Melbourne fans ready to exorcise their demons
SLAM down the charcuterie boards, bundle up the ski lift pass — new Melbourne has arrived and they’re ready to win, writes Channel 7 reporter and Melbourne tragic, Matt Doran.
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DAMNATION, they say, is when the pieces of your life never quite come together. And Demons fans, it’s fair to say, are uncomfortably familiar with purgatory; for 54 years, we’ve been trying to make the club whole again.
The impediments have been many: the Norm Smith curse, fragile minds and bodies, brittle egos, the absence of culture, and, at our worst, the absence of talent. The thing about disappointment is that it never lets you down.
Tonight, we exorcise those demons.
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It has been a bleak and excruciating wait. A build-up of misery and corroded faith that’s wormed its way off the field, and into the psyche of our supporters.
A learned expectation — right or wrong — that no matter how well we are going, how bright the sparks, how stoic our mindset, the club will find a way to lose the unlosable.
Think Geelong, rounds 1 and 18. Oh my God, Max.
And not that Irishman, please. Anyone but the Irishman.
As fans, it’s been a feral percolation of anguish and sadness. Defeat, and defeat, and defeat, for more than half a century.
The oldest club in the league, the namesake of the home of footy, a laughing stock.
Tonight, slam down the charcuterie boards, bundle up the bloody lift pass and give it a good old fashioned drop punt: New Melbourne has arrived.
Few modern-day football fans know the pain of being a Dees supporter.
They don’t know the fine balance between optimism and utter capitulation.
Let’s not forget, this club almost ceased to exist.
Australia’s oldest football club of any code almost ceased to exist.
Being a Demons supporter is about Fred Fanning’s 18 goals.
It’s about 10 flags in 25 years between ’39 and ’64 — none since.
Who would have thought that would be our last. Fifty-three years of pain.
We’ve had six Brownlow winners. Warne-Smith, Cordner, Wilson, Moore, Stynes and of course Woewodin. “Worst Brownlow medallist in history, they say.” He was good that year though, we reply.
Being a Melbourne supporter is about David Neitz.
Neita kicked 75 goals to bag the Coleman in 02.
And speaking of goals… how about Jeff Farmer’s cracker in 98.
He was pretty handy that year… We’ll never forget his mark on Garry Lyon’s Head.
He made a fair step ladder, Garry Lyon.
Who could ever forget Shaun Smith’s leap in 95, as the camera flashes behind him right on cue.
In fact for all our failures over the past decade or so, the high flyers have added brief moments of joy. Michael Newton in ’07. Liam Jurrah in 2010. Jeremy Howe in 2012.
And that’s what backing Melbourne is like. Just when you think all is lost… something.
We have had good patches since 64 and some great names.
Steven Tingay — strong hair, putrid flavour savour.
Todd Viney. Captain. All-Australian, and yet his best contribution could be his progeny.
Find me a bigger name than Barassi — six bloody flags.
Give me a better name to yell than OOOOOOOOO-ZAAAAAAAY. And if you think it’s hard to spell, try Brent Grgic. People forget Alistair Clarkson played for us. Febey, Obst. Allan Jackovich.
Old names like Percy Beames and Wally Lock. Newer ones like James McDonald, Russell Robertson.
What about the ones who don’t even need a name … Ox — you know what I’m talking about.
Jeff White’s shin pads. Jack Watts going one.
Being a Demons supporter so great and so depressing at the same time.
We’ve had record lows — saved from financial ruin by a critically ill Jim Stynes. His passing intolerably sad. So too that of Sean Wight in recent times. Our club, like society, not immune to the bitch that is cancer.
In fact, you can add MND to that. Prick of a thing, but the strength of former Dees coach Neil Daniher should be a lesson for all.
He must be proud of the current crop of Dees, and what a crop it is.
Hogan, Jones, Viney, Gawn, Oliver — the greedy little piglet — T Mac — Fritsch.
There have been hiccups. That loss to Collingwood last year nearly ended me. How can one side allow so many goddamn top knots?!
Even this year Gawny’s shot to win in round one.
It was tough, but would all be worth it.
There’s a sense in our group now that enough is enough. We’ve survived the unendurable, and Hawthorn, tonight, pay the price. Tonight, we attack with undiluted loathing and an appetite that’s rarely been served up on the big stage. Tonight, we give ‘em hell.
— with Ben Way
Matt Doran is a Dees tragic and reporter for Sunday Night on Network 7.
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