Rotunda in the West came to the Whitten Oval on August 26, 2010. Top sports writers Martin Flannagan and Greg Baum brought their love of sports to an eclectic audience of young and old, students and teachers and a large number of Western Bulldog supporters.
After some beautiful music from Holly and Christian of VU St Alban’s Music Department and some laughs from “Dud Dawkins” (which went down very well with the targeted audience!), the two sports heads settled in for a chat. They interviewed each other, starting with bushy bearded Martin, asking bespectacled Greg the obvious question:
“How did you get into sport?”
Greg fell in love with sport at primary school. In 1968, (ironically the year this blogger was born) he went to the MCG to watch a sporting event for the first time. It was a VFL match involving Collingwood and Richmond. The stands were heaving and he was fascinated with the colours and the general spectacle. He also attended the 1970–71 Ashes series and once again was wowed by the scene and drama, in particular the contrast of the white-outfitted players against the green grass backdrop.
When “Flanners” asked what football team he barracked for as a kid, Greg related a story of being 6 years old and watching the 1966 Grand Final at his uncle’s house. His uncle was a mad St Kilda supporter, who went wild after the 1 point win, the first in the club’s history. Young Greg found himself feeling sorry for Collingwood and has been barracking for them ever since.
When “Baumie” asked Martin the same question, he told of a story that he’d been told. [Someone had told him they knew why he barracked for Collingwood.] This story also related to the 1966 Grand Final. Back in those days, players swapped guernseys at the end of the Grand Final, so the St Kilda captain Daryl Baldock was wearing a Collingwood jumper when he raised the Premiership Cup, so a young Martin was influenced by this scene of a player in Collingwood colours holding the cup to barrack for Collingwood. Martin says this story was totally untrue, he was a Geelong supporter as a youngster, and commented how interesting it is that stories that have no basis in truth get out there and become the truth for people. Martin says he now just barracks for the game.
Both men had some wonderful anecdotes about the world of sport, but as this is a blog for the PWE website I should probably mention some of what they had to say about writing. Martin, who writes articles for newspapers and books said that writing is like fishing: the more you fish in the same place the less fish there are; you have to diversify.
Greg said that writing is like sport - you need to practise if you are going to be any good.
They both talked about their favourite books on sport, and spoke passionately about them. It sounded like they were all worth reading. Here are a few for you to look into if you like sport and good writing:
The boys of summer by Roger Kahn
Beyond a boundary by C L R James
The book of fame by Lloyd Jones
The damned United by David Peace
Thanks for the article (though I'm not sure who you are because you didn't say). I was so hoping the story would end with a Richmond supporter! Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteI never did make this Rotunda night, but I wish I had made it now. It sounds like it was a great night -- thanks for sharing the details with us.
Tracey
Oops. Sorry Tracey, I managed to miss putting my name on my two most recent blogs. The other one I managed to talk about myself in the third person, so it was obvious it was me. lol
ReplyDeleteI almost feel like I have to do this confession style:
My name is Suellen Green and I am a Carlton supporter. :)