Silver Schoolies No More - Chapter 5 - Carnarvon Day 4

Its NRL Grand Final day and my team is in the game.

The news feeds are all about will the game actually go on. In the weeks heading up to the game the Queensland premier has vowed to slam her border shut, should an outbreak of the Delta version of Covid 19 be uncovered in her state. 

It has and everyone waits with bated breath. Will there be a call to have grand final with no crowd, will the game be moved, will the game be postponed, all these options are on the table and being sensationalised by the press. Unfortunately, history of her decisions in the past suggest there is going to be a persona based decision particularly allowing for her to wield power.

Thankfully sanity provided by the big business incentives of the almighty dollar appears to prevail. Losing the game would have cost Queensland significantly as would have the loss of “prestige” gained through the luring of such a big game to her state. You can almost hear the doors of the state beginning to slam shut as she has done in the past  but thankfully that almighty dollar has gotten into the mechanism and kept them open.

The game is on albeit with only 75% of the crowd. How hard must it have been on the players, psyching themselves up for one of the biggest games of their lives and not knowing if they were playing or not. 

The cynic in me suggests the players would have been told the outcome long before the general public and the media simply beat it up as long as they could. Its never about the ratings is it – television or political points.

All that aside, the park does pancakes on a Sunday morning. Again another food stuff that doesn’t interest me, is one Robyn absolutely adores. Like Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese, “Pepe le Pew” on heat, she is drawn towards the common area of the park and returns with a plate filled, fruit and cream drowned pancake. She sits down to devour the breakfast.

For the devotee, grand final day lasts all day. There are preliminary games. There is the pregame spectacular both on and off the field to be enjoyed (or not as the case may be) but it is an event. 

Unlike last time we tripped around where both the AFL and NRL grand finals were taken outside in the baking sun, under the awning with the barbecue providing never ending snacks, this year, here in Carnarvon it is cold, wet and windy. My choice is to vegetate in front of the TV and lean back to the fridge from time to time. Like I said, my team the Rabbitohs are playing and my passion is best kept in the van if all is said and done.

As the fervour raises through the early games, there is a bit of fluctuation in the TV signal, but nothing significant. The big game starts and it simply drops out altogether. 

You have to be kidding.

There is a back up plan for even though we are in the heart of AFL country the park management have seen fit to have the telecast beamed onto the big screen in the main public area. There are many other nomads from the NRL infested areas already here. There is the division between the teams supporters and I soon find my place amongst the Bunnies followers. “The Burrow” as it has come to be known where any group of South Sydney supporters congregate is of the same size as that of the Panthers group on the other side of the room.

The game is now well into the first half by the time I get there after cursing and swearing at our TV and giving up much to the euphoric joy of my travelling companion. 

The game ebbs and flows. The supporters of each side becoming more and more vocal as the game progresses. There is no malice, just like Mataranka and the State of Origin game some months prior, the parochial passion of the fans is kept in check. Banter from both sides of the room is very light hearted and almost condoned in reply.

A critical error, a pass intercepted and the game is the Panthers. No one in the shed is unhappy. Disappointed maybe, but fortune favours the brave and they took their opportunity.

The telecast is removed from the big screen almost as soon as the final whistle is blown and the live entertainment is given the green light. At least they gave us some chance to see the game.

I wander back to the van happy there was not a decision made by the officials that would cause controversy. It just wasn’t our day.

Dinner is already on the stove when I return and the TV is now working. Analysis and post game commentary go on for hours but I dont watch. Its time for a movie and let it be.