FANS RANT

Welcome to The Fan's Rant

'The Fan' discusses all-things footy, is anonymous and calls it as he sees it. The Queanbeyan Tigers Australian Football Club does not endorse or necessarily agree with any comments made in this column. So if you don't like anything The Fan writes, please don't sue us as this only will make lawyers wealthy!

8/8/08

You might that on such an auspicious date this column would be about the Olympic Games, but no, I've spared you for the moment.

Instead, I want to talk about supporters and the lengths they go to and passion that surrounds their loyalty to their team. Now if you ask any supporter of any given team, naturally their team is better than others and they'll go on to tell you why (and probably also tell you why all the others are rubbish as well!).

Some people extend their passion a bit further by naming their kids after their favourite player (wonder how many Collingwood families have youngsters with christian names Nathan Buckey …). Others set up web sites in honour of their club. One of the crackers I've come across lately is a tongue in cheek site - puntroad.com where it has a playful dig at the Richmond Footy Club and is a must for all Tigers fans. Check out the T shirts that celebrate 25 years of failure (I even bought one) and I'm told that sensational Mathew Richardson and Brett Deledio shirts are coming soon. The stories about players and footy incidents are a great read as long as you don't take them seriously (which would defeat the purpose of the site anyway). Check it out for yourself.

How did I find it you ask? I googled up something about Didak to get the latest news on this spectacular fall from grace - a lesson for all players, don't tell porkies - and found a year old story about Didak on this site. But the recent failings of fallen magpies are a story for another day….

Catch you soon

The Fan

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26th June 2008

The Ben Cousins saga has taken another twist with speculation that the talented but now disgraced former West Coast Eagles star is looking to return to football, possibly in Victoria's VFL competition. I've even heard some talk that he was being courted by AFL Canberra clubs - that's possible if rumours are correct that more than 200 clubs have enquired with his manager.

The on-field value of such a talented player is obvious, however, it begs the question as to what type of impact it would have on a club's culture? And, it would certainly get more people to the footy (that's a column for another day too).

Some would say that he deserves a chance at redemption and the right club would help him (the Eagles certainly didn't seem to do themselves any favours did they, at least that's the way the media portrayed it), but at the same time, parents of up and coming youngsters might (should?) argue that a club that their sons aspire to play footy with is no place for someone with Cousins' history. I recall similar debates when Wayne Carey split with North Melbourne and was looking for a home.

The issue is really one of value of a club's history, pride and own values, rather than pursuit of short term glory. Maybe club's should offer him cash that he collects after each season is over, and part of the arrangement is that he counsels in schools about the error of his ways? As good an outcome this would be, I suspect some club out there with deep pockets and little regard for its own culture will take him on. Good luck to them.

Catch you soon

The Fan

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