Day 274: A short ramble on sporting heroes that goes off the rails a bit

Y'know, I never used to care that much about footy; not until I had little people in my life who live and breathe the shit. Now I find myself following both codes, plus the AFL women's league. In the past, grand finals were always the easiest games to sit through. I could put the telly on mute and chuckle along to Roy & HG's unique brand of commentary on ABC radio. Sadly, they're not doing it this year; which means I either have to put up with "proper" commentary, or whack some music or something on in the background. But I'm sticking in there. I managed to get through yesterday's AFL grand final, and there's no way I could miss the NRL grand final tonight. Not after last weekend.

I spent last weekend babysitting for my brother, while my other brother brought his family over to join us. So I watched both of the preliminary games surrounded by nieces and nephews. Seeing the Brisbane Broncos lose was no big deal. Nobody in my family likes the Broncos (A holdover from the days before we all ended up settling in Queensland), but everybody in the family loves the Cowboys, and when they won, the roof nearly came of the house.

See, the Cows weren't supposed to win. They weren't even supposed to make the preliminaries. They haven't exactly played their best footy this year, and on top of that, most of their best players are out injured. And this is what makes watching them such an emotional experience. It's like one of those movies where a team of misfit losers wins a premiership through sheer guts and determination, never once looking like they have the advantage, but always giving 110% effort, and just barely squeaking through at the end.

I dunno how true all this is, but I've been told that the Cow's work ethic and never-say-die attitude comes from their star player, Jonathan Thuston. Apparently Thurston suffers from some sort of inferiority complex, which results in him working twice as hard as everyone else and still never feeling like he's done enough. It's what allowed him to get his start in footy, despite the fact that initially no team wanted to touch him, because of how small he was. Whether all that's true or not, "JT" is regarded as something akin to the messiah amongst the kids in family; so much so that we sometimes jokingly refer to him as "JC". And as much as I'm not keen on the idea of kids idolising celebrities, I think they could probably do a lot worse than a polite, mild-mannered, down-to-earth, humble, bloke who embodies the spirit of hard work and determination. On top of that, there's one more thing I like about Saint John …

… and if you'd like to finish this post on a high note, and avoid wading into racial politics, I suggest you stop reading here.

I've never once heard Thurston talk about having to overcome obstacles faced by indigenous Australians, or anything of that nature. I'm not saying he never has, just that I've never heard it. And why is that important? Well, as I think all of you know, I come from a family that's "not quite white". Nobody in my immediate family considers themselves black, although most of us probably look a lot blacker than some of the "blackfellas" who get around these days. In any case, it's not something I spend a lot of time talking about, because … well … it doesn't matter. Australia in 2017 is not the same as Australia in 1917, or Australia in 1957, or even Australia in 1997. I don't have to "struggle to live as a person of colour"; I'm just an ordinary woman living an ordinary life, generally not giving a second thought to what colour I am or what colour other people think I am.

Obviously, racist jokes aren't going away any time soon, and if I get into a heated confrontation with a stranger, there's a good chance they might call me a coon or something; but honestly, that's some pretty petty shit to be worrying about. Also, there's the issue of poverty, but that's not really a racial thing. Yes, I know how the demographics break down, but still, I have it on good authority that being white offers fuck all protection from being cold and hungry.

But getting back to what I was talking about; having every non-white person in the media constantly talk about their "struggles with racism and oppression" might make for good drama, but believe it or not, it can actually have a negative impact on people. I've seen some of my own rellies get into fatalistic spirals where they can't see the point in trying to succeed in such a racist society, and then their lack of success becomes evidence of just how racist society is. As you can imagine, telling your cousin that they need to get the chip off their shoulder and their head out of their arse rarely goes well in the short term, and does occasionally lead to violence (although it can be a really worthwhile undertaking in the long term. Sometimes).

Ideally, I'd love it if the youngsters in my mob could go through life without ever having to think about their race; although, realistically, I understand that's probably just wishful thinking on my part. What I'd settle for is it just not being that big of a deal; for them not to have to drag ideas of race around with them like some sort of mental and emotional ball and chain, or constantly live in fear that the spectre of racism is going to jump out of the cupboard and fuck up their lives. And to that end, I welcome seeing them get behind heroes who don't bang on about it constantly.

Also, go Cows!

Storm v Cow