Mobbenfuhrer
2 Mar 2002, 07:36
I just found an eMail I sent to someone who interviewed me about footy supporter passion, and thought it was worth presenting here. Make of it what you will :
1) What do you get out of being a supporter of a footy team - Is it worth all the time and effort and money that it takes to be a fanatical fan?
I think its worth it. For me, especially, I had arrived in Melbourne from country Victoria in 1988, knowing only a sister and an aunt who lived here. Through Fitzroy FC I was bestowed with a full social set, a great number of whom are still good friends to this day, and some of which I still spend a lot of time with.
A loud barracker and/or a financial supporter certainly can feel that they have some input into a team's performance, and if you are in love with a competitor in a profile-intense sport then you really get the feeling that you're making your mark. One feels very emotionally attached to their team and its onfield performance, which gives glee with wins, despondency with
losses, and more importantly a target for effort that is built entirely on passion. It's a good feeling to have a target, a canvas upon which your passion can be painted. And, because the result of a football match can go either way, and that you have the opportunity to perhaps make an impact with a 'rev-up' from the outer, its all the more heartfelt because you are almost
included entire as a part of the team, of the 'common effort'.
Once during a football match Fitzroy were getting done but not out of it, and at 3/4 time we put on a great audio show of support, at which point coach Rob Shaw directed the huddle over to near our section of the outer. The effect was exponential, in that we felt both encouraged and obliged to put in an extra effort again with our vocal support. The Roys got up for a win in that final quarter. You only need to imagine the event to feel the
same emotion.
2)What were your feelings when you heard that Fitzroy would be merging and would now be based in Brisbane?
I was all for a preference of the Roys becoming defunct. My feelings were that if Fitzroy's only opportunity to survive was in an adulterated format, it would be better if we closed up shop. We would never be dead, we would merely have discontinued competing, just like every era in history, every event, must cease at some time.
There was some feeling of accusation, both towards Fitzroy and the instrumentalities that finalised its cessation. Antagonism towards Fitzroy was basically a 'you can't do this to me' feeling. But in the background there was an almost scary realisation that here was the opportunity for martyrdom. To fall at the front of the war against the adulteration of the AFL was regarded as a supreme sacrifice, and for a while mates and myself bastardised a movie quote : "By destroying us, you only make us stronger."
The event lifted us arrogantly above the supporters of rival clubs, as our team was now less touchable in the face of our opponents. An almost Orwellian quote from one of the Lynch Mob songs states : "While they'll erase what is you, it's still all true." That was a reflection of the feeling.
I couldn't follow Brisbane, not because I didn't like Brisbane, but simply because Fitzroy was too powerful within me to accept any adulteration of the club. I made my decision, to believe that Fitzroy, as I loved them, had simply gone away, as all things that are loved eventually do.
3)Do you think your obsession with Fitzroy was a bit 'unhealthy' - how do you rationalise spending so much time on supporting a footy team?
Yes, the obsession, the fanatacism, the votaricity and zealousness, was, and is, unhealthy. Heart rules mind. I'd be too loud and obnoxious, I'd drink myself away sometimes at the footy, I'd be angry and throw things around at home. I'd spend food money on travel to matches and/or tickets for entry. Every match day I'd be up at 7.30am, outside the gate at 10.00am-10.30am, be at the game (drinking and abusing) til 4.30pm, and at the Social Club til 1am when it closed. Sometimes I was walking much of the way back home. I once had to sleep in the stand at Brunswick until the trams started up. I'd sometimes miss a Monday's work, or be no use there if I HAD made it in. I'd enter into vocal or physical conflicts from which I would normally have
shied away, had Fitzroy not been amongst the subject matter.
But the benefits outweigh. Gaining a feeling of belonging, the social set, the target for passion, the EXERCISE of passion, are all vital to personal development and well-being. The feeling of achievement when reaching a level of support that might rev up the team was self-satisfying and listable equal with achieving a career goal.
But most importantly, it was required of me. Failing to contribute was letting down those for which I'd pledged support, and therefore, letting down myself in regards to honesty towards my own being. No-one likes to feel incomplete, no-one likes to feel that they can't be contributing to the target of their love. No-one likes to feel that because THEY weren't there, the subject of their devotion was let down enough to endure loss. People like me barrack for our team, because, its what we do. Not doing so is
welcoming a personal falsity that can lead to feelings of trauma. We only want to feel good about ourselves, and that is achieved by striving for what we wish for in our hearts.
1) What do you get out of being a supporter of a footy team - Is it worth all the time and effort and money that it takes to be a fanatical fan?
I think its worth it. For me, especially, I had arrived in Melbourne from country Victoria in 1988, knowing only a sister and an aunt who lived here. Through Fitzroy FC I was bestowed with a full social set, a great number of whom are still good friends to this day, and some of which I still spend a lot of time with.
A loud barracker and/or a financial supporter certainly can feel that they have some input into a team's performance, and if you are in love with a competitor in a profile-intense sport then you really get the feeling that you're making your mark. One feels very emotionally attached to their team and its onfield performance, which gives glee with wins, despondency with
losses, and more importantly a target for effort that is built entirely on passion. It's a good feeling to have a target, a canvas upon which your passion can be painted. And, because the result of a football match can go either way, and that you have the opportunity to perhaps make an impact with a 'rev-up' from the outer, its all the more heartfelt because you are almost
included entire as a part of the team, of the 'common effort'.
Once during a football match Fitzroy were getting done but not out of it, and at 3/4 time we put on a great audio show of support, at which point coach Rob Shaw directed the huddle over to near our section of the outer. The effect was exponential, in that we felt both encouraged and obliged to put in an extra effort again with our vocal support. The Roys got up for a win in that final quarter. You only need to imagine the event to feel the
same emotion.
2)What were your feelings when you heard that Fitzroy would be merging and would now be based in Brisbane?
I was all for a preference of the Roys becoming defunct. My feelings were that if Fitzroy's only opportunity to survive was in an adulterated format, it would be better if we closed up shop. We would never be dead, we would merely have discontinued competing, just like every era in history, every event, must cease at some time.
There was some feeling of accusation, both towards Fitzroy and the instrumentalities that finalised its cessation. Antagonism towards Fitzroy was basically a 'you can't do this to me' feeling. But in the background there was an almost scary realisation that here was the opportunity for martyrdom. To fall at the front of the war against the adulteration of the AFL was regarded as a supreme sacrifice, and for a while mates and myself bastardised a movie quote : "By destroying us, you only make us stronger."
The event lifted us arrogantly above the supporters of rival clubs, as our team was now less touchable in the face of our opponents. An almost Orwellian quote from one of the Lynch Mob songs states : "While they'll erase what is you, it's still all true." That was a reflection of the feeling.
I couldn't follow Brisbane, not because I didn't like Brisbane, but simply because Fitzroy was too powerful within me to accept any adulteration of the club. I made my decision, to believe that Fitzroy, as I loved them, had simply gone away, as all things that are loved eventually do.
3)Do you think your obsession with Fitzroy was a bit 'unhealthy' - how do you rationalise spending so much time on supporting a footy team?
Yes, the obsession, the fanatacism, the votaricity and zealousness, was, and is, unhealthy. Heart rules mind. I'd be too loud and obnoxious, I'd drink myself away sometimes at the footy, I'd be angry and throw things around at home. I'd spend food money on travel to matches and/or tickets for entry. Every match day I'd be up at 7.30am, outside the gate at 10.00am-10.30am, be at the game (drinking and abusing) til 4.30pm, and at the Social Club til 1am when it closed. Sometimes I was walking much of the way back home. I once had to sleep in the stand at Brunswick until the trams started up. I'd sometimes miss a Monday's work, or be no use there if I HAD made it in. I'd enter into vocal or physical conflicts from which I would normally have
shied away, had Fitzroy not been amongst the subject matter.
But the benefits outweigh. Gaining a feeling of belonging, the social set, the target for passion, the EXERCISE of passion, are all vital to personal development and well-being. The feeling of achievement when reaching a level of support that might rev up the team was self-satisfying and listable equal with achieving a career goal.
But most importantly, it was required of me. Failing to contribute was letting down those for which I'd pledged support, and therefore, letting down myself in regards to honesty towards my own being. No-one likes to feel incomplete, no-one likes to feel that they can't be contributing to the target of their love. No-one likes to feel that because THEY weren't there, the subject of their devotion was let down enough to endure loss. People like me barrack for our team, because, its what we do. Not doing so is
welcoming a personal falsity that can lead to feelings of trauma. We only want to feel good about ourselves, and that is achieved by striving for what we wish for in our hearts.