"Hey Mate, have you seen what Kirky's been doing for a living these days?"
"Yeah dad, I follow him on Twitter. He's been traveling the world from country to country as an AFL ambassador or something. Even been to Scandinavia I think, bloody cold place to go to teach someone how to kick a drop punt!"
*Obviously Deflated* "Oh, you knew? What's a Twitter?"
"Atwitter is when people are excited about something and chat incessantly about it, you taught me that when I was about five I reckon. Seriously though don't panic mate, when the world is run solely by computers I won't leave you behind you old dinosaur".
"It's pretty amazing though, isn't it? You'd think the AFL would be covering all his expenses and that of Hayley and the kids, probably pays him a decent wage for it, and all this to go see the world showing people what Aussie Rules Footy is. Not a bad gig if you can get it!"
"He'd be king of the kids wouldn't he? I wonder where he might have picked that up from..."
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The idea that there would be such a place as a "Lavington East Public School" is a bit of a laugh, twenty years ago Lavington was barley large enough to be anything more than North of North Albury let alone its own suburb. And yet, L.E.P.S. was my public school, it was the one where my father committed 25 years of his life, and it was where another little tacker a few years my senior began to grow into the man he would become. The footballer however? No so much, and not one of us could have imagined that at the time.
Not that Pete didn't think that Brett Kirk was anything but a player capable of playing at the top level. Many were the afternoons he spent watching Kirky play for North Albury after his first de-listing from the Sydney Swans. I would come back from University on the Friday night to largely do as we do to this day, talk garbage about footy and cricket and life over a few beers, and make donations to the Keno coffers. But during this time dad was like a broken record; "I can't believe Brett can't get on an AFL list Mark. You can't tell me he's not at least as good a player as some of the blokes who run around in Melbourne. He'd be no star, but he dominates the Ovens and Murray competition. Surely he could have a solid 50-100 game career, I don't understand it!".
And dad would have to have been blinkered in that respect. He had no choice. It wasn't that he had a major hand in Brett's football, the closest he ever would have got to "coaching" was taking Kirky and his Lavi East teammates to their various intra-school matches. But he had something better going, the opportunity to teach a well grounded and intelligent kid during years 5 and 6, and the opportunity to play kick to kick with the young fella who had the uncanny knack of consistently winning the footy off his classmates.
It must have worked two ways though, for you see Kirky's immediate future after leaving High School was not having his name read out at the AFL draft, but rather attending teacher's college at Charles Sturt University in Wagga. To become a primary school teacher. I can't say if it was the sessions of kick to kick, the games of T-ball, or the everyone vs Mr. White games of basketball held on the school grounds that convinced Brett that his preferred choice would to be a teacher. What I do know is where he decided to complete all his practical placements for the University; under the watchful eye of Peter White at the school they both loved so dearly. No, dad did not have a hand in shaping Brett as a footballer. He merely made the transition from mentor to mate.
I won't ever forget the day dad came home in as close to a rage as he gets. Soon after Brett got his second opportunity from the Swans via the rookie draft, someone he knew had made the mistake of suggesting to him that Kirky was overrated, not nearly up to the demands of AFL football, and would be delisted before he played his 20th game. That was an affront to my old man and it was personal; you do not talk about his mates like that. Not being one to get himself into arguments, Pete suggested to this man that perhaps he'd like to wager a carton of beer on Brett playing 100 AFL games. Stewing at home dad suggested to me he knew he'd likely lose the bet but it was the principle of the thing. "Even if Brett only manages twenty games it will be a fantastic achievement, better than anything that prick will ever do in his life!"
And although dad was right, he was also very, very wrong. I don't think I need elaborate on Captain Kirk's career as I think we all know exactly how his football career turned out. We still shake our heads in disbelief.
Although less so at what he has become today. As we all know time waits for nobody and even to us, some of his proudest supporters, it had become apparent that Captain Blood had lost a half a yard of pace, didn't quite get to as many contests as he once did and although he was hardly a liability, it was hardly a surprise to see him announce halfway through the 2010 season that it would be his last. And in 2011, his life's journey was to come full circle; he would be a teacher at last. He would spread the gospel of the AFL to parts of the world that had likely never even known of the game. He would teach them all to kick, to handball, to tackle, to look after your mates and to enjoy every minute of it. He would be the king of the kids when the chance presented itself and although the odds of the AFL ever catching on abroad are likely slim, they are no worse than the odds of Brett Kirk captaining Sydney to a premiership or representing Australia in International Rules. Others have doubted Brett Kirk before, I would hope they refrain from making the same mistake again.
If anyone can make taking footy to the world work it is Captain Kirk, boldly taking Australian Rules Football where no man has taken it before. Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Iceland (yes, bloody Iceland!), Israel, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Canada and the United States. I'd love you to have a win there Kirky, I think the AFL could handle a Kobe Bryant or LeBron James nominating for the national draft! To get the biggest sports market in the world to take to the best game in the world? That's one almighty final frontier.
So best of luck to you Brett, Hayley, Indhi and the kids from me, Pete, and the family. We hear the AFL have chosen you to present the premiership cup this year. Remarkable, maybe they're doing a lot more right than I give them credit for after all.
Enjoy these finals everyone and best of luck to your respective sides. Hopefully they'll be lucky enough to receive the cup from a truly remarkable person. We're pleased just to have been lucky enough to have known him. See you later everyone, it's time I came down from my soapbox,
Whitey.
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