Footy, it’s in our fabric

In the last post, Childhood footy obsession confessions, I talked about the somewhat embarrassing ways my enthusiasm bubbled to the surface for all to see. With that level of passion coursing through my veins, I suppose it’s only natural footy would leave its mark on the inside as well. A good example to use in this case is memory.

A fantastic (footy) memory

As an adult I’ve often left people amazed, and maybe a little freaked out, with what I can recall from years gone by. What people were wearing, songs that were playing, movies that were being watched, events that were taking place and other finer details long-since forgotten by most people regularly spring to mind.

How do I do it? Is it a case of photographic memory? Ha ha…I doubt it! In simple terms, I think the ability to remember random facts like this comes down to having a strong reference point – a constant thread in your life – that can be touched upon whenever you need to get your bearings. In my case, and I suspect many others, it’s footy. Let me explain.

Footy facts come first

To this very day, whenever I try to remember something from the past, footy is where I turn. For example, if you were to ask me what was happening in my life around August 1991, off the top of my head I wouldn’t have a clue. However, if I line it up with footy it all starts to come back to me!

The footy timeline inside will remind me that Collingwood was fighting out of its premiership hangover and making a run to the finals that ended with a loss to the Cats at Kardinia Park. It will remind me the 1991 AFL season saw the first appearance of the Adelaide Crows, a bye and a final 6, with West Coast, Hawthorn, Essendon, Melbourne, St. Kilda and Geelong qualifying that year. It will also remind me the Grand Final was played out at Waverley and, sadly, conjure images of Angry Anderson’s outrageous “Batmobile” pre-game entertainment.

These footy facts effortlessly fill my mind and from there I can slowly piece together the other things happening around footy at that time.

The importance of football

Like the confessions in the previous post, sharing the inner workings of my mind isn’t something I do as a habit. The aim of getting so personal is to shed a slightly different light on the importance of football to us fans. Yes, we love it and can’t get enough of it – we all know the tribal/religion analogies that have been done to death. What I wanted to highlight here, through my silly memory habits, is how footy goes beyond just passion and becomes part of our personal fabric; a core part of our daily lives we call upon to help us remember, learn and connect with others.

Quickly have a think about how many times a day footy enters your mind and what the outcome of these thoughts are. I bet it happens a lot, and, I bet it’s not just all about your team winning or losing on the weekend (although with Collingwood v Carlton this weekend it’s taking up a fair chunk of mine). 

Footy reaches into so many areas and is so entangled in who we are as people that it can never be considered “just a game”. It is a huge part of us – of our lives and even our psychology. No wonder so many Expats feel lost at some point. If they can’t stay connected to footy they actually lose a part of themselves!