Football Leagues
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ACT Brumbies "I warrant he'll be with us
when he's wanted at the end" It
is a little known fact that the Brisbane Broncos could have been the Brumbies.
Although the horse is not a native Australian animal, such a name would have paid
tribute to the high position it holds in Australian folklore. As
well as being central to myth, the word brumbies is Australian in origin. Some
say it comes from the Aboriginal word baroomby, which means 'wild.' Others
say it was Australian corruption of the Irish word brumaigh, a word for
'young horse.' Despite
the resonance Brumbies have with Australia, the Brisbane board decided that an
American name would be more suitable for their rugby league team. What's good
for Denver, Colorado, would obviously be good for Brisbane, Australia. And
so the name went into hibernation for the next eight years. Then in 1996 the Super
12 was launched with the Australian Capital Territory established as the "third"
Australian side. As
its players were the discards of NSW and Queensland, it was only fitting that
they took the discarded Brumbies name as well. When
the first Brumby team took the field they kept in mind that they were underdogs.
They had something to prove and did so with a cavalier brand of football that
was wild, open and expansive. Whereas the commentators had written them off, they
showed faith in themselves and in their team mates. And when the powerful NSW
and Queensland teams had bid the finals good day, it was the Brumbies, a team
of discards, that was with the front runners at the end. Off
the field, the name struck a chord with the local region. The Territory is the
heart of Australia's high country. In the surrounding bushland, brumbies still
roam. It is the land that compelled Banjo Patterson to write about a tough
and wiry beast that just wouldn't say die. The sweeping plains are littered
with wombat holes and horse's hoofs still strike firelight from the flint stones.
In
only their second year, the Brumbies played in their first final. By their third
year, they had knocked off the Canberra Raiders to assume the mantle of
the Territory's premier sporting team. In 2001, they won their first grand final.
In 2004, they won their second. Although
the Brumbies may have an image anchored in the 19th century, they have become
the pin-up model about how a modern sporting club should be run. Psychologists
have long noted a strong correlation between team identity and player performance.
But with sporting teams being a revolving door of coaching ideas, most players
don't know what their team stands for anymore. If an identity forms, another coach
comes along with lofty ideas of revolutionising the team's culture and messes
everything up. Although cultural change may sometimes be desirable, to be successful,
it needs to be from the bottom up, not the top down.
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Invention of Australian sports Cricket
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