne. The weather will take some time getting used to, but I will, I have to!

The footy, however, made up for any small discomfort like a temperature or a cold wind. With just 48 seconds off the clock, we had our first goal: Parker to Papley to Franklin. It was perfect! 120 seconds later, Heaney, Florent, Jones and Papley combine for another. Perfect! Paps is involved again six minutes later, kicking it forward to a running Menzel in the goal square. Another goal. Almost perfect, had Sicily not intervened and kicked their first a minute or so beforehand. Heywood misses but makes up for it with his first goal off the ground after a rare misunderstanding between Paps and Buddy. Our champ adds another after a pin–point pass from Jones, snapping around his body, on the run, 30 metres out. Hawthorn add a couple of majors as we head into the second term 18 points up.

Our intensity drops off a bit this quarter, despite another goal to Buddy a minute into its start. This turns out to be our only six–pointer in the period, while Hawthorn adds 3.2. A seven–point lead is slightly worrying, remembering only too well our recent encounters with this mob.

The third quarter is a dour affair, each team managing only a goal apiece. Our five behinds told a tale. What stood out for me during this 30 minutes was Aliir Aliir kicking the ball straight to the opposition on three occasions – rare misjudgements from a normally precision–perfect practitioner; Buddy going off injured; and Hawthorn’s only goal, coming on the siren, rolling through the big sticks with not a Swan in sight. A rare oversight by our defenders, as we head into the last term.

With Buddy now off, Blakey and Reid need to spark. They have been quiet. The former does just what is required in the last term, taking spectacular marks, kicking two crucial goals, and showing the class we all know he possesses. Callum Sinclair also excels, marking strongly and goalling early in the quarter. But, sadly, he then smashes his face into the turf attempting another mark, and groggily jogs off. The pictures on the big screen show a very confused and upset man, desperately wanting to continue in his milestone match, but eventually resigning himself to the concussion scenario and protocol. Meanwhile, Will Heywood soccers one off the ground in the goal square, and we’re now feeling pretty confident with our 24–point lead and not long to go. Jarman Impey, whose words about Adam Goodes, quoted in The Age on 21 June, were spot–on and inspiring, reduces our lead and the siren sounds a few minutes later.

Impey’s comments need reiterating: “I’m sure, just like anything you put out, there’s going to be mixed emotions. All I can say is take a breath, have the chance to have a look at it [the documentary] and see what it’s like in his shoes, experience that, and see what your thoughts are afterwards. I highly recommend everyone in the nation can watch it because it’s very powerful.”

Shaun Burgoyne, one of their captains, also said in the article: “With Adam’s documentary coming out, it was a good chance to reflect on where we are as an industry and where we’ve come from. On reflection, clubs and players have come out and admitted that at the time, our response wasn’t good enough. Obviously we can’t turn back time, but as we’re playing Sydney in Sydney this Friday night, we thought it was a perfect opportunity to show our support for Adam publicly. We want to show that we’re all beside him, united in stamping out racism.”

With those words still ringing in my ears, I rejoice in our 19–point victory. It is very welcome. In fact it is more than welcome – it is to be celebrated and cheer cheered: It is against Hawthorn – and as you already know, winning against them is one of the pleasures of life!

Go the Mighty Bloods!

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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