I haven’t written anything about the game over the weekend, or Carlton for the past few games, even before the Bye round, simply because I ask myself, ‘What is the point?’ No matter what I write about, no matter what is said, it makes no difference because it seems that some supporters, and it looks as if there are a greater number of them, don’t really want to see another point of view, only ones that fit their skewered outlook of the game and the club. That is their right. However, when they turn towards me and what I write about, the accusation is that I seem to have no real clue about what I am talking about. Some say it is because I am a female and some say I am “woke” and delusional.
The point of my writing is to see the game from a different perspective. Not from one that is rife across the many media shows, podcasts, rants on the radio and social media. They all basically state the same thing. I have no issue whatsoever if someone disagrees with me, has a viewpoint from another perspective, and can and does try to change my mind. I am the first to say, you know what? You could be right.
So, what is the point of this piece? Simply this. When we support a sporting club or even an individual in sport, we want that connection to that club or person. We want to be a part of their journey towards ultimate success. We want to be a part of the rise of that club or person. Yet it becomes rather difficult to stand with a club or person when, year after year, that success is one that just suggests that is is out of reach for the club or person.
It seems that when things don’t go to plan in a way that we expect as supporters, we step back and literally become angry, critical, and often downright nasty. It is as if this connection to the club or person is one where all rationale and support get flung out the window into a pile of debris that we cannot be bothered to sort out. We don’t want to know the reasons why success is evading us; we just want success to happen no matter how it occurs. We want that connection back to the club or person with success under their belt so we can puff out our chests and know that we have been a part of this success. This need for a successful connection to Carlton can cloud our view about the murkiness of what has gone on in the past. It is as if some don’t want to know or understand how this past does and will affect the present and possibly the future if we keep going down the dark road we have previously taken.
So many aspects of the game, in all scenarios, have changed since Carlton last won a Premiership. For some, they can’t get past how disruptive the club has been since then. As supporters, it is as if there are those who have lost a connection to the club because what has gone on since 1995 has severed this connection because they can’t move forward when they keep alluding to the past.
Some have tried repeatedly to regain that connection with the coaches that the club has deemed suitable to get, but this has also been broken in a never ending cycle that does more damage than good. We see the players and support them for what they can bring to the game and the club that we love, but when they fail or do not perform in a way that some demand, the only way that some see a solution is to once again, go down that stormy road of sacking yet another coach. We don’t choose to look at the logic and reasonableness of why something has not worked out during the game; we only shift our focus to one person – the coach. The blame is squared directly at the coach and no one else. The connection is lost because of the coach. To me, this looks pretty disruptive and quite narrow-minded.
This is why, for me, there has been no point in writing anything because I tend to be in the minority as a supporter. I do see the issues plaguing the team. I do see what needs to be done to make Carlton successful, yet I don’t lay the blame squarely on the shoulders of one person and one person only – the coach. I have thought about this for quite some time now, and to be perfectly honest, I love the Carlton FC and feel a connection to them no matter what a game’s outcome is. I may feel upset that we lost or didn’t play in a way that I expected, but my connection to the club, its players and coaches has never waivered, and it never will. This is because, since 1995, I have understood where the club’s path went and how, since then, it has not changed until now.
If we are truly connected as a supporter base to the Carlton FC, then we have to fight for that connection no matter the game’s outcome. If we decide that the only connection we will have as a supporter is fuelled by the viewpoints of those in the media or others that want to spout derogatory remarks, then the connection is worthless. No connection to the Carlton FC should be determined by anyone other than us as a supporter, win, lose or draw. It may sometimes be difficult, and the game may end up not in the way we expect, but in the end, when that ultimate success comes, the connection we have forged and fought for will be so much more meaningful because we never wavered.
We got four points over the weekend. Simple!
#GOBLUES!
Image courtesy of AFL
SPORTZ 