Votes and notes by Corbo
It was a strange day at the Gabba.
The directives over the loudspeaker, and flashing on the screen to ‘make some noise’ puzzled me.
It made as much sense to me, as it would to get a loudhailer at a kids birthday party and yell, in a commercial DJ voice, ‘eat some lollies’.
The contrarian in me, meant I took a fairly quiet and subdued approach to supporting my team. Which is unusual.
I had a disconcerting trans-supporter experience, where I felt like a Hawthorn supporter in the body of a Richmond supporter
In that, I never had a moment of doubt from the first bounce that we would win, and the umpires gave us an armchair ride.
Watching Richmond, with a complete absence of fear and anger, was an entirely foreign feeling to me.
The 200 decibel Batman Lego Movie half time entertainment, and the crowd prosaically pretending they were driving a car in case they magically appeared on the big screen, and 5,000 odd kids belting each other with little inflatable Brisbane lions hammers, had a similar calming effect on me, as pouring petrol would on a burning man.
But despite my confused state, The Tigers were clinical, quite ruthless and at times, exhilarating.
I am laying myself bare here, but as well as coping with all these new adjectives and emotions, I also secretly grappled with boredom.
Kmac sprinted to contests and pushed blokes over like a playground bully. Whipping boys banded together to entirely dominate the game off half back; Grigg, Bellis, Houli, Astbury, Conca.
Dusty was dropping chest marks and missing bread and butter goals. It was not a conventional Richmond experience
The entire day had a touch of the original George Costanza’s ‘do the opposite’.
Our own George, of course, was consistently electric.
Back in a time when West End still had lot of rats and The Lions were great, I once saw the Brisbane City Council’s squad of fox terriers unleashed down a drain to rid it of vermin. The work of our flotilla of small forwards reminded me of that carnage.
Through the course of the game, Jack suggested he was working his way into form and our Captain led with ferocity and precision.
My only real moment of passion, where i couldn’t help but conform to make some noise, was a a joyful ‘O’ Danny Boy, O’ Danny Boy, I love you so’. It was clear and in key. Which was unusual too.
I’m sure I’ll get used to this. I will adapt to this absence of fear.
And to us being clinical, ferocious and exhilarating.
5 votes – Griggsy
4 votes – Cotchin
3 votes – Conca
2 votes – George
1 vote – Bellis
The Benny Leaderboard:7: Conca
5: Castagna
4: Nankervis
3: Houli
2: Butler, Vlastuin
1: Prestia, Riewoldt, Rioli, B. Ellis
Blair Hartley Appreciation Award: for players who have joined Richmond from another club(Eligible 2017: Caddy, Grigg, Hampson, Houli, Hunt, Nankervis, Maric, Miles, Prestia and Townsend.)
14: Grigg
4: Nankervis
1: Prestia
Anthony Banik Best First Year Player: for anyone who was yet to debut before round 1(Eligible 2017: Shai Bolton, Dan Butler, Ryan Garthwaite, Jack Graham, Ivan Soldo, Tyson Stengle)
Joel Bowden’s Golden Left Boot: for left footers(Eligible 2017: Batchelor, Chol, Corey Ellis, Grigg, Nankervis and Houli).
14: Grigg
4: Nankervis
Greg Tivendale Rookie List Medal:
upgraded from the rookie list during the current season
Potentially eligible 2017: Castagna, Chol, Moore, Stengle and Soldo.
5: Castagna
Maurice Rioli Grip of Death Trophy:
The club’s top tackler, across AFL and VFL teams
22: Vlastuin
21: Cotchin
20: Prestia
17: Riewoldt
14: Grimes, Castagna
Hi Corbo,
Enjoyable post. I like that you mention the taboo of being bored at the footy. Going to games in the second half of last year (I was away for the first) I was struck by the general sense of boredom, disappointment and indifference amongst the crowd. This was indeed related to the poor performance of the team, but I also feel it had something to do with how we choose to behave as fans and the limitations on fan behaviour in stadia such as the MCG. We can feel along way from the action a lot of the time. Fortunately, the atmosphere is better this year. It is a pity that the noise we make at games is so dependent on our team’s performance.
I also like your mention of the utterly redundant statement from the video screen/scoreboard to make some noise. Atmosphere is generated by the crowd: it is spontaneous, cacophonous and unscripted. The purpose of these ‘calls’ are simply to keep fans continually referring to the video screens and thus making advertising space more profitable.
I totally ignored this game – largely because tuning in weekly is too emotionally draining for me. I used up a lot of emotional energy at the WC game, so, I took Sunday off from checking any football scores. It was entirely un-boring 🙂
best,
Andy
(I’m loving Grigg’s work)
Great report Corbo. I will happily never attend the Gabba for footy, or indeed set foot in Queensland at all.
“I will adapt to this absence of fear” – I have news for you, we are playing Melbourne this week. And its got all the Anzac Day hoo-ha, so its an Occasion Game. I am terrified and in fact considering getting out the old Army Reserve entrenching tool and spending the duration in a foxhole.