… an ‘Annus Prosperous’ 2021  !!

In the history of the mighty Doncaster Sharks the last two footy seasons have been oh-so remarkable in the extreme, but clearly for all the wrong reasons!!

In 2019 it was ‘Annus Horribilis’ with our playing stocks decimated by record injuries and the Club battling to remain in Premier division.  And this year, 2020 has been ‘Annus Virus’ with no EFL footy at all, courtesy of a winter wipe-out of sport by a worldwide pandemic, Covid 19.

But the past is the past and hopefully it stays in the past because the footy gods surely do “owe-us-one”!  So we now look to move on, fast approaching a 2021 new year with eagerness, expectation, freshness and a real positivity that local footy will soon return to suburban Melbourne with a vengeance and in all its glory.  Life WILL go on – and with no more viruses, no more masks, no more “stick-it-up-ems” (of the nasal variety), no more Covid coordinators, no more disinfections, no more social distancing and no more home lockdowns watching endless AFL replays or worse still, cutting the lawns and tidying the backyard!

Please, please just give me back my hallowed Saturday arvo’s with live local footy – I’ll even take a jab in the arm if I have to!

Gee, just imagine it, in less than 4 long months Shark Park will again be brimming and bustling with that great game of ours – and all those heavenly footy senses will then come flooding back to me on our winter Saturdays at Schramms!  Oh how I’ve missed it all – the highs and lows of matchday sensations on the field, the sound of the siren, the shrill of the umpy’s whistle, the smell of the Sherrin, the liniment and the virus-free sweat in the air.

There is always something primal about the words and wiles from Stewie’s coaching huddles or the ranting and raving of opposition bozos and even the witless whines of ‘white rabbit’ coming from the hill!  And should we never forget the fun of a few frothies, the wafting of beefy BBQ delights (and those personal not-so-delights), the LOL’s from those well-oiled wobblies at the bar, the raucous renditions of victory vocals and the church mouse sounds of silence from those vanquished on the day.

Yep, it’s just great to savour those wows and whispers for a passing pair of pink heels topped with tight jeans, and the scary sight of super sharks sharing the sunlight on the big Schramms screen with sponsors and scores!    I love it all – even the honking of hoon horns, the thunderous thumping on the dug-out, the hype and hullabaloo for our blue and white warrior hoops and the endless hurry and scurry of our hectic four-legged mascot hound.

You see, it’s all part of my local footy “fix”.  I’m doing it ‘hard’ without the footy, the beers, the snags, cheering and jeering, playing, watching, excitement, sadness, disappointment, friendship, raffles and much, much more.  I’ve missed it all for a very long harrowing time now – some 487 days without my senses!  And there is still another whopping 115 nights of disturbed sleeps to endure before I can truly feel well again on April 17, 2021!  Thank God it won’t be a leap year!

And will I get there?  You bloody betcha, but right now oh how I really wish I was Rip Van Winkel with a footy alarm clock.  Perhaps Santa will bring me one – along with the ‘Annus Prosperous’ of course!!

Merry Christmas to you all, from a deprived Shark.