It is said that every cloud has a silver lining. I would normally dismiss that as over optimistic nonsense but it happened to me last weekend as I sat gloomily watching the TV, head in hands bemoaning a third soft Victory goal as it wafted into our net.
My mate handed me a beer and said: “We don’t deserve to be three goals down.”
We? Did he just say we? Well Hallelujah and praise the Lord!
You see my mate is a confirmed Euro snob, a Manchester City tragic; and before you ask, yes I did run a background check and it turns out he was a ‘Citeh’ fan back when they were rubbish.
This was indeed a silver lining. I’ve been chipping away at this bloke’s refusal to care about the Hyundai A-League for the past two seasons, bribing him with a six pack and party pies for our televised games and rewarding his ability to name our defensive midfielders with the occasional ticket to the Sydney Derby.
I’m not sure he’s ready for the Mariners on a Sunday arvo yet but hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day!
The point is, it can be done. We all know a Euro snob: that bloke at work who spends gazillions flying his whole family to Melbourne to watch Real Madrid play a meaningless friendly against Victory’s youth team but won’t go down to Wanderland to watch an ACL tussle against the best on the continent.
And how frustrating was it to receive a hundred emails, each breathlessly introducing you to that YouTube clip of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ when Liverpool played at the MCG! Wow! A football crowd singing! Whatever next?
I reckon at the start of the season we each need to target one Euro snob each. Drag them along to Wanderland using bribery, blackmail, coercion, whatever it takes.
Just lead them through the gates enough times, ply them with fast food and a coldie and watch the magic happen as the Wanderers get under their skin too.
Soon they’ll realise that a crunching Clisby tackle trumps a Ronaldo step over any day of the week. It’s proper football! And it’s ours!
Ian Dickson
Wanderers Ambassador
