An Article by Les Everett about John Schumann, his love of
footy and his appropriately
Named AFL song “One True Game” (Available on his new CD)
Check the discography
Section for lyrics
by LES EVERETT
WHEN he was growing up in Adelaide John Schumann had a mixed relationship with
Australian rules football.
He was drawn to the game by his grandmother, a passionate Norwood supporter who
lived close to the home ground of the Redlegs. "She was a middle class
girl from the old school and footy took her outside the normal confines,"
Schumann said, "I also followed the game passionately and thought about
little else."
He was a tall grade seven student when something else came into his life -
basketball: "I spent half my life playing basketball and the other half
fighting to defend my right to play and trying to prove I wasn't gay because I
didn't play footy," Schumann said. "In fact I completely lost
interest in footy until the early 1990s."
During the 1980s Schumann gained fame and notoriety as the voice of the seminal
band Redgum which produced a couple of big hits - "I Was Only
Nineteen" and "I've Been to Bali Too" and a huge cult and
mainstream following.
Schumann's life almost took a huge turn in 1998 when, as an Australian
Democrats candidate, he went within a whisker of unseating Alexander Downer in
the electorate of Mayo in SA.
The seeds for Schumann's return to the football fold were sown when his wife
Denise, a cultural heritage consultant, invited Tasmania raised, Melbourne
based writer Martin Flanagan to speak at a function in Adelaide. As funding was
short, Flanagan was put up at the Schumann home. "Here was this bloke who
looked and talked like me staying at my house," Schumann said, "We
quickly developed a deep relationship over many beers at a Norwood pub."
Flanagan expressed his amazement that someone of Schumann's background and
cultural and social interests was not passionate about the Australian game.
"He really knew his stuff," Schumann recalled. Soon afterwards his
wife took him to a Crows game as a birthday present and he was soon back on the
road to being hooked: "I thought it was sensational. I was looking at the
crowd and the game in the context of Martin's observations.
While he's an Adelaide supporter Schumann admits to a "sneaking
regard" for the Dockers for a number of reasons. Initially it was because
his grandfather was a wharfie and he liked Fremantle's waterside links, then in
1999 two events strengthened the appeal of the team from the west. "I
always thought Tony Modra was the most exciting footballer to watch and I was
disappointed Adelaide didn't stick with him after he did everything he could to
get back after injury. "But it was good that he went to Fremantle because
that was a good place to go. I think Modra played with great courage and he was
an excellent role model because he never once lost it on the field."
Later in 1999 Schumann shared Subiaco Oval with Modra when he performed "I
Was Only Nineteen" as part of the Len Hall Game ceremony honouring WA's
Vietnam veterans: "I thought the way the Dockers acknowledged the Vietnam
vets was sensational and I've been involved with some very impressive functions
with the club."
His reconnection with the game complete the emergence of a song from Schumann
was inevitable: "I'd noticed there weren't too many good footy songs
around other than Up There Cazaly, which always make the hair on the back of my
neck stand up, and some of Greg Champion's stuff so I thought I'd try to
organise my thoughts on our national theatre.
"Over the past three or four years there has been an emerging
disengagement of the game from the people," Schumann said, "It was
all becoming a bit too slick and money oriented. My aim with the song One True
Game was to get the focus back to the punters."
The stirring song has been well received but Schumann believes it's too early
to judge its success: "If it works it will be because it bubbles under and
people will grab it when they are looking for a song to celebrate the
game."
Footy note: Martin Flanagan's football books include: The Call
(Allen&Unwin); 1970 & other stories of the Australian game
(Allen&Unwin) & Southern Sky, Western Oval (McPhee Gribble).