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This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper
T S Eliot
For some reason, late in the second quarter, these words came into my head, annoyingly, like a commercial jingle from the radio, and I struggled to get rid of them till late in the game.
Its often like this in a season of football. By round 10 the teams have been graded and mostly played each other and the ladder is taking shape.
Then from mid-year the teams in the bottom half of the ladder find something that has eluded them to this point and really play out of their skins against more fancied opposition. And upsets make history. Today in the mid-day rain on the shortest footballing day of the year, bottom placed Preston Bullants knocked off 5th placed St Damians. Later in the day 10th ranked Parkside came within four points of Banyule in 4th position.
So every game is a risk, especially for the top ranked teams. But the really strong teams keep putting in. Top-ranked Park Orchards struggled for accuracy today kicking 5 - 17, but kept Macleod to just two points. And at Rammo this afternoon, Ivanhoe had come to play.
Fitzroy comprehensively got the coach's pre-match message. A goal at the 20 second mark and a second before the match was two minutes old had Lions barrackers thinking 'beautiful! How far!'. But from that point, with fancy boots loose across half-forward and their mid-fielders running amok, in barely a blink Ivanhoe had put on three goals and a couple of behinds and our lads found themselves 8 points in arrears at the first siren. Things were looking grim.
The second quarter was a grind. Several deft coaching moves tightened up the defensive half and refocused the forwards, and though we had had the better of it, Ivanhoe would not go away. We got three and a bit, but they got two, and at the major break there was nothing in it. Second placed Fitzroy was just 5 points up against Ivanhoe in eigth.
Could this be one of those weird mid-winter games?
We were down seven key players. Chas out with a knee, Liam with and arm, Max B with a foot. Big strong able footballers. Michael E out with the flu, Andrej with a job interview. Quick, skillful, ball- getters, great disposal/delivery skills. By half-time it was clear that Ed was hobbling and would have to park at full-forward for the rest of the game. On top of this, we were without our regular sensational photo-journalist duo. It was shaping up as a backs to the wall, Rats of Tobruk, Wilkins in the arctic, sort of afternoon.
One point scored in a dogged third stanza. Wrestle and endeavour. Both teams going hammer and tongs, neither able to crack it. Lions up by a single kick at the last change.
Was this to be our mid-season whimper?
Not from these boys. Power football from the clearance got the pigskin down the guts to Jim in the pocket, whose over-head handball to Ed in the square for a goal doubled the margin in the first forward foray of the quarter. A flurry of goals followed, five in all to zero for the quarter, and at the final siren Fitzroy was victorious by a 'fully six' goals. Out with a terrific big bang.
Final scores Fitzroy 11-3 defeated Ivanhoe W 5-2
Looking back on it, we held them scoreless in the second half. A terrific, gutsy, team effort, played to plan in the huddle and the corridor and the stoppages. In the end the game did crack open to our advantage, and it was no accident. Andrew Gaze once said "The harder you work, the luckier you get". This came into my head late in the game today, and blew T S Eliot away. Today, the lads stood up.
Ben played a ripper, fast to the ball, hard at the contest, in the air, on the ground, rebounding, sheparding. Charles was everywhere, specially in the second half, and showed he can put the ball effectively on his right foot when he needs to. Lucien was decisive in the final result, putting the blanket on their creative fancy pants after quarter time. Harry J marked it and turned it around all day. Harris and Declan both had blinders in the ruck and the final line of defence. Otis was in and under, as he always is. Dan read it and rebounded it with sure hands and feet whenever it came his way. Harry H and Gabe and Jim were in amongst it all day getting our numbers to the fall of the ball
Albert King's advice to Stevie Ray Vaughan on how to go about life, was "the better you get, the harder you (must) work." Our running mid-fielders and tall forwards exemplified this today. They have all moved up a football grade this year. But some days the ball just does not bounce true, the marks don't stick 100% of the time, there is a slip, a fumble, a missed tackle that would normally be nailed. I reckon Gus, George, Aiden, Robbie, Aidan, Noah and Max M all looked this in the eye today, but none of them blinked. They ground it out, second effort, kept at it, third effort, ran and chased, shepharded, talked, contested, farmed it out, - and each one of them came out on top in the end.
And so to Banyule next week. Then a short break to recharge and reflect and regroup - and start to build again for the season's final stretch.
Note: I did not take notes during the game, and so have no record of today's goalscorers. Sorry. Would players who kicked goals please email our magnificent Team Manager before you forget and let her know who you are and how many you kicked and we might get a complete season's record. Happily our regular reporter Chicken Smallhorn will be back next week.
Yarrum Nivek Fitzroy legend
Game 10