The accidental Magpie
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 1, No. 4
30 April - 14 May 2007 ] By Chris McAuliffe
– a TV convert’s story
The effect of television on football is a hotly debated topic; coloured shorts, countdown clocks, boundary riders . . . Let me tell you a cautionary tale that shows just how far-reaching the impact of television can be.
As a young boy, I barracked for St Kilda. (I have no idea how that came about -- my parents were anti-football, and my brother followed Richmond.) But all of this came to an abrupt end in September 1966. At the very height of St Kilda’s glory, I changed teams.
The scene is a suburban lounge room in Adelaide. A young boy of five watches the Saints/Collingwood Grand Final on TV. The match has been won, the victors are running their lap of honour, a huddle of hysterical players in black and white jumpers, passing the cup from hand to hand. Somewhere in the boy’s mind, a weird conclusion is drawn: “Collingwood has won the flag, I might as well switch to them.”
Where’s the logic in this? Sure, I’d been confused by the teams switching jumpers at the end of the match, but hadn’t I been watching it up until then? Hadn’t I seen the scoreboard? Apparently not. For some reason, I was seduced by the victory celebrations and not the game itself.
Marshall McLuhan was the media guru of the day, but even he would have been hard pressed to explain the confusion that turned me into a Magpies supporter. These days, you might call me a victim of virtual football. I’d never been to a game, so I guess I treated footy as a purely televisual spectacle, believing everything I saw on the box, watching it a moment at a time and not putting the big picture together.
I make no apologies for my conversion now. If I made the decision under the hypnotic effect of cathode rays, I’ve stuck with it religiously ever since. I don’t think I’ve suffered any more or less as a Collingwood supporter. Still, I suppose there’s still a spot for St Kilda in my heart.
Chris McAuliffe is Director of the University of Melbourne’s Ian Potter Museum of Art.
|
|
