For Victorian fans of AFL football, the couch and the TV have been the only means of “getting to” games this year.

Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas

This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

“What a year!” We all hear ourselves saying it over and over. And when you sit down and think about all the rapid changes in our lives caused by the pandemic, it really has been one hell of a year.

In Australia, Victoria as undoubtedly been hit hardest by COVID-19. The changes have been huge and will impact our community for years to come. My heart aches for so many.

Without wanting to sound trivial, though, one of the most profound changes for Melburnians has been how we consume our de facto “religion” of AFL football.

In a normal world, another grand final would already have been played at an MCG heaving with 100,000 noisy fans, and for the past week-and-a-half we would already have been toasting a newly-crowned premiership team.

In 2020, though, it’s October and we still won’t know which club it will be for another three weeks. And that after a grand final played 1800 kilometres away from the MCG at the Gabba.

The AFL is to be commended on what it has achieved simply in making this season possible. To be honest, I didn’t believe it should have. And I didn’t believe it could. Somehow, it did.

But for diehard Victorian fans of the AFL competition, it’s been tough having to deal without a life staple we often take for granted. How has it felt watching their favourite team only from their couch all season? How have they handled it? What have they missed most?

I started my impromptu poll with my husband, Steven. He hasn’t missed a single game of footy the entire season.

For that alone, I take my hat off to him. I know there were games I simply couldn’t watch, as it just made the whole lockdown period feel too much like Groundhog Day! But he watched them all, with the same passion, every night and day.

What did he miss most about not actually being there? “Just being able to go to a game, with family or mates, whenever you want,” he says. “Having a pie at quarter time. A beer at half-time and listening to the banter in the crowd.”

I prefer going to the football with my husband. He’s as quiet as a mouse. But at home, I have to watch in another room because of all the carry on. And we do we miss the social connection. That’s been one of the hardest parts of the whole situation.

I thought I’d better ask a one-eyed Collingwood supporter, so I did.

“I can’t believe how much I miss those packed trains getting to a final, or waiting in the long queues to get into the ‘G’, or the desperate and painful anxiety that Collingwood supporters feel in every final. But I do,” says TV producer Jay Estorninho. “And I’ll never take any of that for granted, ever again.”

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That’s just it. If nothing else, COVID has taught us that we shouldn’t take anything for granted. And I have a strong feeling none of us ever will again.

I remember on 26 September, what would have been grand final day, comedian Lehmo posting a tweet with him and his son playing footy outside the empty MCG. He felt like we all did … a little lost.

I think broadcaster Rana Hussain said it perfectly. “It’s like that feeling you have when you drop family or friends off to the airport when they’re going on a holiday,” she reckons. “Empty.” Says podcaster Felicity Race: “It’s like dressing up for a party, but only your aunt turns up.”

I feel their pain. That one day in September in these parts was almost like a day of mourning, with a deep sense of loss. It was another milestone in this COVID pandemic that really reminded us what we had lost as a state and community.

Author Nicole Hayes adds: “It just adds to the sense that time has no shape right now. The rituals and traditions of heading to the games, seeing the crowds flock to the MCG, the streets decorated with team colours … it doesn’t feel like finals. It feels like we somehow skipped September. And now there’s just a weird kind of silence we have to try and fill.”

I hear people outside Victoria say: “You’ve had the grand final for years. It’s time to share it around.” I get that. It’s just that we’ve had, everything stripped from us, so quickly and for so long. So that moment in September didn’t happen, and it’s really made the last month of lockdown even harder.

And let’s not forget the money that has been lost from the Victorian community. It’s been estimated just last weekend alone $10-$15 million per finals game was lost. The loss of the grand final is set to cost Victoria up to $100 million dollars.

Then, just to make us feel worse, according to the data and the brilliant work Victorians are doing in beating down the second wave of the virus, there are bittersweet whispers that maybe, just maybe, Melbourne could still have hosted the grand final.

But we are where we are. Now we just have to stock up on the party pies for the big day on the unusual date of 24 October, and with any luck, head over to a mate’s house to watch the game together. Hopefully, here in Melbourne, we’ll at least get that joy!