One of Greg Champion’s finest moments was his gentle skewering of the MCC member stereotype, set to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born To Run’.
From “growing up on Melway Map 59” to driving “down Balwyn Road in our four-wheel drive machines” I found it hilarious as a teenager.
As a kid who sat on the MCC membership waiting list, I loved the fact that I was the opposite, I went to a state school not “Wesley or Haileybury” and the boardrooms, ski season and Mercs mentioned in Champion’s tribute were not part of my life.
My one concession was barracking for the Dees – virtue of a bizarre choice I’d made as a kid to cut ties from any family VFL supporting traditions.
I was put on the waiting list by my grandmother when I was nine years old. My dad has never been an MCC member so it was always a big deal that my brother and I were put on the list – it was something new for the family.
I’m told Dad had the forms filled out when I was born, but there weren’t any other members at his West Preston Football Club to sign the application so it fell by the wayside.
But that’s where the stereotype doesn’t match the reality, because it was never about the social standing, it was always about the place for me.
The first time I went there I sat in the top of the old Southern Stand and was overawed by how big the place was, every time I went back I was intoxicated by how I could be part of something so immense. When I went along as one of 90,000 for the famous ‘Lockett and Dunstall’ State of Origin game I was truly hooked.
So when I was a teenager and needed a part-time job the first place I thought of was the MCG. As I counted down the last few years of my waiting list I spent my Friday nights and many Saturdays and Sundays of winter selling the Footy Record and exploring every nook and cranny of the place.
A Record-boy uniform was an access to most areas and the magic place became ‘my’ place - albeit only when dressed in ridiculous fluorescent yellow.
Arriving at 6.00am on grand final day to sell to the queuing members was one memory, but from carting bundles of Records around the bowels of the place, trying to take a speccies over Dermie in Yarra Park during outside radio broadcasts, to throwing marshmallows at Hutchy as he did a live TV cross before the ‘Marshmallow Final’, there was a whole new set of memories attached to the place.
And it really did start to feel like it was my place. If you look closely at one of the sculptures you may even a see a name like mine scratched into it at eye level.
So when the membership came through I was already an MCG veteran who couldn’t wait to spend more time at the place. And being a Melbourne supporter you need a certain kind of existential appreciation of the whole of the MCG experience to get you through some periods – the last decade for example. Turning up on siren time and drinking full-strength beer from a glass is the pay-off for my pain.
But granted the 1987-2006 period that coincides with my MCG experience is overlooked as being a pretty successful, if not ultimately triumphant, period to be a Demon frequenting the MCG. Twelve finals series in 20 years, 10 of which contained finals wins, is a decent run for your money. The Northey and Daniher eras provided us with something that was always watchable.
As a somewhat superstitious tribute to that last final Melbourne won 10 years ago, I’ve now assumed the spot I had that night we came from behind to knock off the Saints as my regular G-spot.
Standing room outside the Blazer Bar on the wing - uncharitably it could be suggested it’s close to the exit - is my domain. That standing room area has a certain flexibility to deal with frustrating play, allowing a member to forgo the social niceties that might be required in the Long Room.
So with signs that the decade of gloom may be over, we head to the Blazer Bar for a beer to settle the nerves and prepare for our first Queen’s Birthday in years when we go in as favourites. The unfamiliarity of being the favoured team is balanced by the familiarity of swiping your card and strolling in to take up your spot.
We watch our most successful modern coach Neale Daniher do the amazing things he is doing raising money for medical research in finding a cure for Motor Neurone Disease - and settle in for the first bounce hoping that we see a carbon copy of our Round 3 victory over the enemy. It hangs symbolically over the day that we haven’t won on Queen’s Birthday since Neale Daniher’s last season in 2007.
The start is slow, that eerie monkey of favouritism weighing on Demon backs. However, when Trengove kicks his first goal in over two years early in in the second quarter we click into gear, piling on seven goals to one for the quarter.
For a side that’s been bereft of star power for years, it is rarefied atmosphere when it’s three or four star players who stand head and shoulders as the best players on the ground. Gawn, Vince, Jones and Hogan, with able support from others, looked a class above their opponents and lifted a game that meandered at times.
Gawn in particular played one of those games you dream about, doing the things he does well perfectly and while doing a bunch of things we’ve never seen him do. Mid-air soccer kicks, spin and snaps in traffic, what will he do next? MCC members love Max, the ovations when he hits the bench are now highlights of a day at the 'G.
Max gives Neale a hug as he wins the best on ground trophy, Melbourne gets the win and as I walk home I check my name on the Gate 6 sculpture.
Everything is back in its rightful place at ‘my’ MCG.
Shannon was a dour full back and continues to be a plodding medium-pacer, who sometimes hangs around the world of sport. He used his MCG knowledge to chaperone Warnie though the underground tunnels of the MCG on a catering buggy from function to function one Boxing Day.
Game Summary
MELBOURNE 2.4 9.6 11.7 16.8 (104)
COLLINGWOOD 4.4 5.4 6.6 8.10 (58)
GOALS
Melbourne: Hogan 3, Kent 3, Gawn 3, Watts 2, Viney, Trengove, Petracca, N Jones, Kennedy
Collingwood: Cox 2, Maynard, White, Sidebottom, Varcoe, Greenwood, Grundy
BEST
Melbourne: Gawn, Vince, N Jones, Kent, T McDonald, Tyson, Hogan, Bugg, Kennedy
Collingwood: Treloar, Pendlebury, Howe, De Goey, Varcoe
INJURIES
Melbourne: vandenBerg (nose)
Collingwood: J Frost (shoulder), Reid (left knee), Pendlebury (left ankle)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Nicholls, Jeffery, Wallace
Official crowd: 60,158 at the MCG