Fitba'

On Saturday my brother-in-law, Paul, was kind enough to take me to a football match in the center of Melbourne. By football I mean proper football as we know it in the UK. The Australians are annoying in that they insist 'Football' or more commonly 'Footy' refers to AFL - Aussie rules that is (the insane game that involves leaping up to elbow each other in the head) and what we understand as football is in fact 'Soccer'.

I can't pretend to be the biggest football fan in the world and I've only been to a handful of games back in Scotland, but it was interesting to compare the two experiences. They are very different. The last football match I went to was my local side St. Johnstone (from Perth) versus Falkirk on a cold clear January day when you had to get wrapped up in coats, hats and scarves. What I remember most was the atmosphere, which was a heady mix of excitement and underlying violence, and the fact that we (the crowd that  is) spent most of the match singing a song about how much we hated Dundee. The song goes like this - "We hate Dundee and we hate Dundee, we hate Dundee and we hate Dundee, we hate Dundee and we hate Dundee, we are the Dundee  . . .  Haters." We also sang songs about hating the opposition and hating Jimmy Hill (an English football pundit) and songs in which we questioned the sexual orientation of the referee. I think at one point a swan flew overhead and we even sang a song about how much we hated that (I might have made that last bit up). The overall feeling though was one of great camaraderie - we were united together as a close knit group by all the stuff we hated (and especially Dundee). And despite of or because of all the hating, people were obviously having a great day out.

I've thought a bit about that experience since then and the more I think about it the more it seems we were not singing we hate Dundee but actually we secretly love Dundee. Without Dundee what would there be to bind us together for such a great day out? We need Dundee to give meaning to our lives. We love Dundee, we love Falkirk, we love the referee, we love Jimmy Hill, we love the swan that flew overhead and we really really love football - the magical beautiful game that gives meanings to our lives and to our Saturdays.

I found this quote from Vaclav Havel about the fact that hatred has much in common with desire, that it is: "the fixation on others, the dependence on them, and in fact the delegation of a piece of one's own identity to them . . . The hater longs for the object of his hatred."

How did my first experience of Football in Australia compare with this? It was like football from another planet. The football itself was much the same. We went to see Melbourne Victory versus Melbourne Heart at the Aami Stadium. Paul and I were supporting Melbourne Heart. Both sides have been struggling with recent form and the game was a frustrating Nil Nil draw. Heart had all the possession but didn't look like scoring in a million years and while Victory had some good players (remember Harry Kewell?) they couldn't string two decent passes together.

What made the experience memorable was the incredibly good-natured attitude of the fans. It was busy and crowded walking up to the Stadium - the match was a sell out with 26,000 odd in attendance - but both sides were mingling together freely. What? No bottle-throwing or head-butting or chanting Sectarian songs? No - just people of all ages and cultures going to see a sporting event together. Inside the stadium there was no segregated seating and no problems with this. We just all mixed in together, sitting side by side with rival fans. There was plenty of singing but it was harmless fun. Both sides enjoyed singing the song 'There's Only One Team in Melbourne' and this was about as controversial as it got. I never at any point felt in danger of my life. The A-League (Australian Soccer League) runs throughout the Summer here (as opposed to all the football being played in the Winter months back home). This means I could sit in my shorts and T-shirt on a balmy 27C evening enjoying a cold beer and the sun setting behind the stadium. Why not play football in the Summer? (This has even been suggested in Scotland though I think that person has since been shot). At one point a fan sitting a couple of rows in front of us used the F-word to express his disgust at yet another shot-off-target, only to them turn around and APOLOGISE to the people around him. Australia really is another planet sometimes.

Some might say that this family orientated inclusive attitude to sport sucks a lot of the simmering excitement and danger out of the sport. The atmosphere isn't electric; its more chilled out and relaxed and fun. It can never compete with European football games for sheer energy and buzz. This is all true, but personally I prefer my sporting events without all the hatred. I'd like to take Isla to a game of football one day and to not have to worry about getting glassed or to have her learn abusive language or ask why it is that we hate Dundee so much. We don't hate Dundee. We LOVE Dundee Isla, and we love football.

Aami Stadium

Dundee