The surprise making of a footy fan

I barely recognise myself. Had to snap myself out of it tonight after switching the tv on to the Footy fucking Show for the first time in my life. (It didn't last long - Gogglebox a greater temptation. I grew up on soccer, from a distance, as my gendered upbringing excluded me from ever actually participating, but it didn’t stop me from being an avid spectator of my big brother's playing. I had pictures of the best looking (ahem) Newcastle KB United players on my bedroom wall - next to Deborah Harry, Elvis and The Who, but honestly it was a deadend relationship. Punk/indie/alternative music scene wasn't at all compatible with sport, and AFL wasn't on anyone’s radar in Newcastle. After moving to Melbourne in the mid-80s I started to see that loving rock 'n' roll and football weren't exclusive to each other. Still I baulked. I stood my ground. I was proudly anti-football. I resisted and didn't want to follow the crowd (a recurring theme). Thankfully Andyman shared my sentiments and united, we never succumbed. Until the Community Cup emerged on the scene and we dabbled in the community spirit that brought together the best of Melbourne's musos, public radio and overweight, unfit everyday people who wanted to play ball. When I say 'people' I mean 'blokes'. In the early days. Over the years it changed, more girls were INCLUDED. Then we had kids. Without ANY encouragement the firstborn child, a boy, wanted to kick the footy, then he wanted to do a thing called Auskick, then he wanted to join the local footy team. We went along with the crazy caper - feeling like frauds and pretenders, waiting to be exposed every week. Every time 'a dad' would ask us 'who do you go for?' or 'did you see the game last night'? we cringed and kept a distance to detract from our fraudulence. We kept it up for a few years and met a few of you lovely people along the way. I'm sorry if we misled you but I suspect you saw straight through us. One thing we knew for sure is moving west-side to breed our brood was life-changing and we loved our new community. It was a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll and we felt welcomed and at home here. We became ensconced. Footy aside, we lapped up the vibes at local events and happenings, I became a community agitator and reckon I made a wee difference here and there. Little kids grew into bigger kids and we continued loving the Community Cup and after quitting local footy after two concussions in a season our firstborn boy became a Rockdogs waterboy and he debuted this year as a bonafide Rockdog. We went to a quite a few Bulldogs games over the years, loving them all, getting to know the names of the players and waiting for the day they'd crack into being serious finals contenders. We loved Melbswest. Then our second born sprung forth as a footy fan. She could be forgiven for never feeling included in the game but she didn't. Along with her band of girl-friends she was a fan and cottoned on to all kinds of opportunities. She's been affected by the women playing for the Rockdogs and Mega-Hertz in the Community Cup and wanted to be one. She looked disappointed when I told her she'd need to be in a band or have a radio show to play in the Community Cup. A month or so ago I took her and her girl-friends to see the Women's AFL final at our local, Whitten Oval. We watched 'her-story' in the making. It made a difference. She visited the MCG the day before for the launch of the women's AFL season and she was madder than ever for all things Bulldogs. So I confess, we're late to the scene. We'll never compete with the diehard Doggies fans of decades and generations, but we do identify, with their passion and their struggle. If a team is going to back women in AFL, look out for men's health and welcome newly arrived people as well as the families and generations of fans, then I will commit to supporting them. I've used more words here than there have been footy games or shows I've given a shit about, but regardless, do declare my fandom and will be a paid up Western Bulldogs member from next year. It's been a joy to see such cheer take over our neighbourhood this past week especially, I reckon many of us already feel like winners. #godoggies #bemorebulldog #melbswest