Proper Gander
Owl whisperer and secret agent
Few, if any, students of the game called Australian Football (sometimes referred to as “Australian Rules Football”, or “Aussie Rules”) are not familiar with the legend of the Red Fox, Norm Smith, and the manner of his departure as coach of the Melbourne Football Club in 1965. The dramatic events surrounding his sacking gave birth to a strongly held belief by many Melbourne supporters of a 57-year-long curse upon the club, not to be lifted until September of 2021 with the Melbourne Football Club defeating the Western TM in a dominant Grand Final display at the Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia.
Other legendary events, many with painful associations for Melbourne fans, have been linked with this curse - Jim Stynes running across the mark, the 1996 merger proposal with the Hawthorn Football Club, and the unspeakable number that is more than 185 yet less than 187.
Sometimes forgotten are the other, less dramatic but no less important events that build on the traditions, character and cultural history of the Melbourne Football Club, many of which belong to the Demon’s recent history. What contemporary Demons fan doesn’t recall aspects of Melbourne folklore such as the tunnel ball, the veil of negativity, the trumpet guy or Oscar McDonald?
Hi. My name is Proper Gander. Thanks for joining me in this thread where we explore some of the more unusual myths or quirks of the Melbourne Demons and their supporters, and reflect on their place in the cultural lexicon of both the club and Australian Football.
Ogodogodogodogodogod
As we all know, a neologism is a word of a phrase that has relatively recently emerged, and becomes recognised in common use while not yet being entirely accepted as mainstream language.
The word Ogodogodogodogodogod is one such example. Researchers have traced the origins of the word to round 2, 2020, where is made its first appearance in a private conversation on the social media forum known as “Bigfooty”. This word was used in conversation between a small group of Australian football fans, and appears to be a symbol of a particular individual’s trepidation about watching their team, Melbourne, play Carlton later on that day. Curiously, the second round match against Carlton in the year 2020 was played on Saturday, 13 June - the late date being the result of global sporting competition interruptions brought about by health and safety concerns during the coronavirus global pandemic.
While Melbourne won the match against Carlton, the win came about in a lacklustre game where Melbourne grimly held a diminishing lead through the second half of the match to eventually win by 1 point. Would ogodogodogodogodogod have been used ever again if Carlton had won? It is impossible to say with certainty.
2020 saw the word used a further 10 times by its creator, all in private conversations on Bigfooty, with the latest being on December 30 2020. Interestingly, while 5 of these uses reflect the author’s horror and trepidation regarding an upcoming Melbourne Demon’s match, it was also used once referring to an upcoming finals match for the Mt Buller Demons in the SFA league, and a further 4 times while the user was nursing a crippling hangover. Exercises in linguistic deconstruction have suggested that the early usage of Ogodogodogodogodogod, while versatile in application, shared the characteristic of referring to matters involving either trepidation, horror or shame.
The year of 2021 brought momentum to Ogodogodogodogodogod and saw it evolve from a private group usage to a more public domain, where Bigfooty users came to recognise it as the term best describing the unique emotion of being a Melbourne supporter contemplating an upcoming game, or even contemplating the Melbourne Football Club itself. March 8 2021 saw the public debut of Ogodogodogodogodogod in the lead-in to Melbourne’s second match in the AAMI community series (an embarrassing loss to the dogs) before establishing itself as a recognised, and necessary prequel to every game played by the Demons during their historic premiership year.
Many have said that Ogodogodogodogodogod is the new superstition of the Melbourne Football Club, and the more mystical thinkers amongst Demons supporters may even regard it as the real and powerful weapon against the curse of Norm Smith. 2020 saw Melbourne move from 17th (their 2019 ranking) to 9th, and it has been suggested that Ogodogodogodogodogod played a substantially greater role in the clubs fortunes then the emergence of Christian Petracca as a force of the competition in that year. Ogodogodogodogodogod was even more prominent in 2021, which saw the Demons finish first on the ladder and then become the premiers. And while the ultimate wasn’t achieved by the club in 2022, most recognise the role played in Ogodogodogodogodogod in bringing about a coveted ‘top-four’ finish and cementing the club’s reputation as a high-achiever in the Australian Football League now and in years to come.
Students of language suggest that Ogodogodogodogodogod represents the world’s first portmanteau-times-five, as likely originating as a reduction of the phrase “oh god!” spoken quickly and repeatedly. Others might suggest that it has no special qualities and merely represents commonplace Bigfooty gibberish. Loved or despised though, none can deny the impact of Ogodogodogodogodogod on Melbourne’s win/loss ratio, nor its curious effect on poster react scores. Such is the history of this interesting and quintessentially Melbourne-flavoured uttering.
Undeniably, Melbourne supporters share elite company with writers such as William Shakespeare, who can transform a seemingly random set of phonemes into a recognisable player denoting particular emotions that will live on in the English Language for many years to come.
In conclusion, many Melbourne fans will be proud to rise up and sing “As Old Acquaintance Be Forgot (ogodogodogodogodogod) Keep your eye on the Red and the Blue!”
Thanks to all the Melbourne history enthusiasts for joining me in this thread today. Next time, we explore the origins of the Lab by Topkent and it’s remarkable graphic properties. Genius or Lunacy? Lets get together again soon to discuss.
Meanwhile, do you have any examples of Melbourne culture and quirks that haven’t had the attention that they warrant? I look forward to hearing from you, and hope you enjoy your weekend.
Proper Gander
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