By Michael Allan
So here we have it, a festival of footy. ‘The Festival of Footy.’ It has a title. Thirty-three games in twenty days, footy every night and the Tigers finding some midseason form. What’s not to love?
Well, I can’t get to any of it for starters. Plus, any game with a team kicking over ten goals is considered a “shootout” by 2020 standards. And let’s face it, Richmond could be bottom of the ladder and that would have no bearing on my enjoyment on footy, for me that would just be childhood nostalgia.
No, the footy frenzy or whatever excitable hashtag Fox Footy want to slap on it hasn’t given me the sugar hit needed to endure this final leg of this slog. Yet through all this faux-excitement there was one moment from it all that had me remembering how good it is to spend your weekend at a game of footy.
Just leave it to the famed kick after the siren to remind footy lovers why we go to the games. Jack Newnes’ incredible efforts for Carlton against the Dockers on Saturday night had me screaming in joy and frantically texting. All the trappings of great footy moment were there. “Did you see that?” “What was he thinking?” “Was that a free kick?” “What a kick!” The reaction videos of Carlton supporters from living rooms around Australia were so much fun to watch. It was great to have a moment that could bring the drained footy fans back together, if only for one night.
That moment brought so many wonderful nostalgic feelings for footy flooding back to people all over the country. I’m sure people’s minds went back to all sorts of incredible footy finishes. For me, one name came roaring from the deep recesses of my brain to front and centre, clear as a bell - Sam Lloyd’s roost to beat Sydney in 2016. After that incredible finish I just had to go back and watch Richmond’s last amazing kick-after-the-siren win.
The thing with a kick-after-the-siren goal is that it’s all about context. You can’t just watch the moment in isolation. You need to know the before and after. What led up to that moment? How did that kick alter what was to come that season? So understanding the context of Richmond’s 2016 season is crucial to fully appreciating that moment. Watching YouTube highlights of that game (and a few Wikipedia trails) brought it all back to me.
Coming off three losses in three finals, Richmond had loaded up again by trading in Chris Yarran. His failed run at the club would epitomise Richmond’s on-field performance. A promise of so much that would offer so little. Come this Round 8 match against Sydney we were staring down the barrel of a wasted season with a 1-7 record. Another false dawn at Tigerland (or so we thought before 2017 rolled around).
Now before I continue with this history lesson, there’s one other key nostalgic element to the 2016 AFL Season. The MCC had just introduced a new membership category, the Provisional Member of which I was part. I was finally able to join some of my luckier Restricted Member mates as (almost) freely as I wanted. This fact made my memory of the game a whole less foggier, as I remembered that this Category 4 game was pencilled in with my mates, as our game to enjoy the Level 2 balcony and then discover the joys of the Frank Grey Smith Bar.
This was the game, where the tradition started of getting in to the Members Reserve a good couple of hours earl, grabbing the best seats in the house and settling in for a few beers overlooking the hallowed turf.
Now I can bore you with the quirks of the game on my re-watch. Things like the long overdue satisfying feeling of watching a (truly) high-scoring shootout, or laughing out loud at seeing Ben Griffiths kick five goals while Buddy Franklin got the better of Alex Rance. But all you need to know is that the final thirty seconds of play was all down the Member’s wing. When Griffiths chipped it over the top to Sam Lloyd forty-eight metres out, it was the viewers on the MCC balcony who had the best angle to see the kick.
As Lloyd confidently sent that footy straight through the middle it was me and my best mate who were first out of our chairs to confirm the goal. The earth-shattering roar of the crowd followed half a second after us, by this time we were already hugging strangers in ways that would make you shudder in a COVID world.
We went back to the Frank Grey Smith Bar and soaked up the win. I remember standing in that bar with a beer in my right hand and friends all around me. I knew Richmond’s season was gone, our alluring premiership window had closed and this was just one good win in another tough Richmond season.
I remember thinking in that moment that this is it. It’s all about premierships. It’s also about moments like this that capture your imagination, and it’s about sharing it with your friends who make it so special. I thought about how fantastic the MCC was, and while I couldn’t depend on Richmond, I could depend on a great spot to catch up with footy-crazed friends every weekend.
No doubt that amazing Jack Newnes’ goal brought back some fond football memories for everyone. We all need to find something to keep the fire going through this difficult time. A burning passion to drive us through the darkness, so that one day we can come together and create more fantastic memories together.
So here we have it, a festival of footy. ‘The Festival of Footy.’ It has a title. Thirty-three games in twenty days, footy every night and the Tigers finding some midseason form. What’s not to love?
Well, I can’t get to any of it for starters. Plus, any game with a team kicking over ten goals is considered a “shootout” by 2020 standards. And let’s face it, Richmond could be bottom of the ladder and that would have no bearing on my enjoyment on footy, for me that would just be childhood nostalgia.
No, the footy frenzy or whatever excitable hashtag Fox Footy want to slap on it hasn’t given me the sugar hit needed to endure this final leg of this slog. Yet through all this faux-excitement there was one moment from it all that had me remembering how good it is to spend your weekend at a game of footy.
Just leave it to the famed kick after the siren to remind footy lovers why we go to the games. Jack Newnes’ incredible efforts for Carlton against the Dockers on Saturday night had me screaming in joy and frantically texting. All the trappings of great footy moment were there. “Did you see that?” “What was he thinking?” “Was that a free kick?” “What a kick!” The reaction videos of Carlton supporters from living rooms around Australia were so much fun to watch. It was great to have a moment that could bring the drained footy fans back together, if only for one night.
That moment brought so many wonderful nostalgic feelings for footy flooding back to people all over the country. I’m sure people’s minds went back to all sorts of incredible footy finishes. For me, one name came roaring from the deep recesses of my brain to front and centre, clear as a bell - Sam Lloyd’s roost to beat Sydney in 2016. After that incredible finish I just had to go back and watch Richmond’s last amazing kick-after-the-siren win.
The thing with a kick-after-the-siren goal is that it’s all about context. You can’t just watch the moment in isolation. You need to know the before and after. What led up to that moment? How did that kick alter what was to come that season? So understanding the context of Richmond’s 2016 season is crucial to fully appreciating that moment. Watching YouTube highlights of that game (and a few Wikipedia trails) brought it all back to me.
Coming off three losses in three finals, Richmond had loaded up again by trading in Chris Yarran. His failed run at the club would epitomise Richmond’s on-field performance. A promise of so much that would offer so little. Come this Round 8 match against Sydney we were staring down the barrel of a wasted season with a 1-7 record. Another false dawn at Tigerland (or so we thought before 2017 rolled around).
Now before I continue with this history lesson, there’s one other key nostalgic element to the 2016 AFL Season. The MCC had just introduced a new membership category, the Provisional Member of which I was part. I was finally able to join some of my luckier Restricted Member mates as (almost) freely as I wanted. This fact made my memory of the game a whole less foggier, as I remembered that this Category 4 game was pencilled in with my mates, as our game to enjoy the Level 2 balcony and then discover the joys of the Frank Grey Smith Bar.
This was the game, where the tradition started of getting in to the Members Reserve a good couple of hours earl, grabbing the best seats in the house and settling in for a few beers overlooking the hallowed turf.
Now I can bore you with the quirks of the game on my re-watch. Things like the long overdue satisfying feeling of watching a (truly) high-scoring shootout, or laughing out loud at seeing Ben Griffiths kick five goals while Buddy Franklin got the better of Alex Rance. But all you need to know is that the final thirty seconds of play was all down the Member’s wing. When Griffiths chipped it over the top to Sam Lloyd forty-eight metres out, it was the viewers on the MCC balcony who had the best angle to see the kick.
As Lloyd confidently sent that footy straight through the middle it was me and my best mate who were first out of our chairs to confirm the goal. The earth-shattering roar of the crowd followed half a second after us, by this time we were already hugging strangers in ways that would make you shudder in a COVID world.
We went back to the Frank Grey Smith Bar and soaked up the win. I remember standing in that bar with a beer in my right hand and friends all around me. I knew Richmond’s season was gone, our alluring premiership window had closed and this was just one good win in another tough Richmond season.
I remember thinking in that moment that this is it. It’s all about premierships. It’s also about moments like this that capture your imagination, and it’s about sharing it with your friends who make it so special. I thought about how fantastic the MCC was, and while I couldn’t depend on Richmond, I could depend on a great spot to catch up with footy-crazed friends every weekend.
No doubt that amazing Jack Newnes’ goal brought back some fond football memories for everyone. We all need to find something to keep the fire going through this difficult time. A burning passion to drive us through the darkness, so that one day we can come together and create more fantastic memories together.
