The Season

Read for a future book club meet. This was a nice read without reaching great heights. Pity really as the subject is one, I can relate to. I am a watcher of Australian Rules Football and as this is a very recent release, many of the players of the AFL team that the author Helen Garner follows, The Western Bulldogs, are familiar to me.

Helen claimed to know not much about Aussie Rules, and began to take a greater interest when her 16-year-old Grandson was playing Colts. This was written as a dairy like homage to the season and the young boys that played in the team.

Certain passages are worth considering in a modern context, as the fact that Helen is 80 years old and by her own admission is of a past era.

At one point she writes of being “reproached” by her grandchildren for having a picture on her phone of 3 under 10s as she “…admired..” their bravery. She was “…furious…” at the reproach. The parents told her she would not like her picture on a stranger's phone, and she pretended to agree with them. I am not sure that 80-year-old Helen got the point as she tried to compare having the captain of the Western Bulldogs on the phone as well.

Helen mentions briefly concussion. This reminded me of working with a then State of Origin Rugby League player, early 1980s, who when I asked how his weekend was told me he had no idea as he got concussed in the game on Saturday and had no recall of the weekend at all. Concussion in body contact is now a serious issue for those controlling sport. Helen does not particular cover this in any meaningful way other than to iterate others, as the book is basically about her relationship with her grandson. I personally required more depth on the subject. Her Grandson may be a future AFL player after all. She is at one time offered information about institutional sexual abuse of young boys at football clubs but rejects the offer as the book is about her Grandson. She defends not discussing this as the book is about her relationship with her Grandson and “a record of a season we are spending together before he turns into a man and I die”

There are a couple of grammatical issues that caught my attention. The use of the word “versing”. It was always “verses” in any football circle I have engaged in. I am informed that a younger generation is using “versing” so I presume that Helen used it throughout as that is what she was hearing from her Grandson and his peer groups. Language changes over time, I except that, but I did not enjoy reading it. Helen also wrote that her team was “demolished by 2 points” at one point. Is this a typo? This is the 2nd lowest losing score possible.

Not for those looking for deep and meaningful discussions on the sport itself, more for those that want a pleasant read about (mostly) a Grandmother and her relationship and observations of her Grandson playing sport.