As Refreshing As A Humble Collingwood Supporter

Once in a very aquamarine moon, the Emergency Department will be really quiet. So quiet it is almost surreal, and there is a low murmuring among the staff about how "Q word" it is tonight (we're a superstitious lot, we are!). Everyone's walking around on eggshells, afraid that if we coughed or laughed a little too loud, the avalanche of patients would come tumbling in.

It was one of those nights last night, and there was a simple explanation for the condition in the hospital - Collingwood was playing the West Coast Eagles. Now for those who are reading this from outside Australia, these are two teams involved in Australian football, or 'footy' as it is affectionately known here. Footy is to the Australians what soccer is to the English.

And Collingwood would be to Victorians what Liverpool would be to the Liverpudlians - a fiercely supported team, especially by the grassroots and laymen. (One senior who is a Carlton Football club supporter once commented, when he heard that I might be potentially a Collingwood supporter, said 'He can't be a Collingwood supporter! He's got too many teeth!')

They are a proud lot, the Collingwood supporters. Whether they win or lose, the fans will never turn their backs on the clubs, kind of like the Liverpool die-hards whose very club's motto 'You'll Never Walk Alone' suggests that come rain or shine, we're behind you all the way.

Collingwood has not had much to be proud of in recent times, but they did yesterday night.

Personally, there was clear evidence of the spirit of the supporters when I was travelling on the train back home the other day.

It was a Friday night, and at every stop on my way back to the city, the train started filling up with a sea of people in white and black stripes. There were groups of young louts, there were parents trying to pass on the flame to their young children, there were older folks who looked to have supported the club forever.

One or two of them have had a couple of beers prior to the game, and there was an electric buzz around the coach I was in. Random shouts of 'Go Pies!' and good natured ribbing like 'Hey, you're wearing the wrong colours, mate!' (to anyone who wasn't in a black/white outfit) reverberated through the coach. But the cutest scene was when one parent was leaning over to her child and saying, 'Hey, sing the Collingwood song!'

'Good ol' Collingwood forever...' came the hesitating little voice. '... we know how to play the game...' it trickled. This was enough to send a smile through the people in the crowd, and like a ripple it spread, and soon all the older folk around him started responding in chorus, and soon there were people dancing and singing along ending in the crescendo of 'for good old Collingwood!'

There were smiles all around after that, and I couldn't help smiling as well.

In all the hooliganism there is in modern sport, it has its roots in a heart bursting with passion. I hope to share that passion one day with you, dear children.