THERE is no other sporting event in Australia quite like the AFL grand final.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We love the Ashes and the occasional treat from victorious Socceroos and Hockeyroos.
We love a punt at the Melbourne Cup and our champions at Wimbledon or the Olympics.
However, the passion of that last Saturday in September stirs the heart like no other.
Grand final day is in our psyche. It is a celebration of being a magnanimous, fair-minded Australian who dares to dream, in an unassuming, larrikin way.
We share other sports with the world and often excel well above our station, but on grand final day Australians play their own game.
The AFL has struggled and muddled its way through many scandals over the years, like drunken escapades and doping, but tomorrow all that recedes.
If pride is a common denominator then the emotions that burn within us on Anzac Day will be at play tomorrow.
For Tasmania our $15 million investment in Hawthorn will make a real rate of return, win or lose. The deal will parade Tasmania across the nation and beyond.
In this scarier world of war and terrorism, Australia can take a proud moment on grand final day, to celebrate who we are and what we represent.
We’ll cheer ourselves hoarse, boo the umpires and endlessly debate that free kick.
Win or lose, we’ll go home on a high, or, saunter home thinking finally, that maybe those buggers in the other side were just a little better.
We won’t riot or resort to hate. We won’t let our passion become an obsession and we won’t take ourselves too seriously.
Yes, there maybe a hint of nationalism, but being an Aussie on grand final day is an infinitely better and healthier state of mind than the belligerence of an uncompromising zealot.