by Felice Arena
As long as he could remember, he hadn’t been able to support just one team. He was more a fan of the actual game than of any specific club. The teams he did support were sides that he felt he had some personal connection with. They were Essendon, West Coast Eagles, Brisbane Lions, Collingwood and Sydney.
‘Look, I think we better get to assembly,’ said Specky seriously, trying to appear less embarrassed than he actually was.
‘Yeah, you better. I’ve already been in there. I’ve been sent on an errand by our Year coordinator. Gotta get a fax from the staff room for her,’ the girl added.
‘What year are you in?’ asked Specky, who was oddly drawn to this crazy girl with the incredible eyes.
‘I thought the great Specky Magee was in a hurry?’
‘Yeah, you’re right. I better …’ Specky stopped mid-sentence.
‘Hang on, how do you know who I am?’
‘You mean, who doesn’t know who you are? You won the Great Footy Contest – everyone knows you.’
Specky could feel himself blushing again. He didn’t know how to respond.
‘But I wouldn’t let it go to your head. It looks big enough as it is,’ she teased. ‘And, by the way, I’m in Year 9.’
For a moment or so, Specky and the girl stared at each other without saying a word.
‘So, what’s your name?’ asked Specky, temporarily forgetting all about assembly.
‘That’s for me to know, and you to find out. Anyway, we better get moving. See you around, Specky Magee!’
‘Yeah, see ya … Tiger Girl!’ Specky yelled after her, proud of the nickname he had made up on the spot.
As Tiger Girl walked out of sight, Specky hurriedly turned and headed off to assembly.
Specky gently opened the back door of the auditorium. He planned to sneak in and take a seat, hoping no one would notice him coming in late, especially not Mr Stout. But just as he took his first step inside, Mr Radcliff, Booyong High’s principal, suddenly made an announcement.
‘A week ago, as a lot of you would already know, two students from this school were picked as winners of a nationwide football contest – an extraordinary achievement for Booyong High, considering there were thousands of entrants from all over the country. And it’s only apt, with today being Football Day for most of you, that we congratulate them. Can Simon Magee and Derek Johnson please come up to the stage while the rest of you give them a huge round of applause?’
As the auditorium erupted into loud clapping, whoops and whistles, Specky quickly sat down on an empty chair near him, then stood up again as if he had been sitting there all along. He felt overwhelmed by the attention as all heads turned toward him.
Passing by all the Year levels, Specky was too nervous to look anyone directly in the eye, but he glanced up momentarily to see where Derek Johnson was. Known as ‘Screamer’ because he could take a ‘screamer’ of a mark, Derek was Specky’s rival, on the field and off. Since his arrival at Booyong High only a couple of months ago, Screamer had caused nothing but trouble for Specky.
Where is he? Specky wondered.
Thinking about it, Specky realised he hadn’t seen Screamer around school for the entire week.
‘Good on ya, Speck!’
Specky looked over at his best mates, Robbo and Danny. Josh Roberts, or ‘Robbo’ as everyone called him, was a diehard Sydney Swans fan and the ruckman for the Booyong High Lions, the school team. He nodded as Specky strolled past his row.
‘Nice one, Speck,’ called Danny proudly.
Danny Castelino was a one-eyed Collingwood fan and a terrific little rover for the Lions. Specky acknowledged him with a nod of his head as he took a few wobbly steps up onto the stage.
He shook Mr Radcliff’s hand and stood uncomfortably beside him. Mr Radcliff once again addressed the school.
‘Well done, young man,’ he said loudly into a microphone attached to the top of the podium. ‘Another big clap for Simon!’ Once again, the entire auditorium applauded.
Looking out across the packed hall, Specky started to enjoy himself – as rows of kids in AFL colours smiled and clapped enthusiastically just for him.
Wow! This isn’t so bad, Specky thought, grinning from ear to ear. Actually, this is really cool.
Specky closed his eyes for a moment and imagined he had just been announced as the winner of the Brownlow Medal. He remembered watching the 2003 Brownlow count on TV. He’d been really rapt because two of the winners, Nathan Buckley and Adam Goodes, played for two of the five sides that he barracked for. He also remembered his mum and dad commenting on how humble both players were in victory, along with Adelaide Crow Mark Ricciuto, and how well they spoke when it came time to make their speeches. Specky always found it difficult to get up and speak in front of a large group of people, and he admired the way these three champions handled the huge number of media requests that came their way after their Brownlow success. All of them were modest, went out of their way to share their success with their team-mates, and always thanked their families and friends for their support. Specky thought they all showed a lot of class.
‘No sign of Derek, I take it?’ asked Mr Radcliff, looking out across the sea of students.
After a moment’s silence, Mr Stout, who was seated on stage with a few other teachers, suddenly jumped up and approached Mr Radcliff. He urgently whispered something in his ear.
‘Oh, my mistake,’ said Mr Radcliff, back into the microphone. The expression on his face changed from warm and friendly to cold and serious. It was one of those intimidating looks only a principal can give. ‘I have just been reminded of why Derek Johnson and a couple of other students are not here. I will use this as an example …’
Um, what about me? My big moment in front of the school? Specky thought, as he shuffled on the spot, now feeling awkward to be standing up on stage in front of everyone.
‘I would like to stress, once again, to all of you that smoking will not be tolerated in this school. If you are caught smoking, you will be suspended. There are no second chances. Derek Johnson, Rodney Gale and Dmetri Collins knew this when they brought cigarettes to school. They were caught smoking early last Friday morning behind Portable Two. That is why they are not with us today.’
For the next ten minutes or so, Mr Radcliff lectured everyone about the dangers of smoking – from lung cancer and emphysema to bad breath and yellow teeth. As for Specky, Mr Stout gestured for him to go quietly back to his seat. His surprise moment of glory was cut short.
‘Good one, Screamer,’ Specky huffed under his breath. ‘Even when you’re not here, you know how to spoil a good time, don’t ya?’
3. pain
A few hours later, Specky was eating lunch with Robbo, Danny and a couple of his other friends – Paul Solomon, Sanjay Sharma and Gus Turner. Paul was known to the group as ‘Smashing Sols’ because of his hard-hitting tackles; Sanjay, who had only moved to Australia from India a few years ago, was nicknamed the ‘Bombay Bullet’ because of his explosive sprinting ability, and everyone called Gus ‘Einstein’ because of the way he could calculate how far a football would travel once it was kicked. They all teased Specky for forgetting to wear his AFL gear, but not for long, because something else caught their attention.
‘Hey, look who’s back!’ mumbled Danny, his mouth half full of his dad’s homemade salami on foccacia bread.
Specky and his friends turned to see a freckle-faced kid walking toward them. It was Ben Higgins. Ben had left Booyong High a year ago when his family had moved to Canada for his dad’s work.
‘Gobba, you’re back! I thought you had left Australia for good,’ said Specky, as Ben drew closer.
Specky called Ben ‘Gobba’ because of his way with words. Ben had always dreamt of being a sports commentator. And he had the perfect ‘gob’ for it – hence the nickname.
‘Yeah, well, Dad was offered an even better job back here,’ he said, obviously happy that Specky and the others still remembered him.
‘So, what�
��s Canada like?’ asked Danny.
‘Cold! Freezing cold!’
Then, true to his name, Gobba talked non-stop about his time in Canada: the major differences between the two countries, the friends he had made, the school he had gone to and how he had really missed Aussie Rules footy, even though he had become a big fan of ice hockey.
‘I’m glad I can wear my Bulldogs jumper without having to explain who they are,’ he said proudly.
Specky got a kick out of hearing all about Gobba’s year away, and laughed when he told them that during the winter even dogs wear woollen snowshoes. Eventually, Gobba stopped talking about Canada and asked the boys some questions.
‘So, Speck, I bet you’re still taking plenty of speckies. Congratulations on winning that footy contest. What d’ya win?’ he said.
‘Um, well I won a –’ Specky started to answer.
‘He won a trip as a footy ambassador to Ireland or America. He still doesn’t know where he’ll be going. He’ll get an official letter any day now,’ interjected Danny.
Specky glared at Danny. Thanks, but I can speak for myself, he thought.
‘Cool,’ said Gobba. ‘So, anything else I’ve missed out on?’
‘Well,’ began Specky again, ‘our footy team has –’
‘Won six, lost two, and drawn once – and we have a new coach, a woman, Coach Pate,’ said Danny, taking over the conversation once again. ‘And, as well as our Saturday games, a couple of weeks ago our team started playing in the Diadora Cup!’
‘Yeah?’ said Gobba, not really sure what the Diadora Cup was.
‘It’s a statewide competition for city and country schools,’ Danny explained. ‘It’s a round-robin elimination comp. Once you lose, you’re out. But we’ve won both our games and we’re still in it.’
‘Great! What else?’
Specky rolled his eyes and wished Gobba hadn’t asked – Danny sucked in a huge gulp of air, ready to give everyone another ear-bashing.
‘Well, we have a new captain this year – Screamer. He’s one of the guys Mr Radcliff mentioned at assembly. The one who’s suspended. Anyway, we reckon he’s a jerk because he fooled us into voting for him as captain, plus he stole Specky’s girlfriend –’
‘Shuddup, Danny! She’s NOT my girlfriend!’ interrupted Specky.
‘Well, they were on-line chat buddies,’ Danny continued. There was no stopping him. He was on a roll.
‘But they’re not anymore, because she teamed up with Screamer to –’
Specky quickly shoved his hand over Danny’s mouth.
‘Shut up, will ya? This isn’t “This Is Your Life”,’ he said. ‘We should’ve called you “Gobba” instead of Ben.’
Specky’s friends laughed, as did Danny.
‘All right, enough of the gasbagging, let’s have a kick!’ Specky announced, hoping to change the subject. For a moment, though, he couldn’t help thinking about what Danny had said. Not long ago, he wouldn’t have been so annoyed about Christina being called his girlfriend. It was something he had thought about before, but he couldn’t imagine it now – not after what had happened at the Great Footy Contest.
The boys scoffed down the remainder of their lunches, and ran onto the school oval for a kick-to-kick. Specky, Robbo and Danny were at one end; Einstein, Gobba, the Bullet and Smashing Sols at the other. For the rest of the hour the boys played non-stop, competitively and fiercely, as they did most lunchtimes. They didn’t care how sweaty they got or how many grass stains ended up on their uniforms or, today, on their AFL gear. They just loved it. For most of them, especially Specky, there was nothing like the pure fun of lunchtime footy.
But Specky knew that this was also important training. In fact, he had heard football commentators – most of them former AFL coaches or players – saying that good old-fashioned ‘kick-to-kick’ was one of the most important drills a footballer could participate in. Kick-to-kick is played in hundreds of schoolyards around the country, and is the traditional warm-up activity for most suburban and country football clubs in Australia. Specky was having fun, but he was also learning the importance of using his body in a marking contest, trying to time his run well before leaping at the football, and practising how to use surrounding players to help catapult him into the air to take a big specky. He was also learning the strengths and weaknesses of the players that he would take the field with on the weekend. When Gobba was about to kick the ball, the pack up the other end all moved forward, because they knew he wasn’t the longest kick of the footy going around. But when Robbo had the footy in his hands, they all started to run back, because he could boot the ball like Anthony Rocca.
‘What a mark!’ yelled Robbo at Specky, who had just taken one of his famous speckies over the top of Danny.
Specky winced. The pain below his knee had suddenly returned.
‘What’s wrong?’ Robbo asked, noticing Specky’s expression.
‘Nothing,’ answered Specky, shrugging it off. ‘It’s just a bruise or something.’
As Specky took his kick, he gritted his teeth and did his best to ignore the mysterious ache shooting down his shin.
After school, though, when he found himself sitting with his mother in the local doctor’s waiting room, he knew he couldn’t ignore it any longer.
‘So, make sure to tell Dr Bisdale everything. The time of the day you feel the pain, how intense it is and how –’
‘Okay, Mum, okay! I will,’ snapped Specky, feeling slightly edgy about being there.
The last time he had been to the doctor’s had been several years ago, and all he could remember from that visit was that Dr Bisdale was needle-happy. He seemed to love giving needles – but not gently. He would stick them into you as if he was spearing fish. Specky called him ‘Dr Jab’ – and, as beads of sweat started to appear on his forehead, he desperately hoped that today he wouldn’t end up feeling like some poor flathead.
For the next twenty minutes, Specky nervously flicked through the magazines, but most of them were over two years old and not very interesting. Finally, Dr Bisdale’s door was flung open. Out came a well-dressed woman looking considerably upset. Her eyes were puffy and red.
I bet she got one of Dr Jab’s needles, thought Specky.
But Specky instantly recognised the girl walking a few steps behind her. It was Tiger Girl.
‘Hey!’ Specky whispered loudly.
But it looked as if Tiger Girl hadn’t heard or seen Specky. Her head was hung low and she walked closely behind the woman, who Specky guessed was her mother.
‘Hey, Tiger Girl!’ Specky called out to her again, this time tapping her on the shoulder as she passed. She stopped, and her mother marched on ahead.
‘Twice in one day! How lucky are you?’ Specky teased, with a big grin plastered across his face.
‘Yeah, lucky,’ she mumbled back.
Specky was surprised at how withdrawn she seemed. She was a completely different person from the crazy girl he had met earlier that day.
‘So, what are you doing here? I didn’t bowl you over that hard, did I?’ Specky joked, trying to lighten her mood. Maybe I did! he thought suddenly, starting to feel concerned. She definitely looked paler than she had before.
Tiger Girl shrugged her shoulders, and, without saying a word, turned and followed the woman out of the clinic.
As Specky was pulled by his mum into Dr Bisdale’s office, he wondered what had just happened. Why had Tiger Girl been so distant toward him? Perhaps she wasn’t feeling well, he thought.
‘So, Simon,’ began Dr Bisdale, in a deep, gravelly voice. ‘I see you’re a football champion these days. I caught your name being announced on TV. Congratulations!’
‘Thanks,’ said Specky, eyeing him to see if he would head straight to a drawer and pull out a needle.
‘So, what seems to be the problem?’ he asked.
Before Specky had a chance to answer, his mother jumped in and described the mysterious pains he had been having over the past week. Dr Bis
dale then asked Specky to sit up on the examining table as he took a closer look at his shins and kneecaps. After a thorough examination – which included a lot of prodding, stretching, and blood pressure and temperature tests, but, thankfully, no needles – Dr Bisdale looked serious.
‘Well, I have a fair idea what this could be. But, to make sure, I would like you to have some X-rays.’
Staring at each other blankly, Specky and his mother weren’t sure how to react.
Could this be a real problem? It isn’t that serious … is it? Specky thought.
Specky’s mum arranged to have X-rays taken of his legs. Specky didn’t mind, as he was allowed to have an entire day off from school and it wasn’t a painful procedure. But twenty-four hours later, he was once again seated in front of Dr Jab – and this time both his parents were with him.
‘Well, Simon. Where do I begin?’ Dr Bisdale paused for a moment as he sat on the edge of his desk. ‘The X-ray results were clear, which confirmed my initial diagnosis. It would explain why you’re experiencing these pains, out of the blue.’
Specky didn’t like the way this was sounding.
He had been hoping the doctor would say it was all his imagination or just a very bad bruise. Dr Bisdale continued. ‘You have a condition that is common in a lot of boys your age. Especially boys who are active like you …’
‘What is it, Doctor? What’s wrong with Simon’s knees?’ asked Specky’s mother, inching forward on her chair.
‘Your son, Mrs Magee, probably has something called Osgood-Schlatter disease. It occurs mostly in boys who are having a growth spurt in their pre-teen years. It’s one of the most common causes of knee pain in young athletes.’
‘So, what does this mean, Doctor Bisdale?’ asked Mr Magee.
‘Yeah, what does this mean?’ Specky heard himself say.
‘Well, the good news is that the disease will go away with a little rest and time. But if Simon tries to play through the pain, the disease may get worse and be more difficult to treat. I’d suggest he lay off playing all sport for a while and, yes, that unfortunately means football.’