Tears of a Dog
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When the siren sounded to bring home the Bulldogs' first premiership in 62 years on October 1st, I was one of the tens of thousands of fans at the MCG who screamed with delight. I had a grin from ear to ear as I wallowed in sheer delight and relief. But I did not cry. There were no tears of joy, as I had thought there might be. They almost came when Bevo uttered the words, "I'd like to call Bob Murphy to the stand", but they did not.
I had squeezed out a tear - maybe two - a week earlier, after the Dogs had pipped GWS to finally lay our Preliminary Final curse to rest but I did not openly weep as I had expected to. And on Grand Final day it was the same.
Don't get me wrong - it's not that I wasn't ecstatic. The Bulldogs winning the flag has been a true life highpoint for me. I spent an entire month from early September relegating the days my sons were born from first to second to third to fourth and finally, to fifth, in the 'best day of my life' rankings. It is truly one of the happiest events of my life.
But it did not move me to tears on the day.
Then, a couple of weeks after the Grand Final, I was asked to write the words of for the pictorial record of our season, Against All Odds. Just when I thought life couldn't get any better, it did. I spent the next three weeks of my life reliving the Bulldogs' magnificent season, running my eyes over hundreds – thousands - of photos of the Dogs' remarkable year.
I was in Bulldog heaven, as happy as it is surely possible to be. I was emotional many times over, shivering with awe as I relived each exquisite moment captured in those photos.
And yet, I still did not cry.
With the photos for the book finally selected, I wrote words to accompany each of them. I hope those words have done some semblance of justice to the feelings of our fans about the Dogs’ achievement.
When the first copy of the final product reached my hands I was euphoric. The Dogs had won the premiership and I had contributed to the book that celebrates a momentous event in the lives of so many. I was proud beyond belief. I was dancing, inside and out. I was positively beaming. I was moved like I have never been moved before.
But still no tears flowed.
Then, on December 15th - 75 days after we had won the flag - I attended the Western Bulldogs Social Club Christmas Party. This was a night full of many more special moments. I watched fans queuing to have jumpers, posters and even copies of Against All Odds signed by players. I was bursting with pride, more so when president Peter Gordon gave me a mention after Danny McGinlay had shown a copy of the book to the fans in the Victory Room at Etihad Stadium. And even more so when he pronounced my surname correctly!
I'm not sure I could have been more touched - and yet, I did not cry.
Between presentations, the Grand Final was played on the big screens in the room. Most eyes in the room were drawn towards those screens - including mine of course.
But as the final minutes of the last quarter were played, I decided to turn my eyes away from the screen and towards the others in the room. It took every ounce of my willpower to do so. (After all, I've only watched the replay about fifteen million times.) But I did. I wanted to see the reactions of the others in the room as they relived those final beautiful minutes of the Grand Final.
At the moment Tom Boyd kicked that goal I fixed my gaze on a young girl, maybe 10 years old. She was jumping for joy, just as Boyd and his teammates were doing onscreen. No sixty-year wait for a flag for her. But that's okay. As Bevo said, this premiership is for all Bulldogs' fans, those who have suffered for decades and those who have only come on board recently.
As the screen showed Liam Picken kicking the goal that sealed the premiership, I caught sight of very old man with wispy white hair - he must have been 95 years old if he was a day. The sparkle in his eyes as Picken kicked that goal was something to behold. This bloke had been waiting far longer than I had for this premiership. And he was lapping it up once more, as were the lady to his left and the young man to his right.
As was everyone else in the room - a sea of faces full of unbridled happiness. Such bliss; such rapture. It was at that moment that I had to turn back towards the screens, for if I had remained facing the crowd, they would have seen tears flowing freely down my cheeks. They would have seen me sobbing almost uncontrollably.
Finally I had seen what had missed on Grand Final day, when I was too busy celebrating the premiership myself. I had now seen how much the Western Bulldogs' premiership achievement truly means to so many people.
And it moved me to tears of uninhibited, unimaginable joy.
Footnotes
Against All Odds - A pictorial record of the Western Bulldogs’ history-making season 2016 is published by Slattery Media and can be ordered via this link.
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