image from www.foxsports.com.au
Now that I have been living in
Melbourne for the last few years, I thought it prudent to provide an analysis from a personal perspective on supporters from some of the AFL clubs.
The “Hanging Shit on Your Own Team”
award – Carlton: All supporters are guilty of this but Carlton supporters walk
around with an arrogant air about them and think their club is the best thing
since sliced bread. However when the going is tough they will hang shit on their
players like no other supporters..... that is except for Juddy of course.
The “Feral Supporters” award –
Richmond: I bet you were all thinking Collingwood, but no from personal
experience Richmond supporters are the most feral. They scream, swear and bully
like a big club’s supporters would and worst of all think the whole world is
against them. Not only that I got a big send off for leaving before the
end of a game from someone who could barely put two intelligent words together.
Collingwood was a close second.
The “Most Dedicated Supporters”
award – Hawthorn: The Hawks have a great supporter base that watch the footy
week in and week out. The brown and gold is always abundant at the MCG and they
are passionate. Mind you it is not difficult to see why when you have players
like Buddy Franklin, Rioli and Mitchell in the side.
The “Juvenile Delinquent” award –
St Kilda: The Saints supporters will happily “boo” opposition shots at goal and
remind you of your clubs off-field indiscretions. The memory often fails the
Saints supporters and their jibes often come back to haunt them. They really
should remember the line that “Children should be seen and not heard”
especially given off-field events of recent years.
The “Scarcity” award – North Melbourne:
The Kangaroos have a reasonably modest supporter base to begin with and when
your side is not going well some supporters will drop off. But it is rare for North
Melbourne to get more than 20,000 people when hosting an interstate club.
The “Sick and Sorry” award –
Melbourne: Such is the state of the Melbourne Football Club, its supporters are
basically resigned to see their club range from “Woeful to Mediocre” and the
strain is starting to show. Melbourne supporters are often resigned to defeat
before the game has started.
The “We are the Competition”
award – Collingwood: Not sure how many times I have heard the line from a
Collingwood supporter “If it wasn’t for us, there would be no AFL” or the like.
What rot, it speaks of arrogance and most of all there is not enough recent success
to qualify the statement. Unfortunately it will only get worse if they win
another flag in the next year or two.
The “Most Relieved Supporters”
award – Adelaide: After losing 14 straight games in Melbourne, the Crows finally
broke their losing run with a big win over Carlton. Ironically Carlton was the last team
that Adelaide beat in Melbourne. Fremantle were a close second here.
So there you have it,
congratulations to the winners and if your team did not win an award, there is
always next year J
