Talk Of The Town

I have my own column in an English Newspaper called The Evening Argus. I just pontificate about football (soccer) every week. Here is a random example:

In an earlier column I was slightly flippant towards an Australian institution. I described Aussie rules football (AFL) as “essentially 36 massive men in ill-fitting kit fighting on a cricket pitch.” I now realise I was wrong to describe it in such a derogatory manner. I have recently learnt that this game that I so offhandedly mocked could teach our own national sport a thing or two.

Sure, AFL is a tough, bruising, oddball sport (with an odd shaped ball), but, hidden beneath the brute physicality lies a gentleman’s spirit and a sense of sportsmanship that puts our bolshy, petulant Premiership stars to shame.

A few weeks ago I watched the AFL Grand Final (basically the equivalent of the FA Cup Final) between The Sydney Swans and The West Coast Eagles. It was honestly one of the greatest sporting occasions I have ever witnessed (and I watched the Albion at Priestfield for two years). Not that it will mean too much to you, but The Eagles won by a single point in an 85-84 thriller. Undeniably enthralling though the action was, there was something else about the match that beguiled me, namely the spirit in which it was played and watched.

Considering that this was the biggest game of the season for these two teams, there was barely a contested decision from the players when a controversial ruling went against them. They accepted the referee’s pronouncement with grace, and realised that no amount of whinging would change his mind. It made for a refreshing change from watching the Premiership, where foul-mouthed millionaires throw their toys out of the pram at the slightest hint of injustice.

Immediately after the match had finished, the losing team captain and manager, despite being visibly devastated, stood on the pitch and spoke through the public address system to congratulate the winners. As they did this, 97,000 pretty much unsegregated fans stood in respectful silence. There was no jeering and no obscene chanting towards their opponents. When the beaten team had finished their monologues, representatives from the winners did the same to commiserate the players and supporters of the side that they had just defeated. Can you imagine Alex Ferguson standing on the pitch at Cardiff with a microphone and praising a victorious Arsene Wenger? More likely, he would use the platform to bemoan the fact that the referee didn’t play the full five minutes stoppage time.

In English football we pride ourselves on having one the best sports leagues in the world, but watching this passionate, thrilling AFL spectacle unfold without a whinge, a sending off or a crowd scuffle, made me realise just how much English soccer actually has to learn.