Footy Culture Wars

I am participating in some St Kilda related blogging on BigFooty. I plan to blog weekly, and here is my first effort.

Out there in the part of the world that doesn’t make sense (the part that isn’t related to footy), there is something called The Culture Wars. While originating in the good old US of A back in Reagan’s time, we have our own one in Australia, initiated by comments by an Australian, related to Australian issues.

On Four Corners way back in 1996, John Howard gave an interview. I forgive you all for missing it, you were probably still on the Waverley Park turf celebrating our Ansett Cup win. He said that by 2000, he wanted Australia and Australians to be comfortable and relaxed about our history. He had also previously criticised what he called a “black armband view of history”, which is basically looking at our past through a half-empty glass.

Anyway, what sprung up was a discussion about what our history was and what it meant. Were Aboriginal children removed from their families because they were Aboriginal, or because they were in danger? Why to we celebrate ANZAC Day on the anniversary of the Gallipoli landing, when it was a fool’s errand? People like Andrew Bolt and Robert Manne have been having it our over these issues ever since.

What does this have to do with footy and St Kilda? Because we have our own little quasi-version of culture wars. This is the argument of talent over effort.
Some supporters of this club think our main deficiency is a lack of A-graders. We have Riewoldt, Dal Santo, Hayes, S Fisher & Goddard, and that’s about it. We look at Geelong and they have someone like David Wojcinski not getting a game when fit. Brent Prismall could walk into most sides, only that at the moment, he can’t walk anywhere. To summise, we’re never going to win a premiership with Clinton Jones, Jason Blake, Robert Eddy, Raphael Clarke, James Gwilt, Sean Demspter, Shane Birss, Charlie Gardiner & Sam Gilbert.

Others look at our talented players and lament the lack of effort, citing it as our biggest concern. Dal Santo could be as good as Bartel, but he doesn’t want it enough. Koschitzke and Milne don’t chase, Schneider can look lazy, Raphael Clarke looks like he’s running in slow motion. Why aren’t these guys going flat out? A hard working team like Geelong makes our efforts look third rate.

What is the problem? First of all, we are comparing ourselves with Geelong, primarily because we just played them. They are the best side of the last 20 years comfortably. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I tend to come down on the side of effort before talent. Seeing the efforts that blokes like Jason Blake (except for that brain-fart versus Cameron Mooney in the third quarter on Sunday) and Clinton Jones put in is genuinely inspiring. I had Jones as our best on Sunday, while Garry Lyon identified him as a problem. Maybe Lyon would prefer talented underachievers like Travis Johnstone and Damien Cupido.

It’s really frustrating for me listening to some St Kilda supporters. The two “ladies” behind me on Sunday asked whether there was any point kicking to either of the Clarke boys. I refrained from informing them that a good reason to kick to them was they are in a St Kilda jumper, as I fear my breath would have been wasted. They were quiet when a really good Xavier Clarke effort gave us a goal, or when Raph took a great contested mark. Others get stuck into Milney for trying things, or playing to his unique skill set.

In short, I would prefer to see the effort coming from the players. Tony Shaw once said that effort was everything, because you can make it without much talent, but you cannot make it without any effort.

What I want to see against Shaw’s old club on Saturday night is effort. We dropped our heads a bit on Sunday, and some players got overawed by the occasion. A deep breath, and a more simple execution of our game plan should see us every chance to win.