'Am I the problem? I made my son hero worship one AFL team'

PAUL'S POV: After the Grand Final, there were reports of parents leading young Swans fans away from the MCG in tears. Are we doing more harm than good?

A few weeks ago I was at the SCG when my son’s favorite AFL team, the Greater Western Sydney Giants, had their finals hopes derailed. Their opponents, who had trailed most of the game, kicked two goals just minutes before the final siren to take the win. 

My son didn’t see it.

By that point he had his head in his hands, tears streaming down his face, unable to believe his team, who’d started the season winning five games in a row and led this one by more than 20 points, had let it slip away.

At the time, it made me think if we're all doing the right thing by encouraging our kids to follow one team. Knowing they won't always win.

And more than that - is the pain of seeing their team lose maybe doing young fans more harm than good?

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Paul McKeon and his son. Image: supplied

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"Are we at least partly to blame?"

No parent wants to see their child in distress. It’s even more difficult when you’re at least partly to blame. After all, I’d encouraged his interest, taking him to half a dozen Giants games over the year and even hanging around for autographs with the players afterward. 

I started to wonder if I was doing the wrong thing?

I was reminded of that question again after the AFL Grand Final this weekend, when there were media reports of parents leading devastated young Sydney Swans fans in red and white away in tears from the MCG. 

Even for non-Swans fans, and adults, Saturday's game was hard to watch. I’m not sure who the people chasing around after the Brisbane Lions were, but they couldn’t have been the team who’d beaten Port Adelaide the previous weekend. 

"Losing sucks - but there's a lesson in that"

To make matters worse, it was deja vu all over again for Swans fans like me who had watched the team lose another Grand Final in an eerily similar manner just two years ago. 

It was in wake of that 2022 thrashing I realised something important about competitive sport: losing sucks. Once you’ve experienced a big defeat you never want to feel that way again. 

So there's a life lesson in that, and it's a big one that our kids will learn one way or another.

The most remarkable, and brave, thing people who play competitive sport do, is that knowing how bad that feels, they come back and have another go when the next weekend (or season) rolls around. 

"Well worth the price"

Yes, watching your team lose hurts. Sometimes it really hurts. If it doesn’t, you’re probably not really a fan. But competitive sport, whether you’re playing or just watching, teaches kids valuable lessons, including about resilience, that are well worth the price. 

So, no, I don't really think I've messed up by encouraging my son's hero worship of one team.

I’m still wearing my Swans colours today and my son and I will be back as GWS Giants members next season because we know it’s easy to be a fair-weather fan; the sign of a true fan is how they respond in defeat.  

Plus, you never know, maybe this next season will be the one! 

Originally published as 'Am I the problem? I made my son hero worship one AFL team'