Your footy diet and Expat happiness

In the previous post I recalled My Expat horror story, but what I didn’t explain was where this footy starvation led to. In short, I was able to battle on for 3-4 years mainly through the thrill of playing senior footy with my brothers and the success we enjoyed at the time. As soon as this stopped, however, the AFL scarcity surrounding me took a near-fatal stranglehold.

Bottoming out

The start of 1998 marked the beginning of my time in Brisbane as a university student and the lowest point in my life as far as footy goes. No money, no car, no local team, no friends that liked AFL and very little improvement in media coverage made those four years very tough.

Deep down, I sensed the embers always flickered. I filled in for my old side back home occasionally and felt the same enjoyment as I always did. In the couple of times I made it to the ‘Gabba I still got goose bumps catching sight of the grass for the first time, and, I’d still daydream about wonderful footy memories. The problem was I had no way of satisfying my hunger for footy and eventually I got to the point of not caring. It felt awful, like a piece of me was missing.

What does a good footy diet mean?

Things are completely different now with the way technology has improved access to footy, but unfortunately I still encounter Expats with a lost passion for footy. This could be for a number of reasons I suppose, but there’s a common one I feel lurks dangerously in the lives of Expats and it has something to do with what I call their footy diet.

Your footy diet is basically your footy intake – the different ways you work footy into your life, whether that be playing footy, talking footy, watching footy, reading about it in the newspaper, having kick-to-kick in the park etc. Like any diet, this Expat footy diet can be either good or bad for you and that all comes down to finding the right mix for your own needs.

The modern Expat may not have worry about footy starvation like I had to, but this doesn’t mean they’ll get the right intake either. For instance, they might be a fan that needs the touch of leather in their hands to be happy, however they don’t know how to go about finding the right team. Alternatively, they might get more footy nourishment through watching their AFL club week in, week out. Either way, if they don’t get enough of what they crave it can put them on a slippery slope and plunge them into Expat misery.

Lost passion for footy – a recent example

A good example of this very thing came through a recent encounter with an Expat at work. This guy was originally from Adelaide and had moved to Brisbane a few years ago to run his own business. I asked him whether he was a Crows or Power supporter, knowing such a question would usually spark a vigorous conversation in most South Australian Expats. On this occasion however, there was nothing. He quickly told me he was a Crows supporter, but didn’t have anything else to say. Footy clearly wasn’t a big deal to him anymore.

While this all sounds depressing for footy lovers, I’m glad to say there’s a silver lining in the fact a poor footy diet can be turned around. I’m living proof of that! Some cases come with a quick fix, like finding a team, while others can take a little more work. 

Take the example above. I get the impression this particular Expat was more of a hands-on fan back home and became lost because he couldn’t support his club they way he wanted. To improve his footy diet, we’d have to discover a meaningful way he could support his team without being able to physically attend every match. It’s not easy, but it is possible and I’ll explain how with my theory of the Expat Evolution another time.