Sometimes in the fanaticism of football our world view narrows and that can often propagate and enhance unnecessary and pointless negatives. We tend to focus on where we desperately desire to be and forget about the simple and authentic enjoyment of where we actually are. There’s a flippancy to our dismissiveness, robbing ourselves of the benefit of appreciation for what simply is. It’s not difficult to understand why, because this lightning speed information age we’re in barely gives us time to stop, ponder and take in individual moments. This new social media age of journalism, the “thirst for being first” overrides meaningfulness and it has contagion properties often sweeping us up and dragging us along.
Think about where we are right at this point in time. You could suggest there has never been more prolific and widespread worldly social unrest. We’re supposedly in the midst of a pandemic, of which second wave fears are now being stoked, it’s impossible not to notice and potentially be affected by the worldwide race protests and riots, economically speaking we’re evidently heading for a great depression and apparently climate change is ready to wipe us out if anything else doesn’t get it done before hand.
Now I don’t know what to believe in regards to the above and I am not here to lecture anyone on any of it. We’ll leave that to the self-professed moral superiors, the Gerard Whateley(s) and Mark Robinson(s) of the world. But the fact is, whatever the case, its all out there, each and every catastrophe rattling our worlds.
My point is with all this happening around us, we actually have football being played. We have a season of footy up and going when the world is collapsing around us and, while it no doubt has a tremendous benefit to the mindset of many, it alone still feels somewhat hypnagogic.
This should in fact hammer into us all that moments matter more than we probably care to acknowledge. We seemingly skim the top of them, get the gist, make our minds up, give our opinions before quickly moving on with the fast paced news herd. Sadly it’s simply the football landscape today, replicating that of society.
Like all football fans we here at the Restump aren’t immune to the ‘moment skimming virus’ but we do get the chance to lean on the brakes on occasions and pay certain moments the respect they deserve.
One such moment that we’re taking the time to bask in and offer up enormous gratitude for is unfolding this very week. The great man, the potential purple star, Jesse Hogan, is about to walk back onto the football arena and unless you’ve got a serious vindictive disorder or understandably you’re a Port Adelaide fan, you’re thrilled to see him out there and you’re wishing him all the best.
Like Harley Bennell last week, there are these triumphant moments where most allegiances are temporarily put aside and you’re simply happy for whoever it is. You immerse yourself in the actual point in time even just by witnessing it happen. Its these uniting feel good moments we can indulge in that brings to the surface the collective humanity we know exists but don’t always use.
Our man Jesse Hogan has done it tough as we know. We know his well-documented issues, some tragic others undisciplined. But while he has battled severe adversity, I would guess he would be the first to admit he hasn’t always made things easy for himself and, at times, he possibly could have handled certain situations better.
However, if we reference the influencing theme of this article in relation to the views the football world has of Jesse, it really just makes us stop and realise he is simply a human first and a footballer second.
I’ll admit I have often been the person that says “just get on with it” or the classic “pull your head in” when a footballer, or anyone for that matter, messes up. And to some extent, rightly or wrongly, I still do, but it comes from the excruciating pain I experience seeing extremely rare opportunities, such as possessing supreme talent and being on an AFL list, potentially go to waste.
But rarely, if ever, is it cut and dry and different circumstances in life carry varied amounts of meaningful weight with everyone. In other words, like the AFL fixtures each year we’re not all on a level playing field.
Jesse has dealt with problems many of us haven’t had to endure, and that means something. Likewise, so many people have and are dealing with issues Jessie wouldn’t have contemplated. We can on occasions oversimplify significance and ownership of grief. We unfairly express a love of selective individualism of our players at times because when it suits our agendas we genuinely do expect our players to perform and act in a robotic manner.
I am though a staunch believer in the, let’s say, coping skill philosophy which is 'no matter how bad you think you have it, there are always millions of people somewhere that would swap problems with you in an instant.' Quite simply everyone’s problems are relative and consequently it’s unrealistic and, to an extent, unfair to expect people to rationalise their own issues in relation to others, regardless of their profession.
So really in this hyper-tumultuous time we get the unique opportunity here to experience and thoroughly enjoy rare moments. Firstly, we’re actually watching football in the most bizarre times and secondly, we have the man himself who could have been one of the all-time greats, about to pull on the purple jumper and take to the field for just the 13th time.
This coming Sunday it will be one day short of a year to the day since Jessie Hogan graced us with his on-field presence. Obviously we would love him to positively influence the result of the game, but again, in this ever confusing time of enormous uncertainty, we need to break it down into moments and respect each one of them. It’s time to apply some genuine perspective, some real awareness and simply enjoy the host of moments that create the occasion.
While obviously we all harbour desires for the ultimate goal, being a premiership, the great professional tennis player Arthur Ashe said it best “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” He’s talking about the moments such as we find ourselves in right now because that is what is important and, bigger picture-wise, it’s all anyone ever really has.
So many people had written Jessie Hogan off and many of our own fans have vented frustration at the club for picking him up in the first place. One certain individual in the media who we won’t name, but to give you a hint his initials are Kim “Haggers” Hagdorn, actually said Jesse Hogan would never play for Freo again and we were looking to offload him.
Whatever happens in the future happens. The fact is, he’s back. Hoges is back and right now we’re bouncing off the walls with excitement and we’re going to appreciate and enjoy the micro-moments within the moment. When we lose the importance of sentiment and the nostalgia, we lose a piece of what makes football and life wonderful.
Welcome back Hoges, we're in your corner.
The Hogan Hub
We all know how good Jessie Hogan can be and how much talent he possesses. But when you put it down on paper it absolutely bedazzles and it makes you understandably frustrated, yet thrilled for what still may eventuate in the forward line at Fremantle over the next six or so years.
