Hear them Roar

There are no expectations here; no typecasts, no constraints, no requirements of the people. Businessmen, students, families: suddenly are no longer. It doesn’t matter who you are because now you are a fan, a supporter, part of the team. Their only commonality is their cause. Together as one, today they are all of the same colour, the same clan.

A seemingly usual Sunday morning in Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall, shoppers go about their errands unsuspecting of the afternoon soon to unfold. As the day progresses, an air of excitement and suspense transpires. Specs of orange (and purple) appear throughout the city, and like a bad rash the outbreak suddenly spreads. Buses, cars and trains allow an influx of people, all here to see the spectacle which is the Hyundai A-League Grand Final: Brisbane Roar VS Perth Glory.

A sea of orange accumulates before flooding the streets in a march to Suncorp Stadium: the place of combat. With growing numbers, chants and sirens, this pack is a force to be reckoned with. As the march continues, underlying characteristics begin to stir beneath the surface of participants. They seem to slowly feed off of each other’s determination, driving the fanatic within. As the stadium nears, the anticipation heightens. Caxton Street proves to add fuel to the fire of contesting rivalry with the addition of further orange Brisbane supporters, Perth fans and of course alcohol. While Perth Glory provides a worthy opponent, they stand little chance against the united Roar of Brisbane.

Once inside suspense coagulates. The two oppositions take definitive sides, Perth heavily outweighed by Brisbane fans on their home grounds. With the final kick off of the season, the passion is unleashed. More than 50,000 attendants transform into soccer experts. Opinionated, loud, often foul mouthed but always enthusiastic, the energy of the stadium is inspiring and infectious.

With the majority of possession, the Roar seems capable of easily outplaying Glory, but that just wouldn’t be as exciting as a competitive match. So as usual the Roar appears to have an entirely different plan for spectators than an easy win, leading many fans on an emotional rollercoaster. The first half of the game produced a few injuries, namely to Glory’s Shane Smeltz, but no goals. This however was not a concern to Roar fans after the similar experience in last year’s grand final. The break saw the opportunity to refuel in preparation for a desperately competitive second half.

Returning to the game and to the disbelief of many, the first goal of the night was scored by the Brisbane Roar in the 53^rd minute. The problem? It’s at the wrong end; an own goal. A stadium gasps and hearts shatter as hand gestures replace the words of speechless many. So late in the game, will they recover?

Devastated by this setback to victory, doubts clearly wounded the crowd but they remain noble and determined through battle, even in the eyes of defeat. Diminishing time saw desperation as enthusiastic chants turned to insensitive individual orders and criticisms. Not the kind you would give to achieve success in the real world but clearly, this is far from the real world. The pressure from a full stadium of goal hungry eyes was suspended over the players, and they prevailed. With a mighty roar of the crowd in the 6^th last minute of the game, dampened spirits are rejuvenated with an equalising goal, bringing the stadium to its feet. Chests are beared, tears shed and hugs exchanged as people succumb to their overwhelming emotions. The pack was wild with relief and excitement.

These people would never usually act this way. A wedding, a graduation or a job promotion is surely equally exciting, but no one rips their shirts off or screams excessively for those. So why, in this case, is it accepted? Is sport and sport spectatorship some form of unique emotional outlet? It’s a different reality that’s for sure.
Zealous fans are relentless as the game progresses into four minutes of injury overtime. A fluttering sense of hope sees 50,000 hearts pounding. Continuous chants join the stadium. The unity in this alternate reality is clearly unlike any other. Such bonding and support amongst unfamiliar persons, all in the defence of one cause.
Copious exchanges in possession and thrilling attempts at goal leaves even grown men giddy with excitement. The suspense is distressing as no additional goals see the likelihood of a penalty shoot out, where success could go either way. In the dying seconds of the game Besart Berisha makes for an amazing run into the box before falling to the ground. In the speed and heat of the moment, the referee makes one of the most controversial calls in A-League history. Upstanding, the crowd watches a penalty kick directly in front of the goal. Time slows as this crucial moment will define the game. Then suddenly the crowd erupts as the Brisbane Roar becomes the first back to back consecutive grand final winners. Black suits come pouring out of seemingly nowhere onto the field as piles of hugs are created to the sound of a roaring stadium.

Though not a win in the most ideal of circumstances, it was a victory either team would have claimed and that’s certainly what the Brisbane Roar did. A numbers game, the Roar played the better team, but that’s another story.

As awards are presented we see a dramatic ending to a season which held many ups and downs for the Roar. With the continued ovation even at the games end, it is clear that the undying support of Brisbane is what saw them prevail. 

As the stadium is slowly cleared we know that while the joy will remain, we will all return to our usual selves tomorrow ... until next season...

Beloved Besart Berisha

Our media

Recently I have found myself becoming an avid supporter of public rather than commercial media. Constant advertising and bias arguments are becoming more obvious and increasingly frustrating. You know what they say, once you give commercials the hack, you never go back (well, they should say that).

So what is public media? Supposedly it’s a service to the nation. By definition it is government funded, supportive of the democratic process and non-commercial (non-bias). Its audience and focus (the public) are what drive its existence; therefore public media must succumb to the expectations of general public. These evidently include being widely accessible, informative, entertaining, independent, relevant, educational and having a universality of appeal. Public media must participate in society and engage communities in their own, and surrounding, arts and culture. Unlike commercial media, which faces such challenges as profit and pay walls, public media is concerned with funding, being politically independent, and allegations of bias and agenda. There is however a commercial side to public media. ABC shops and The World Game Shop (SBS) are outlets of public media organisations and generate a form of profit which just like commercial organisations must be returned to investors. However, in the case of public media, the investors are us, the public, so the profit generated is invested back into the media outlet and therefore continues to serve and engage the public.

Public media is our media.

In lecture 7, Dr Bruce Redman explained that the style of public media is typically characterised as serious, broadsheet (associated with ‘real’ journalism), focused on importance over interest and proofed and factual rather than quick and unconsidered.
However a social stigma concerning public media deems it incongruous within ‘popular’ society. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation is one example of un-popularised public media which, having been dubbed ‘Aunty ABC’, can be seen as boring, elitist, poorly presented, out of touch and thus of limited interest. Personally speaking I completely disagree.

Public media is my main outlet for trustworthy updates on the democratic process. Finding difficulty in gaining interest in politics, shows like Q&A (ABC) and Insight (SBS) are effective ways of drawing my attention and concerns to significant incidents in Australian politics and society. While I still enjoy programs on commercial television and sometimes radio, I am a devoted Triple J (ABC) listener and enjoy a number of entertainment programs on ABC television. In fact Wednesday nights are now my favourite ‘TV nights’ with Adam Hills in Gordon St Tonight and Agony Uncles showing consecutively. The power and rise of public media is evident through Adam Hills’ recent Logie award, overcoming, without advertising, a vast number of nominees in a commercial field.

We need public media as our defence against complete dictation by private enterprises. It provides society with a non-bias forum where people can express their opinions without fear of losing the advertising dollar. Public media is our way of keeping ‘the bastards honest’.

5 things we can learn from the Twilight Saga (even though we won't admit it)

Currently it would be social suicide openly admitting to finding any enjoyment in the Twilight Saga, and why? Well for one I presume the majority of us have outgrown (or were lucky enough to miss) that adolescent stage which for many went hand in hand with a twilight obsession. Maybe it’s our desire to distance ourselves from that awkward tween phase, so hating everything we loved seems right. It could be that in order to fit into society we have to develop an outspoken, ‘individual’ opinion, which comparatively is the same as everyone else’s (indie is the new mainstream). However, it is probably because the entire story seems to have a few holes – you know, those moments that just leave you saying ‘whuuuutt?’ 

But every story has a moral, and Twilight is no exception. Yes, I believe that we can learn something from this timely tale ... well, five things actually:

1. Just because someone sparkles on the outside, does not mean that they aren't blood sucking demons within.
Whether they have multiple personalities, are deliberately two-faced and hypocritical, or even just have an excellent skin routine, people aren't always what they seem. Don't judge a book by its cover - learn to know the person within (even if they happen to be extremely good looking).

2. Sexy = Stupid.
Let the lesson be learnt.
Bella Swan, though incapable of completing whole sentences or making independent decisions, has every guy she encounters professing their undying, eternal love for her. Edward who reads minds can't find a thought in her head, but he loves her and he's pretty hot right? So she must have something sorted.
Hey boys, want to impress a girl? Take a page out of Edward's book and... talk... like a... zombie...You'll have entire tween populations drooling over you.

3. Know when he's a keeper.
When a guy is in pain after getting a wiff of you, watches you while you sleep at night, and tells you to stay away from him or he'll kill you, what he really means is 'I love you' (but you might need to take a shower).


4. Don't toy with people's emotions (especially if they're secretly a werewolf).
So much unnecessary pain and deceit, why so selfish Bella? It has always been clear that creepy love triangles are doomed before they even begin, so you can't complain when the third wheel attaches himself to your newborn child (even if it is a little weird).

5. Love has no boundaries.
If there is one predominant theme throughout the saga, it would be that it is okay to lie, kill and even give your soul, as long as it's in the name of love.



In saying all this, and at risk of ruining my reputation, I for one will be going to see the next venture in the Twilight series because after all, I do enjoy a good, distorted romance.

And they all lived happily ever after.