Six years ago I met a bloke by the name of Pete, who is either the dumbest or most courageous sports fan in Australia. Pete lived at 6 Caxton St, Brisbane – straight across the road from the famous Caxton Hotel and just up the road from Suncorp Stadium.
He was brought up in Sydney and moved north for work. But a change of address wasn’t about to change his choice of beer – or footy teams.
“I am a proud NSW supporter,” he told me in 2018, standing outside No.6 dressed in NSW shorts and thongs while double pumping a couple of Tooheys Extra Drys. “But I won’t lie to you, brother, it’s been tough. I’ve copped plenty of sh*t over the years…plenty.”
So why not move? You know, to somewhere less hostile, more hospitable? “Where am I going to go? The pub’s there, the ground’s there….this is my life,” he countered. “You either love it or loathe it. And I love giving it to the toads.”
Pete may still be there, for all I know, making ready to dish it out to the locals on Wednesday night after making the six-step trek from his front door to the Caxton’s public bar. Whenever State of Origin rolls around, I can’t help but think about him and wonder why the Blues haven’t found him to promote themselves.
To send a strong message to those fans brought up in NSW but still backing Queensland. Here was a bloke living in the heart of Maroons territory but willing to risk life and limb to support his team.
A relocation didn’t mean he was going to turn his back on his roots, even when the Blues were copping annual poundings from the best Queensland teams we’ve seen. Why is it some who have carried a NSW postcode their entire lives don’t have the same passion for the Blues as Pete?
Haumole Olakau’atu forced to apologise for supporting Queensland
How can you live your life in one state and cheer for the sworn enemy? You don’t hear Queenslanders doing it – not publicly at least – but it appears they are everywhere in the premier state. They live among us.
Haumole Olakau’atu, a Blues rookie, was astonishingly one of them despite being raised in Guilford, which is 908 kilometers away from Brisbane. Just two years ago, following a Queensland victory, he even went so far as to post on Instagram, “been a Maroons since day dot”. “I made a mistake. I was naive. Last Thursday, he stated, “I hope all the NSW fans can forgive me.” “I don’t know what I was thinking.” Neither do we. Bleed blue, born blue. Easy.
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