Footy Couture

Sweating, grunting and tackling is so in right now.

The link between surfing and footy runs deep on the north side of Sydney. This week the Manly Daily ran a photo of a young Steve Menzies, who is playing his last game for Manly in the grand final on Sunday, in his days at Narrabeen Sports High School. Alongside him in the photo are none other than Davo and Ozzie.

Zahn Foxton feels the connection as well as anyone. He boosted this move in Manly colours hoping it would, like the Davo-Ozzie pic, crack the parochial pages of the local paper. It did one better, making page 7 of the daily telegraph today. But was there anything in it for Zahn, other than pride and fanaticism? Course not. His Volcom deal doesn’t cover newsprint, even when it has a circulation of almost half a million.  

“We just wanted to support Manly. Volcom sponsors [Manly fullback] Brett Stewart, and he’s been giving us free tickets to every game. We thought we’d get it in the Manly Daily and froth them up for the final.

”  It’s funny, but northside doyens Ronnie and Vaughan Blakey, Clouse, Nudes, Ozzie, Goons drummer Cowboy and Monster Children daddy Campbell Milligan can often be found mixing it up with the “crazy redneck people”, as Adam calls them, on the hill at Brookvale.

So how do these surfing metrosexuals keep themselves from being picked on by the rest of the Manly faithful? Why, they wear Manly colours, of course!  

“If you turn up in the colours, you’re safe no matter how faggy you are. If you don’t turn up in the colours you’re in a bit of strife,” says Blakey.  Verbal abuse helps, too. “We’re yellers. Every football cliché you could think of, ‘rip his fucken head off,’ ‘you’re a fucken joke ref.’ A lot of people get to really release some pent up anger.” 

Footy couture is not as much about details as history. Ronnie turns out in nothing less then a vintage ’87 grand final edition jersey, hooped in maroon and white.  

If Manly win, there’s a good chance the Volcom crew will get Brett Stewart’s nod into the post-match celebrations, which, it can be safely said, will be more raucous than Kelly’s imminent knees-down for his ninth title, however historic that achievement will be.

But for Ronnie, just being at the game is enough. “That’s the thing I love about footy, you can walk outta there hugging and high fiving the dirtiest hespian or the minciest flamer.” – Jed Smith

Tyson Wolf
Posts: 2

Rugby League
Reply #2 on : Mon October 06, 2008, 00:56:53

Love your coverage of the NRL. You should do more

of it. I'm not being sarcastic either.

I'm from Perth, we don't have a team in the NRL,

we've only got one in the Jim Beam Cup, but I

still love it.

Rugby League Rocks Baby!

Nigel
Posts: 2

woo!
Reply #1 on : Sat October 04, 2008, 07:32:58

Glad you guys brought this up, i'm originally from the peninsula, i grew up 200m from dee why point and i remember being a small child surrounded by mayhem on the hill brookvale, especially when parramatta came to play there... i consider myself cultured, i'm a well educated (extension of what was once called a )catfish but i have to say something stirs inside me when it comes to the mighty sea eagles...and not the same things that would stir inside, say, Ari Gold's assistant Lloyd.. Excited for Sunday but nervous as shit.