A tribal roar
By Martin Flanagan
The Age
May 21, 2005
Getting off the train at Richmond station, I saw a bloke in a Richmond T-shirt with the inscription, "I was there when we were poo". Walking towards the 'G, I heard Collingwood supporters bagging their players, a low mutter among three or four. The game hadn't even begun. We weren't even in the ground. But it was all as familiar as dirt: the old inner-city foes were about to do battle.
The game began and Richmond had the prettier moves but couldn't finish anything. Collingwood pressed. To be frank, they pressed so hard I nearly gave the game away at half-time, thinking I'd seen it too many times before. Old-style inner-suburban footy. One side not playing particularly well stopping the other team from playing at all.
In the days when it still rained in Melbourne, I stood in the rain watching games like this at Vic Park and the Western Oval and, yes, Princes Park. Matches that were stolid, dull, unrelenting. I like something more from a game.
The week's controversy had been Nathan Brown's diet of pre-match caffeine tablets. Coach Terry Wallace had a view on the matter as, indeed, he has a view on most matters. Presumably without the No-Doz, Brown looked, well, dozy. "Black coffees all round," sighed the Richmond man beside me as the Tigers huddled at three-quarter-time.
He was sitting with his two daughters. Also present was a three-year-old son attending his first game. This is a big moment in any Richmond father's life and early the signs hadn't been good. Two minutes into the first quarter, he'd asked, "When are we going home?" Then he'd spotted a plane in the sky when he was supposed to be watching the game.
To be honest, if I'd found a drinking partner, I might not have come out for the third quarter. As it was, I re-emerged to find the game had a new tempo. A new meaning, in fact. The Tigers displayed a sort of temper; some scratch and bite. They were resisting the will of Michael Malthouse, the man with the fiercest eyes in footy and the rigid discipline of a military man. Self-made from a real tough background, Malthouse is at a critical moment in his career. The Pies have lots of injuries but another loss would seriously damage morale, one would think.
Matched against Malthouse is Wallace, the Berlusconi of Australian football - tanned, loquacious and on every media outlet. Most coaches herd the media out. Plough invites them in. Ask him anything you want. His game plan was in the paper three months before the season began. It's a massive display of confidence that somehow translates to his players.
During the third quarter, Collingwood tries to hold Richmond like policemen try to hold someone resisting arrest. Something is happening, possibly something new. Both Richmond's recent draft picks, Tambling and Deledio, rise to the occasion. In the fourth, Brown suddenly wakes, kicking five. It's like watching bonfire night. Explosions all around. The two sisters to my left cry out as one when Brown controls the ball as if it were round, ending up on his knees after scoring on the second touch like a soccer striker.
Collingwood is finished before the end. You can see the moment when the effort required is too great and the black weight descends. The Magpies' season has just got worse. How good are the Tigers? Hard to say but - in the short term, at least - much depends on Bowden. He's the player who could take them to another level, coming off half-back, making the play, kicking long. But the moment of victory is not one of deep contemplation. For Tigers' fans, victory means the dream is still alive. What's the dream? Whatever you want it to be.
The man beside me calls out "Yellow and Black" during the Richmond theme song. His daughters sing along. One is a young woman, the other becoming so. There's something gentle they share. Beside them is the three-year-old.
I wouldn't say he's into footy just yet, but he has got a sense of the game as a rock concert in which everyone gets to play an instrument. He's been playing the plastic chairs and is not unhappy with the afternoon's entertainment. I can see a future for him with the Tigers. I heard him yell during the half-time interval when he believed his rights were infringed by one of his sisters. He's got the Richmond roar.
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/05/20/1116533537148.html
