The first Australian team I saw play rugby league, footie as it is called locally, was the Cronulla Sharks. They were playing in the Super League and beat The London Broncos quite comprehensively at the Stoop in Twickenham. My girlfrind at the time was a 'Sharkies' fan and they had a cool name, a shark. If you're into the whole nickname thing. Which I'm not. Shark. Very Australian.
I figured that the best way to pick a team in a country I was new to that played a sport I didn't really give a toss about was to go for the nickname. All the teams had one; among my choices where the rabbitohs (too soft), eels (too slimy), knights (too monty python), roosters (too french), bulldogs (too english), cowboys (too american) and so on. Sharks it was. As it happens it was, at the time, a good choice for a Wimbledon fan of old. Season after season of mediocrity resulted in bugger all to get excited about and I lost interest in the game.
Thsi season I have whored my piss-weak support out to the highest bidder. A team with massive history, a founder club in the league, a working class team, grafters, salf of the earth BUT! Owned by Russel "fighting around the world" Crowe and his uber rich mate Peter Holmes A Court, subject of a documentary series showcasing big Russ's motivational skills and his insistence on bringing "the love" to the side. That'll do for me.
First match of the new season in progress as I type. The South Sydney Rabitohs are being pummelled by the Sydney City Roosters 34-4. Good to see my kiss-o-death fandom still has the old magic.
An aside on Souths...damn fine work on dragging the team and the leagues club (the supporters HQ) up to date Russ and Pete. The team was fucked without them. A lot of the old time supporters were sorely pissed at the rich blokes taking ownership and tried as hard as they could to block it. Fine...but without the cash and nous of the new owners the club, crippled by debt, would have ceased to be. Heals dug in, a significant number of the Souths old skool would have rather seen "their" team cease to be rather than have rich Russ own it. Hmmm...so you keep your memories and the kids have...well...nothing. Fuck off dickheads.
And before anyone decides to take a pop at me for hypocrisy in not saying the same about Wimbledon FC...Souths are still in their heartland and the owners are fans and lovers of their club. Literally their club, as it happens.
But wait, there's more...a lot of clubs and pubs live or die by their "pokies", gaming machines designed to take as much cash from low income folks as possible. They are a real force for evil in this land. New South Wales has a fixed number of licenses for pokies and each pokie therefore has a price on it's head. Lots of country pubs survive on their pokie income, stay afloat and become a...
...fuck me, Souths have scored...
...centre of the local community. Until a city pub comes along and offers a shit load of cash for the licence, buys the pokie, makes the country pub landlord a small fortune (guessing that bit) but closes the pub, robbing a community of it's comunity hub. Country pokies are still evil, but they do keep pubs, aka community centres, afloat. So they have at least one redeeming feature. The same pokie in the city is not there to keep a pub open, it is there to rip cash from gullible fools; no redeeming qualities.
OK, where am I going with this? South Sydney Leagues is in the South Sydney heartland and that is a poor part of Sydney. Rough as fuck, in fact. Up step Russ and Pete to redevelop the club...
...fuck me, they'v scored again...
...and ban the pokies. That is a bold and visionary step. These guys are no mugs and they will make money. But they will do it without fucking the community.
Right, let me grab another beer, sit back and curse "my" team some more.
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