Sentiment is worthless when it comes to St Kilda. Their frightful history of non-achievement should ensure they remain the AFL’s most sentimentalised club, but for neutral fans, bestowing that emotional investment is a waste of time.
Concussed - just like St Kilda
Few neutral fans would begrudge the Saints if they won a premiership, but fewer actually want them to win one. It is much easier for the neutral fan to feel sorry for clubs like the Western Bulldogs, Fremantle and Richmond.
History continues to hate Fremantle, but thousands of neutral fans wanted them to win the 2013 grand final.
Upon meeting a Fremantle fan, the first question is simple, why Fremantle? The answer is often just as simple, I hate the Eagles. Hate doesn’t excuse a bad choice, but most Docker fans could care less. Their pathetic club doesn’t tend to affect personalities.
Fremantle fans are often seen smiling and laughing. They couldn’t wear purple otherwise, and smiling is easier than staying angry for eighteen years. it gives the impression they remain detached from the failure, yeah I follow Fremantle, funny hey?
Richmond fans summon a raised eyebrow and instant pity, you follow Richmond, I feel sorry for you. But it is easy to reminisce with Tiger fans about those four premierships under Tom Hafey and their last instalment, the 1980 premiership.
At least Richmond fans have something to brag about, no matter 1980 was 33-years ago and they’ve hardly done anything since. They remain an intense lot who don’t want to be pitied, but they’ll accept it anyway.
And they’ll always sing their song with you…
The Western Bulldogs have always been a hopeless underdog. Sympathy bestowed to their supporters is real, you poor bugger, I didn’t think there was any of you left.
Conversation inevitably focuses on two preliminary finals, anything could’ve happened had Libba’s kick been awarded a goal, and what about the Riewoldt’s goal after he got a free for being bumped.
Bulldog fans smile and shrug. The neutral fan wants to hug them.
Meeting St Kilda fans is different. After shaking hands, the neutral fan will want to wash his hands. The subject is quickly changed, nice weather lately. The neutral fan might check their phone for messages or emails. They will Google ways of exiting a conversation with a Saints fan.
Later they’ll text a mate, met a Saints fan today and got away before he could infect my psyche. I can’t talk about Barry Breen anymore.
It isn’t success that makes people so apathetic about St Kilda. It’s the expected lack of success that frustrates neutral fans.
They have won 26 wooden spoons, including eight since 1977. No club comes close to that mediocrity.
Whenever St Kilda make the finals, it is easy to lose patience. Cynicism is expected.
There is no doubt life could’ve been different. A mistake by a goal umpire in 2009 and a bad bounce in 2010 seemed a conspiracy at the time, but those theories were wiped out in the grand final replay.
St Kilda’s most recent grand final foes, Geelong and Collingwood, have maintained their lists and their place in the finals. They have been able to rebuild without mediocrity. The Saints, for all their champs, seem about to bottom out.
That has to be poor list management.
When Scott Watters was sacked on November 1, St Kilda was said to be in crisis. It always seems in crisis.
Watters was sacked for behavioural issues. He was reportedly a control freak with a huge ego and loose lips. There are claims he had relationship issues with colleagues and the playing group.
When Saints president Peter Summers announced the sacking, he mentioned tension, and described it as a good thing in footy clubs.
Watters has been told to go and find a club that enjoys it.
It is a big moment in football when a coach is sacked. St Kilda has had a few big moments in recent history.
Stan Alves and Grant Thomas were sacked after leading St Kilda to the finals.
Malcolm Blight was sacked fifteen rounds into 2001, for behavioural issues.
Ross Lyon stayed for six years. His record shows three grand finals for no wins. His record could’ve been so different, but it wasn’t. So he quit.
Watters’ two-year stint wasn’t successful. Aside from behavioural issues, honesty seemed a problem too. Last year he said the club was in a rebuilding phase. That comment upset the wrong people at the club, who had a different view of the list.
Five wins this season suggests Watters was right. Five wins weren’t enough. Honesty only gets a coach so far. Sometimes it gets a coach sacked.
Repeated failure is a tough existence. History is never erased, which is why few neutral fans feel anything for the club. The neutral fan has a stinging mantra, who cares, at least I don’t follow them.
St Kilda, for all their early draft picks, won’t rebound in 2014. They won’t play finals. They will lose members.
Their newly appointed coach, Alan Richardson, will have to rebuild the club, but he’ll have to do it sensitively. St Kilda is a club that tolerates failure but it doesn’t tolerate criticism, particularly from the coach.
Richardson will also have to rebuild respect, because St Kilda barely commands any. It is why the neutral fan is sick of the Saints. They just don’t seem to do anything.
As one neutral fan recently said, we play them twice next year. That’s two wins. What’s to hate?
Neutral fans have given up on St Kilda. They just don’t give a damn.
