#3 – The Red and the Blue – a beginner’s guide to supporting Melbourne

My niece is from a half-Melbourne, half-Hawthorn family, so it’s about time to make that fateful decision which will determine the rest of her footballing life:

What sized Hawthorn jumper do I get her?

In the virtual hell-scape that was 2020, where the world was turned upside-down and we began adjusting to a ‘new normal’, one thing remained constant: my Demons made supporting them Hell by dropping easy games and finishing 9th.

So for my niece, or anyone else looking at dabbling in Melbourne, here are my 3 D’s of supporting the Demons:

1. Dread. The train to Richmond or Southern Cross (or worse, that flight to Perth) where that feeling, in the pit of your stomach, tells your brain ‘we can lose this’.

2. Disbelief. I can’t possibly cover every time we traded a reliable Toyota Corolla for a broken bicycle and a curdled milkshake; or every time we drafted someone with the movement and skill of a traffic cone.

3. Disappointment. An old friend. You’ll be so comfortable with it it’ll feel like putting on a worn pair of jeans.

So why do I bother renewing my membership? Us Melbourne fans share a collective trench mentality. We refer to ourselves as ‘long-suffering’ and ‘battle-weary’, having been through the hardships together.

And then there’s a win, however small. The jubilation! The ecstasy! The celebrations! I’d smile at work for the whole week under my red and blue facemask. It reminds us that no matter what obstacles lie on the footy field and in our lives, that we can find a way to tackle them.

We haven’t hit the grand prize yet (and we might not in my lifetime). But the hope is always there – in fact it’s the hope which sometimes makes the losses all the more bitter.

And maybe, just maybe, I can teach my niece to keep her eye on the Red and the Blue.

Next week: With a little help from my friends (and LinkedIn connections)