Brendon Gale, the 244-game former Richmond centre-half forward, who four years ago returned to the Club as its administrative leader, when questioned recently on the ABC’s Q&A program, said traditional AFL clubs are essentially “community-based organisations”. His Collingwood counterpart, Gary Pert, a 233-game former Fitzroy and Collingwood full-back, concurred when interviewed on Anzac Day on ABC radio. The lifeblood of Collingwood, he said, was its vast membership.
All football clubs are bricks and mortar, and a grassed field, but they’re gatherings also of people and their public sharing of dreams, ideas, ambition and stories. In a football club there is identification and attachment, there is connection to community.
The great privilege of writing about the Richmond Football Club this season has been this opportunity to collect and share these stories of belonging. I am thrilled each week to receive emails from people like me – football fans, Richmond supporters, barrackers – who likewise gain much pleasure from the simple joy of watching a game of football. Already, I’ve shared some of these stories, as with Paul ‘Tommo’ Thompson, who emailed from Kenya to tell of his father Eric, who’s been a Richmond member for 67 years.
All correspondence is welcomed, all is replied to.
“Footy is not just about the players – although they’re a pretty important part – it’s also about the fans, the people who turn up week in, week out and pay their hard-earned to watch their heroes,” emailed Stephen Atkinson, from Sydney, before flying to his home-town in southern NSW, then driving with two of his three boys (one a Tiger, one a Hawk, “he took after his mother”) to see Richmond play Collingwood.
“Thanks for adding another dimension to my, and many others’ lives, that are obsessively dominated by the beloved Yellow and Black,” wrote Owen Greenwood, from “freezing England”. Another favourite feedback was from David Poliseno, of Wangaratta, who in a message three weeks ago, wrote: “The feeling and passion that is brought across in your writing brings great joy to my son and I. Zak is eight years old and is just understanding that being a Richmond supporter/member is a way of life, not just a pastime. We read and discuss the articles, which helps him understand why we follow this club.”
Welcome, Zac, to the Tiger family – may it reward you richly through your life.
Then, last Friday night, less than an hour before the opening bounce against Fremantle, I received an email that put the game into perspective. Captain Adam Dobney, a fourth-generation Richmond supporter, emailed from Tarin Kot in southern Afghanistan, to say how much he enjoys reading TTBB, but that he disagreed with the Round 4 report. “You are right that war and sport are too often compared,” he wrote. “But there are so many parallels, it’s inevitable . . . Just like our biggest fear is to let our mates down, I think their (the players) biggest fear could be to let the team down, let the fans down. That's what it means to be a warrior, and our Tiger boys are warriors.”
What struck me in this message from a troubled land, was the meaning and significance football gives our everyday lives, and the comfort it offers those in difficult circumstances – whatever they may be. In football, there is a common language that, despite our differences, we all understand. When the Richmond crowd rises in voice, it rises as one, when it sings the theme song, it sings it as one, when it hurts in defeat, it hurts as one.
This week, in the shadows of the AFL’s Anzac Round, I contacted Adam wanting to know more about his story – about his support from Tarin Kot – to share it with other Tigers from wherever they may be.
“I was lucky enough to see the second half of last Friday's game,” he says. “There’s a recreation area called Poppy's – named after Trooper David 'Poppy' Pearce, who was killed in Afghanistan on October 8, 2007 – that has satellite TV. The game started at 3.15pm local time. There are two screens, one usually runs AFL and the other NRL games. Few can justify getting enough time to watch a whole game, but many try to work their commitments around the bounce or final siren.”
Last Wednesday, however, was an exception. “One or two dozen guys usually cram on couches watching the game, but on Anzac Day it was a full house, about 150 blokes. If work doesn’t allow me to sneak in a quarter or two, I keep checking on the website for the scores when I can.”
Within the broad church of Australian Rules football, there are also denominations, which are held firmly even in times of war. “I've met four or five other Tiger supporters since being over here,” says Adam, deployed in March for the duration of the football season, working as a mechanical engineer. “Most of them are soldiers from the 7th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment who do a lot of the heavy lifting here. There's also a Navy Chief Petty Officer who works near me and we talk footy often. It’s a great way to bridge the gaps of rank and unit.”
Adam, 31, a left-foot forward pocket who inexplicably married an Essendon supporter, grew up in Sunbury near Matty White, for whom they cheered last Friday night, especially when he kicked what should have been the match-winning goal. “I always enjoy seeing him have a great game, my brother and his sister went to school together.”
(Meanwhile, at this late stage of the game last Friday night, I jumped in exhilaration on a couch in Melbourne.)
On game days in Afghanistan, Adam wears a yellow and black baseball cap and polo shirt, although he says it’s getting a little warm for the scarf. He’s also bought some keepsakes from local merchants. “They’re coins with the Richmond Football Club emblem on one side and Operation SLIPPER – the current mission here – on the other.”
Such Tiger memorabilia is part of a paternal Dobney tradition. “My father’s a Richmond supporter, my grandfather was Richmond – I still have his yellow and black toolbox from when he worked at Rheem – and his father was also Richmond. The family once owned a dairy farm on the river flats near Herring Island, and later they had a house in Amsterdam Street in Richmond. Richmond is in the blood.”
But on Adam’s return from active duty, friendly fire will resume at home. “My wife and all her family are Essendon supporters and there’s a lot of pressure to convert, but it’ll never happen,” he says. “I’m convinced they’re Richmond supporters who got their colours mixed up.”
From an outpost in southern Afghanistan, working in demanding circumstances, Adam says the camaraderie he gains from being part of the Richmond family is a great comfort in a time of such long-distance separation. “There’s a sense of pride in the team, in the jumper, that endures. It’s a trait that serves well over here. And for me, getting the chance to see the boys in action is a great circuit-break to the seven-days-a-week routine. It’s the highlight of my week.”
**
This Saturday night my team again have their backs to the wall, facing adversity. They play Geelong, a team they haven’t beaten since round 9, 2006. The time has come to break the spell, to put demons to rest. The time has come to maul the Cats. There will be no social niceties this Saturday night, no respect will be shown. It is time to avenge past losses, to show all supporters that the wheel has turned.
I will not be at the game on Saturday. I am driving to a far end of Victoria, to a ground on alluvial river flats where many years ago I ran and jumped and kicked a ball. I am returning to my roots in country football. On Saturday night I will drive home, through tall and dark forests, listening to the game on the radio.
I will be alone, but I know I will be with many. I hope my Tigers win. And if they do, late in the night when I return home, I will think of Captain Adam Dobney; think of him watching the game in Afghanistan; think of how he feels; think of what it means to him.
Tiger tiger, burning bright.
or Twitter: @dugaldjellie
All Richmond supporters are encouraged to send Captain Adam Dobney a Tiger message via supportthetroops@defence.gov.au
