In spring, you’ll find footy’s the only fancy

turns to thoughts of love.”

Now I don’t know much about Lord Alf and who he hung around with in his younger days, but I reckon Aussie blokes (and females these days) don’t wait until spring to feel  a certain stirring in relation to a bit of romance.

In fact the early part of spring is quite the opposite in Australia and for a very good reason. It’s footy finals time, no matter what sort of sport you follow and most of us are prepared to put a bit of romance on the backburner – except for falling in love with our team if they win the premiership.

Or falling out of love with them, especially if you’re a Richmond supporter and they go out in the first round of the finals series.

Most of the district Aussie Rules leagues are well into the finals as is the Ovens and Murray, the AFL and NRL started their finals on Friday, Group 9 rugby league is almost finished, the local soccer mob finish up this weekend and the Southern Inland rugby union season comes to a close today, with the grand finals in Wagga.

Perhaps those who proudly, but ignorantly, sprout they “Don’t get the whole sport thing” might be thinking of love (probably while looking adoringly in a mirror). What is there not to get?

Whether it’s male or female sport, it’s about skill, courage, commitment to the cause at hand and being in the trenches with your brothers or sisters.

Pretty noble concepts I would have thought and a good reason why parents encourage their kids to adopt senior sportspeople as role models and as their heroes.

Straight away the “arty-farty” types will point to the behaviour of some sportspeople as doing more damage to the mindset of kids than good. But there are also plenty in the world of the arts who have failed to cover themselves in glory.

And while sport might be described as gladiatorial, the fallen gladiators of today don’t suffer the same fate that they might have back when the Romans ruled the roost.

It’s the same with tribalism, with the modern day version meaning we don’t go out and actually kill someone from the other tribes, we just mock them.

So giving it to Collingwood or Manly supporters allows us to get it off our chests without actually hurting anyone – except the said supporters’ pride.

In some ways it is a pity that suburban grounds have disappeared from the AFL and it is heading that way in the NRL. But at least rugby union in Sydney is played on suburban grounds, which is not surprising as it is seen as the code of the people.

And multiculturalism?

Well today the Steamers will take the field against the Wagga Waratahs in the SIRU premiership decider with three Poms, a Welshman, two South Africans, a Frenchman and the mandatory Kiwi.

And the blue collar bangers from the south get the chance to put it up the toffy types from the village of Wagga, who have looked down their noses at the working class Steamers since they joined the competition.

There’ll be nothing in it, with the ‘Tahs playing on their home ground and having gone perilously close to defeating the boys who proudly wear the blue and gold on the last occasion they met.

If the Steamers win, it will be a victory for virtue, honour and all that is good in this world. But if they lose they will still have a good time, proving once again that everyone is a winner when it comes to sport.