a bloody good result

Who would have thunk it, as they say. Sydney wins the final. The team that the boss of the AFL said early this year played boring football, ugly football, and would lose more games than it would win—wins the Grand Final. A club that used to be South Melbourne wins its first flag  in more than seventy years in one of the closest, lowest scoring, Grand Finals in history.

Sydney, the home of rugby league and rugby – the game they supposedly play in heaven – has won Australian Rules holy grail. And the AFL gurus must feel they ARE in heaven. Yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph put the Grand Final win on Page One.  The headline: It’s ours. Who would have thunk it all those years ago when the Sydney Swans were struggling? When a shamster like Geoffrey Edelsten was in charge. When people like Mike Willesee and Glen Wheatley put in time and money. When the legend, Ronald Dale Barassi, put his reputation on the line.

And now they have pulled it off. Saturday was not always pretty football and the final score underlines that. But it was exciting. At one stage the Swans were twenty points up and then they were ten points down but a team played as a team. And it was anybody’s cup until the final siren.

And South Melbourne supporters rediscovered a dream. They didn’t have to say that they were supporting Sydney. Quel Horreur! They could say they were barracking for the Bloods.

And they showed that in the Melbourne celebrations yesterday. There was a magical photo on Page One of the sports section in The Age today. Aboriginal player Michael O’Laughlin embracing an ecstatic former  South Melbourne champion Bob Skilton who won three Brownlow medals but never a Grand Final.

Talk about a long time between drinks. A broke South Melbourne was forced to relocate to Sydney and for year after year the Swans were Ugly Ducklings. It took them more than two decades to win a flag. Combined it took South Melbourne  and Sydney more than seventy years to win one. The longest drought in VFL and  AFL history.

The Sunday Herald Sun called it an  A grade thriller  but a B grade show.

Tell that to the Sydney players and their supporters  north and south of the border. They won. That’s all that matters. And on Friday they’ll get a ticket tape parade through the heart of Sydney – the heart of rugby and rugby league territory.

Who would have thunk it.

Monday, September 26, 2005

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2005