Is it wrong to root for the other team?
Posted by cacophony in : Sport & Leisure , 8 comments 
Sporting allegiances tend to be set by your parents, where you grew up and who with, or by virtue of a star player at the time you were most excited by the sport.
I must have missed something. My parents are not great sports fans and I moved around too much as a kid to have a region-based team (or for that matter, any particular sport to follow) and my crush on Tony Modra (Adelaide Crows, early 1990s) faded as quickly as his chromium trading card lost value. (Aside: In retrospect, I should have held onto that card. It’s probably worth a lot of money now.)
Don’t get me wrong, I like sport. I just don’t support anyone in particular.
This makes me a particularly underdressed fairweather friend. I’m happy to go along with rabid fans of any persuasion and wear any scarf they want to lend me. Last weekend, I watched Geelong beat Collingwood at the MCG, wearing a singing Cats scarf to support my friend Greg. In the last few minutes, three goals up, the big Cats were playing very petty football. They had a couple of shots on goal but instead kicked the football back and forth, wasting time until the siren. It was a cheap way to win and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Greg, however, was rapt the Cats had slain the Magpies whichever way they could.
Which brings me to tonight’s Rugby game: New Zealand is playing Australia in Auckland. Even though I’m a proud Aussie and I’ve never even been to kiwiland, I’m going for the All Blacks because I think they play better. I go for them because they make the game great.
Does that make me unAustralian?
C’mon … kids?
Posted by cacophony in : Sport & Leisure , 5 comments
Last night, a few new friends took me to the Australian Open. Young Lleyton Hewitt was on the court, grunting and screaming “c’mon!” at appropriate moments.
I’ve been a spectator at many sports but this was my first elite-level tennis game so I was surprised at how well-behaved everyone was. There were only a few large groups in the crowd - decked out in Australian flags with “AUSSIE” written in Texta on their arms - and most spectators seemed to be middle-aged couples. There was little whooping, no whistling, only a sprinkling of silly chants and even the clapping was quiet and reserved.
Yes, it is early days of the competition and yes, it had been a bloody hot day; but where’s the spirit? You can barely hear yourself think at most AFL matches. Even during a boring cricket match at Junction Oval, the kids get a little rowdy sometimes. I think I’ve heard more yelling at the golf.
So why are we so reserved? Is it just tennis? Why do we watch sport like we’re sitting on the couch at home? Is this a symptom of too much televised sport?
What is the point of going if your sportsmen don’t know you’re there to support them?
Blood sports
Posted by cacophony in : Sport & Leisure , 4 comments
After a bloody weekend in the AFL, it’s timely to ask whether the violence seen recently in junior football games is just our boys emulating their heroes?
How can we expect our teenagers to play fair when there are continual calls for the “blood” to be brought back to AFL?
