The media is in a frenzy about the cultural occasion and building it up to ever greater importance. Everything will be quiet, from the city’s normally busy centre to the suburbs and out across Australia just moments before Saturday’s opening bounce at 2.30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.
The tradition is for some a “religious” experience.
It couldn’t be any bigger with the most fanatically supported and world-known Collingwood Football Club (CFC), which boasts more than 50,000 members, ranked as No.1. The Magpies have not won a premiership flag since 1990.
The most-loved is also the most-hated club in the competition, however. Some people have been rejoicing for months, while others have been distraught as each week Collingwood became more-convincing. Appearing as a force in Round 1, not for the last-time they swept aside the highly regarded pre-season favourite and thirstiest for a premiership team, the Western Bulldogs Footscray Football Club (Western Bulldogs FFC)—and haven’t looked back.
The St Kilda Saints Football Club, with one title in 1966 to their name will be the Pies’ opponents on the Last Day in September. Like last year, they are no-less fancied to take home a flag.
The two make up Melbourne’s nine historical state of Victoria’s VFL teams of the AFL’s 16-team national competition; with relatively newcomers to the competition’s five teams from other states, Sydney Swans who are formerly South Melbourne FC and the state capital’s “satellite” city’s Geelong FC. With such cultural importance through generations of fanaticism, where footy is often considered a religion, passions are high.
Never more obvious, red, black and white is the city’s colour now. Government offices, businesses and citizen’s alike festoon the city in homage to the colours of the last two remaining teams, in readiness for the match and for the annual city-stopping parade. St Kilda’s supporters are red, black and white, while Collingwood’s a vertically striped simple black and white.
Collingwood Magpies and St Kilda Saints will step onto the hallowed turf of the world famous iconic MCG to find out which team is supreme in the Australian Football League (AFL) 2010 Grand Final.
There, 22 players from each team will stand, hand on chest, as the Australian national anthem is played before a crowd of almost 100,000 people at the “The G”.
It’s set to be thrilling!
