Theres a secret football society in Melbourne. On various bayside football ovals (they move around to avoid detection) an eclectic bunch get together a couple of times a week to do circle work. The ancient tradition of spreading out the players on the field and getting a ball to circumnavigate the field in a rhythmic motion of kicks marks and handballs.
This is a group activity based on freedom and abandon, but they are all slaves to one thing. The ball must keep moving. Around and around and around it goes. Etiquette prevails over hard and fast rules, but theres no tackling.
Circle up: The Demons will have a rough build-up to round four.Credit:AAP
This is amateurish football circle work, gloriously amateurish. These football crop circles have been spinning for years and theres no sign of it slowing down, at least thats what Im told. Im an outsider, you see. I got close a couple of times, even had a kick with them once, but I am essentially outside this circle. For now.
We are obsessed with circles in football. In the good times we seek out these circles, in the bad times we do the same and in those moments of doubt, when were not sure how things are going to go, we hold onto each other and form circles instinctively. Maybe it's a pack animal thing. Footy players are the ultimate pack animal.
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Before every game this year and for the rest of the year the two opposing sides out in the middle of the ground will come together one last time before facing and they will rally around the drum, so to speak. These circles, in my experience, spit and fizz with doubt, excitement, brotherhood, expectation and adrenaline. Twenty-two red-blooded men with complex inner workings nod their heads along with the captain's sermon. What will happen next? What circle might await us after the battle has been won or lost?
We got a brief glimpse into the troubles at Melbourne this week when we found out that the players had lifted out the cheap plastic chairs to form the worst circle of them all. The "were in a whole lot of trouble" circle. Home truths, brutal honesty, tender confessions and promises of redemption are usually the order of the day.
As dire as it all sounds, these times in a football club can also be perversely inspiring and spark a relaunched assault on the league, but it's a big card for a playing group to play at round three. It's tantalising to ponder about who spoke up and put their reputation on the block and who sat back.
This kind of ritual is like a reduction of human chemistry. Your team at its most basic, raw place. Remove every distraction and outside noise and quite literally circle the wagons of your footy team.
Whether its confrontational or confessional, the hope is that everyone recommits to the cause. This is high-risk poker for the Demons this week. It will be an uncomfortable build-up for the players, but the reward can be season-defining and we know how devastating their football can be when it clicks for them.
Best guess is that 10 teams circled up this week. The nine winners and the Demons. From the nine winners my attention was drawn to Gold Coast. Despite beating my old mob, the Bulldogs, I couldn't help but admire the Suns. I guess it's the underdog thing. I wonder how many times they have circled up the plastic chairs over the past nine season.
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Theres a secret football society in Melbourne. On various bayside football ovals (they move around to avoid detection) an eclectic bunch get together a couple of times a week to do circle work. The ancient tradition of spreading out the players on the field and getting a ball to circumnavigate the field in a rhythmic motion of kicks marks and handballs.
This is a group activity based on freedom and abandon, but they are all slaves to one thing. The ball must keep moving. Around and around and around it goes. Etiquette prevails over hard and fast rules, but theres no tackling.
Circle up: The Demons will have a rough build-up to round four.Credit:AAP
This is amateurish football circle work, gloriously amateurish. These football crop circles have been spinning for years and theres no sign of it slowing down, at least thats what Im told. Im an outsider, you see. I got close a couple of times, even had a kick with them once, but I am essentially outside this circle. For now.
We are obsessed with circles in football. In the good times we seek out these circles, in the bad times we do the same and in those moments of doubt, when were not sure how things are going to go, we hold onto each other and form circles instinctively. Maybe it's a pack animal thing. Footy players are the ultimate pack animal.
Advertisement
Before every game this year and for the rest of the year the two opposing sides out in the middle of the ground will come together one last time before facing and they will rally around the drum, so to speak. These circles, in my experience, spit and fizz with doubt, excitement, brotherhood, expectation and adrenaline. Twenty-two red-blooded men with complex inner workings nod their heads along with the captain's sermon. What will happen next? What circle might await us after the battle has been won or lost?
We got a brief glimpse into the troubles at Melbourne this week when we found out that the players had lifted out the cheap plastic chairs to form the worst circle of them all. The "were in a whole lot of trouble" circle. Home truths, brutal honesty, tender confessions and promises of redemption are usually the order of the day.
As dire as it all sounds, these times in a football club can also be perversely inspiring and spark a relaunched assault on the league, but it's a big card for a playing group to play at round three. It's tantalising to ponder about who spoke up and put their reputation on the block and who sat back.
This kind of ritual is like a reduction of human chemistry. Your team at its most basic, raw place. Remove every distraction and outside noise and quite literally circle the wagons of your footy team.
Whether its confrontational or confessional, the hope is that everyone recommits to the cause. This is high-risk poker for the Demons this week. It will be an uncomfortable build-up for the players, but the reward can be season-defining and we know how devastating their football can be when it clicks for them.
Best guess is that 10 teams circled up this week. The nine winners and the Demons. From the nine winners my attention was drawn to Gold Coast. Despite beating my old mob, the Bulldogs, I couldn't help but admire the Suns. I guess it's the underdog thing. I wonder how many times they have circled up the plastic chairs over the past nine season.
Read More – Source
