Moment Waleed was filled with hatredAndrew McMurtry
News.com.au
23 July 2019Love him or hate him, The Project host Waleed Aly is without doubt one of the biggest and most high profile AFL fans out there.
The Richmond diehard has been a passionate Tigers supporter from the years of desperation to the glory of the 2017 flag. Aly’s support has been unwavering as a fan and even a mascot.
In an interview on FOX FOOTY’S Bob, set to air at 8.30pm on Tuesday night, Aly spoke about his fandom and the freak coincidence that linked himself and the show’s host, former Western Bulldogs skipper Robert Murphy.
Aly has been a faithful Richmond follower ever since his older brother introduced him to the club as a boy, and Murphy also admitted he was “a mad Richmond fan” as a child, even doing work experience with the club.
As the pair discussed their love of footy, the 317-game Western Bulldogs legend remembered his fourth game in the AFL back in 2001.
“(Dogs legend) Tony Liberatore smashes Matthew Knights’ nose all over his face so there’s this massive brawl,” Murphy said as Aly’s interest piques. “And this intense rivalry begins between the Tigers and the Bulldogs.”
In a stunning coincidence, Aly revealed: “I was the Richmond mascot on that day.”
Murphy couldn’t hide his shock, saying: “No, no you weren’t.”
Aly, who was the back-up mascot at the time, was called up to the big leagues for the memorable match.
“I saw Woofer (the Western Bulldogs mascot) beckoning me, just through the mouth of the head,” Aly said. “That was the scariest Woofer I’ve ever seen. So I ended up wrestling him at the MCG in front of 40,000 people.
“I reach to flip him or something and the crowd roars, I don’t know why. I stand up and put my head back on straight and I look through the mouth and I’ve ripped his head off. I’ve just ruined these kids.”
In the return match, the crowd was heated again. It led to a surprising and out-of-character admission from Aly.
“I remember what it was like in the stands and I remember it’s the only time I’ve ever felt something approximating hatred for the supporters on the other team,” he said.
“It was something about the way they went at Knights. Going at Liba, I get that, but what did Knights do? It’s the only time I’ve ever cheered really loudly at someone because I’m not that kind of supporter at all but I obviously just got provoked to that point. I didn’t swear or anything.”
Murphy couldn’t help but tease Aly for his tepid show of aggression.
After countless scandals about poor crowd behaviour which have rocked the AFL in recent times, as well as overbearing tactics from stadium officials which have drawn the ire of fans, Aly said life in the stands has changed a lot since he was a boy.
“Yelling out was a performance, not an expulsion,” Aly said.
Murphy added: “It was like amateur theatre.”
“And there were some really good amateur thespians,” Aly joked.
“But I don’t know. Is it just that we’re older and we can actually hear the darkness that we weren’t keyed into before? Is it that the stuff that was yelled out was never really that funny but because we were kids we thought it was? Or is it genuinely a function of our ticketing arrangements?
“Can you ever sit amongst the reserve seat members of any club and walk out of a stadium not thinking you were screwed by the umpires? I doubt it.
“When we were kids and we went to the footy, around you would be some of those people who are now in those reserve seats, and some of the people who were just tourists for the day, and some of those people for whom footy was exciting but only while it was happening and then they’d move on beyond that.
“So there were people who were able to have fun with it right next to the people who were adding the intensity. I reckon out of that mix came humour, whereas now I think that’s harder because you’re either sitting with people who don’t care that much or those who care way too much.”
Waleed Aly will be the guest on FOX FOOTY’s Bob on Foxtel channel 504 at 8.30pm on Tuesday July 23.
https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/waleed-aly-opens-up-on-richmond-tigers-fandom-and-a-freak-afl-coincidence/news-story/c1d9f03fe85f338c9b36d6e4a1babc26
