I was born in South Shields and was living in Whickham when in 1972 my family relocated to sunny Queensland, leaving Newcastle United behind.
I was a Magpie by birth and would go to St James’ Park with my Grandad in the early 70s when Pop Robson and Wyn Davies were my early heroes, I also caught the early days of Supermac.
In Australia in those days the only football on TV was an hour long highlights show on a Monday night, but luckily in my 20s when doing the European odyssey I watched us a few times, even in the second division in the dark days in the 80s.
There is now another bird in my life. I lived in Sydney, on and off for 20 years, and started following Aussie Rules, known here as footy which is also the name of the ball they kick and punch. I have been a Sydney Swan for the last 30 years, even after moving back to Queensland.
The similarities in the last month or so between the Magpies and the Swans struck me yesterday while watching a major semi-final. The top eight teams qualify for the finals although this year it’s 10 sides so they can squeeze a so called wild card round in.
The Swannies have had a great season and were guaranteed a top two spot and a home final after the penultimate game in Melbourne. The coach gave the lads the go ahead to have a night on the town. Five of the players, three of whom are the heart of the team, the best in their positions in the entire league decided to finish the night by getting topless lap dancers to their hotel in the wee hours. Accusations of inappropriate behaviour by the lasses were made. The police were involved without any charges being laid, the press came from everywhere and in this day and age that was enough for the club to suspend the five for the rest of the season. The Sydney Swans CEO was quoted as saying they’ve torpedoed our season.
The match I was watching yesterday, against the back to back premiers, the Brisbane Lions (don’t you hate a team with delusions of being a big cat?) who had already beaten us this season was supposed to be a cake walk for them with the heart of our team replaced by unknowns. Instead we gave them a flogging, winning by 53 points, getting a week off and one game away from the grand final.
Like my Swans, my Magpies lost the heart of the team in recent times, and yet they have proven the unknowns and the lesser stars will stand up when needed. At some stage this season we may be only one game away from a final and the new heart of our team will have taken us there.