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BOOK REVIEW
| John Cash and Joy Damousi, Footy Passions, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2009. pp. 204. $34.95 paper.
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| The adjective 'beloved' has recently migrated from the cold masonry of tombstones to a rather different use in the newspaper obituary. Once upon a time the football club affiliation of the deceased would not have been a significant fact in an obituary – now their allegiance to an AFL team is usually noted, preceded by the omnipresent 'beloved'. 'Beloved Collingwood' (Damousi) or 'beloved Carlton' (Cash) is a formulation that recurs often in this book, one of the new breed of Australian Rules titles that seeks to capture the relationship between the fans and their 'beloved' clubs. |
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Melbourne is as notorious for its 'barrackers' (AFL fans) as Boston is for its 'kranks' (baseball fans). Both cities grew in the nineteenth century as sites of mass participation in sport and spectators. Conventional accounts of the football clubs that emerged in colonial Melbourne stress the role of religion and social class in explaining their character and composition. Wealthier Protestants supported Essendon; skilled working-class families adopted Fitzroy; factory workers flocked to Collingwood; and so on. Even as families moved out of their ancestral tribal domains – such as Richmond people to the eastern suburbs – they took their club loyalties with them and inducted their children into traditional allegiances. |
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Damousi and Cash eschew this socio-historical explanation for one that is rooted in family and individual psychology. They interviewed 50 rabid fans of the game and divided them into categories that speak to particular interpersonal combinations. A chapter on sons and fathers, for example, is followed by one on daughters and fathers. Sons and fathers use their football loyalties sometimes to allow for an intimacy of communication that might otherwise be lacking, and sometimes as sites of rebellion for the younger generation. Daughters negotiate their family dynamics, including the divorce of their parents, or their need for adolescent independence, by means of club allegiance. |
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The personal stories are well chosen and told, with plenty of first-person narratives that are easy to read and plausible in their telling. Many of the iconic moments in the meta-discourse of Australian football appear in these people's recollections, such as Malcolm Blight's improbable torpedo at Princes Park after the siren, Nicky Winmar's baring of his chest at Victoria Park, or John Coleman's heroics at Windy Hill. These connect the memories of the fans with the formal history of the game. |
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At times the analysis provides glimpses of a connection with the larger world of class identity and conflict. 'Mary' switches from Richmond to Essendon (p. 92), an example of social mobility. The post-war immigrants are captured by their discovery of the complex tableau of club allegiances they encounter in Melbourne (chapter 6). And 'Caveman' laments the re-badging of working-class Footscray as the 'Western Bulldogs' (pp. 182–86). These are points where the intensely psychological approach that informs this book finds a link with the bigger story of social difference that helps explain the enduring success of Australian Rules football across Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. |
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In a culture that has historically been shy about discussing what is 'beloved', Australian football has given many people a language in which to express their deepest feelings. This book is to be praised for explaining that paradox. |
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| Victoria University |
ROBERT PASCOE | |
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