By Lynda Carroll
Really, I don’t spend all that much time rugged up in the seats, part of a little community. But I do often pace along the back of the stand, or up and down the stairs, taking photographs, noting tension. Sometimes it’s joyous, sometimes – like this season if you’re a Melbourne supporter – it’s mostly been sad and slumped.
That’s when you really notice the cold wind, and wish that the tasteful tartan wrap on the lady in front of you would swish around your shoulders, conferring either super supporting powers or an invisibility cloak, just so that you can get to the hot chips before everyone else. I’m not fussy. Give me a Melbourne win and a bucket of not too salty chips, and all’s right with the world.
I’ve been here in good times - which means Melbourne has won and the world wears a sunshiny glow - and very un-good times. I won’t say those latter have been ‘bad’ times, because if we’re getting down to the nitty gritty, I realise I’m lucky to actually have a team to follow. All hail 1996 with a shudder.
Sometimes, though, you have to wonder. Friends and family members – 99 per cent Melbourne – send despairing/analytical/amusing text messages replete with emojis (where is the MCG emoji?), the temperature dips by about 10 degrees and, instead of contentedly sniffing the air for those chips and grass clippings, all you can smell is mud and stale beer.
Ugh. It wasn’t this way in 2018. That was a glossy, gorgeous season for red and blue in the balcony. The noise. The goals. The sheer determination and joy.
But 2019 is staggering, splat faced, into the mud. Here we are, here we have been, let’s deal with it and move on. Typically, I prefer Melbourne match days before anyone is at the ground. It’s empty and optimistic. The red and blue ‘My Heart Beats True’ flashes around the ground, party sparklers before the kids come in and spoil everything.
It was a sad time on Friday night. The sparkle was overwhelmed early. Not only were we heaving a sigh of 17th place regret, but it was cold and inhospitable at our beloved MCG. When the wind smacks you in the ankles and the ears at the same time, no wrapping up measures can provide adequate defence.
There was also sorrow beyond the sadness. A Melbourne great died during the week, and all who knew or had heard of him carried an extra shadow with them. Frank ‘Bluey’ Adams, that redheaded speedster and veteran of six premierships – 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964 – was 84, unassuming and ever dedicated to the red and blue cause. One great honour I have had in this supporting life was to stand in the middle of the MCG next to ‘Bluey’ Adams before a game, with the crowd building up in the massive stands. It provided a very different perspective, as he quietly shared his stories of the rush of noise, the joy of playing the game, and his love of the ground (particularly during finals time).
With the team wearing black armbands as a tribute to Adams, Friday night’s game was not what we’d all hoped for before the season started.
Fitting the conditions perfectly, there was no spark, no fire. The Swans led from the start, the Demons were held goalless in the second and third quarters, and it was all over from very early on.
Melksham’s three goals were invaluable in our meagre five-goal haul, and Gawn’s aerial dominance was impressive but futile, with little back up at turf level. For debutant Kade Chandler, it was a tough introduction to the big time. But it happens to the best of them. In ‘Bluey’ Adams’ first season – 1953 – the team finished second last. Things improved swiftly after that.
Hope for the future rolls on, round after round, year after year. There are no more Melbourne games to keep us going at the MCG in 2019. We’ve been exiled to Tasmania for the last encounter of this unhappy season.
So, let’s turn the sparklers off, take a deep breath and wait for what’s next.
Season 2020, a vision in red and blue - we’re ready for you.
Lynda Carroll has a PhD in the history of the Melbourne Football Club, works in the MCC Library on match days, and takes far too many photos of the MCG. She is a Life member of the Melbourne Football Club. She is also a committee member for the MFC Past and Present Players’ and Officials’ Association.
MELBOURNE 3.1 3.3 3.7 5.12 (42)
SYDNEY 4.1 7.3 10.3 15.5 (95)
GOALS
Melbourne: Melksham 3, Fritsch, Neal-Bullen
Sydney: Reid 3, Dawson 2, McCartin 2, Menzel 2, Papley 2, Rowbottom 2, Bell, Blakey
Official crowd: 23,700 at the MCG