Local Rites
a year in grass roots football in Victoria and beyond
by Paul Duffey
Overview
From the Internet
AUSTRALIA'S finest writer about football Martin Flanagan said of
Local Rites: "This is writing that comes from the right place, a combination of knowingness and respect for the subject. It is writing whose subject happens to be football."
"Local Rites: A year in grass roots football in Victoria and beyond" by Paul Daffey is published by Black Duck Publications.
My thoughts
One thing is certain. Australian Football, known as AFL, Aussie Rules, or simply footy, is NOT the American NFL. This book goes into the heart and soul of football to explain and define the allegiances of small towns and communities across Australia and their devotion to Australian Rules Football.
It's not the story of the players capturing headlines in league games, although admittedly some of those names pop up from time to time. Rather this is the story of the "other" guys, the players who play not for money but for love of the sport. It's the story of supporters who will defend their boys against others who dare to speak out against their team. It's a remarkable story of years of football played in ovals across the country by professionals, business men, working class, and youth.
Favorite Passage
My regret is that I never played a game on Brunswick Street. The ground has an allure than can be known only to footballers who spend childhood with stars in their eyes and adulthood trying to get a kick as best they can. Playing at Brunswick Street offers a small link with the big time; it offers a small link with childhood dreams. The Reds felt like keepers of the flame in their Fitzroy guernseys. Stephen Drury felt like he was receiving the premiership cup during the first round of the season. Ricky Johnstone was crying into his lecture notes in faraway Sicily. Those who renamed the Brunswick Street oval after a former mayor never knew such feelings. The ground should be called the Haydn Bunton Oval or the Chicken Smallhorn Recreation Reserve. Maybe it should be the Tony Ongarello Place Kick Park. Whatever the name, it should reflect the familiar and the grand. I doubt that any footballer would argue with that.
