Originally Posted by
Mofra
An Australian, patriotic idiot.
I know you're making a point FDOTM, but hear me out.
Most nations celebrate a victory as their national military rememberance day. We celebrate ANZAC day, the day our forces took the the shore up sheer cliff faces against dug in Turkish positions, beginning a long an ultimately unsuccessful campaign. No, this was not a mistaken landing like some believe, as our previosuly planned landing points were so well fortified we would never had established a proper beachhead. We were given a difficult, barely possible task. On a belly full of biscuits, coffee & rum (now the "gunfire breakfast", we attacked it.
This was a few days after AE2 managed to penetrate the Dardenelles, an incredible feat of Naval operation.. At a time when our forces were "expendable", when our Olympic heroes still had the choice of representing the old country; barely a decade and a half after WA voted against federation.
Why do we celebrate this event? Because it forged us as a people. Courage, Mateship (mateship technically being a pre-federation homosexual paring, but nevermind, you what what it means these days), sacrifice, dignity, all these things that typify what we like to believe about ourselves.
What does this have to do with the Bulldogs? Everything. Traditionally, we have been the strugglers, outcasts, the poor club who takes the leftovers from others, brave to a point yet proud just to survive. They tried to kill us off, only we didnt let them. We have suffered massive disappointment (85, 97), yet we still follow.
Come 2008, we will again attack our cliff-face, and we will do so in ever increasing numbers, with a sense of hope that the disappointment of past years has been unable to erase. Supporting a club that, slowly, is building towards becoming the force we have been willing for years it to become.
A club that, in recent times, is no longer last on the membership ladder. Is leading the AFL community in community involvement. Is building top class facilities that will be a hub for a community growing in stature & status. Is shaking off the shackles of a survival mentality, changing ascpects of the club operation & is making a concerted effort to become what we had threatened to become in the 1950s - a powerhouse of the Western Suburbs, respected & feared by all, yet involved enough in the community around us to avoid becoming aloof.
Idiocy? Perhaps. But it is a red, white & blue idiocy I wouldn't trade anything to avoid.