Here is an opinion piece in the Age that attempts to give expression to the value of footy (AFL) in Melbourne:
Footy really is more than just a game.
What I find interesting is that John Harms finds the value not so much in the game itself but in what it symbolises. Here are a few lines:
‘Football is far more than a distraction and an escape. We have found far more meaning in footy than that. It is an affirmation of the realities — the joy and the suffering — of life. It is an affirmation of who we are and what we do. It is one of the ways this culture expresses the human truths.’
‘It is our call to community’
‘It is our call to cast aside the tyranny of self for the sake of the team, to deny the ego and find the soul.’
‘It provides us with our mythology of hope.’
This gives voice to a religion of sport, and an explanation of the devotion it inspires in many. It is one of the reasons, at least in Melbourne, that you may not know what religion your colleagues follow but you will know the footy team they follow.
The Christian Narrative that has very much shaped our culture is being replaced by another narrative (or many others), the struggle to win the AFL, God help us.
