Why Loyalty Has Become A Mug's Game

Sun Herald

Sunday August 5, 2007

Richard Hinds

THE TRAVELLER returned from the UK bearing gifts. The traditional hastily bought duty free perfume for the Loved One and a far more thoughtfully considered item for the Soccer Nut - the spanking new season replica Newcastle United shirt.

With the customary tear-jerking gratitude of the eight-year-old, the SN snatched it from my grasp and gave it the once-over to make sure it was a genuine, store-bought original and not some cheap knock-off from a market barrow before the words "thank" or "you" had formed in even the lowest reaches of his throat.

Then, gratifyingly open-mouthed with delight, he turned the shirt around and looked at the blank space on the back with a pensive expression which begged the obvious question. "So whose name and number do you want?"

A Newcastle fan long before it became fashionable in Australia - and with Mark Viduka at St James' Park this season, the Magpies will suddenly be fashionable - the SN is not one to take the easy option.

That's why he follows Newcastle not Manchester United or Arsenal or Chelsea or Liverpool or some other club that has more than the proverbial snowball's chance of lifting a trophy before he graduates from Harvard Business School (my plan, not his).

"What about Obafemi Martins?" he said, showing a pleasing eye for artistry by lending his support to the Magpies' elegant Nigerian striker.

"Nice choice, but there's still talk he might go to Arsenal," I said.

"Michael Owen?" he said, deferring to the club's marquee player.

"He's back from injury but there was a lot of talk in England he'd be using the get-out clause in his contract," I said, not needing to explain the subtleties of the transfer market to the SN.

So, after a frank exchange about the merits of Kieron Dyer and how everyone would think he had just started following Newcastle if he went with Viduka, we agreed to leave the back of the shirt blank for now. Which is probably a good thing anyway.

After all, as some of our kids learn to love football the way we loved league or Aussie rules or rugby, they are going to have to get used to the fact they are investing their emotional support in the most ruthless, cut-throat, unsentimental market place this side (actually, either side) of Major League Baseball. And it won't just be the toing-and-froing at their favourite foreign-based clubs that routinely breaks their hearts.

Just last week David Carney left Sydney FC to join Sheffield United in the English Championship while Melbourne Victory's Adrian Leijer was about to make the jump to Premier League club Fulham. That will mean more unpicking of shirts for the mums of Victory fans after the hugely popular Brazilian Fred left for American Major League Soccer club DC United after just one year.

These were the type of departures we did not contemplate when the A-League got off the ground. When we relished the prospect of foreign-based Australians returning to play here without thinking about the local heroes to whom we would become attached before they received offers they could not refuse.

But, of course, anyone who has followed football for any length of time learns not to become too sentimental about a favourite player lest, a few months later, he scores the goal that consigns your team to relegation. They know it can be more soul-destroying than we are used to here.

The NRL market turns over players rapidly. But while some of us still find it staggering a player can line up for one team having signed for another, there is at least the cold comfort of seeing him complete the season.

The AFL's draft and salary cap system has done more to stop migration than Border Patrol. In fact, it has worked so well there are calls to introduce free agency so unloved players can somehow find a new home. (This is being used, opportunistically, by agents and the Players' Association to call for free agency for veteran stars that would cause greater heartache.)

So while we whinge predictably about the lack of loyalty when a player changes clubs, compared to what the SN and his contemporaries will have to put up with, we've had it easy. We've followed champions who played their entire careers with one team. The SN's heroes will soon get a gold watch and a benefit game if they see out a season.

Which is why the spot on the back of the Newcastle shirt stays vacant for now. Although I've made a suggestion. Just put Soccer Nut on it.

© 2007 Sun Herald

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