MARK BAKERS SAYS: AFL and I have had a long and fraught relationship.
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As a kid, I loved kicking the footy in the street. Lining up shots from impossible angles; knowing a goal after the siren would win the Grand Final by a single point.
Unlike real life, I allowed myself multiple efforts until the ball fluked its way through the goals, which was our garage or the neighbour's drive way depending on where cars were parked.
Football was where I learned how difficult it could be losing something you really worked hard for.
In a primary school representative side, we led every quarter until choking in the final and losing by a handful of points.
It sounds silly but it was a real emotional whack for a 12-year-old.
What it did though was offer a lesson in being a good loser and plant a little kernel of thought that if you really wanted something you had to work hard to be the best.
Footy stopped being fun one high school afternoon on a cold winter’s day.
Parents drinking cans of grog were abusing and threatening the umpire. Off the ball after getting a kick away, I was tackled in the back, had my head shoved into the ground and punched in the kidneys.
It’s possible I brought it on myself – I did have long hair and was wearing silky soccer shorts because my footy shorts were nowhere to be found that morning.
Sport, particularly children’s sport, should never be played in that atmosphere.
It’s a game and games are meant to be fun. It can be competitive and frustrating and maddening but if somewhere in all that, it’s not fun, it’s not worth it.
I watched my nephew play Auskick for the first time this year in the pouring rain at Aurora Stadium.
He’s a flame-haired tear-away who throws himself under the pack and runs back with the flight of the ball with all the bravery of a miniature Cameron Ling.
All the kids were soaked but having a ball. It was enough to make me want to pick up the pigskin again.
Yesterday morning all the neighbourhood kids were kicking a footy in the street, pausing to wave at the cars that interrupted their own re-enactments of post siren heroics.
Later, the big kids will come out for a half-time heroes, where the majority of snaps will be hamstrings rather than check sides from the pocket.
If the Hawks beat Sydney (deadlines mean this column is written before the first bounce) they will bring the cup home to Tasmania for the second year in a row.
Hawthorn will also pick up a tidy $300,000 bonus, taking its extra payments for final appearances and wins to more than $1 million.
On top of its lucrative contract of $15 million over three years, they get a pretty good deal from Tasmania.
In tough economic times involving budget cuts and pay freezes, it’s hard for some to swallow that the deal is worth it.
I believe it is, however, particularly for Launceston, which is provided such a boost when the Hawks play at Aurora.
You only have to watch the stars of the future in their Hawks guernseys playing for the fun of the game and dreaming big.