If you could slur in a blog, this entry would be a disgrace. I've just been out having beers after the most enjoyable day of footy I've ever had. There were no parts of it that were more memorable than any other, but every part was sensational.
It all started at 5am Friday morning when my sister arrived from London for one night to watch the footy today, she flew out about an hour ago, but while she was here, it meant our family were together for the first time in 2 and as half years. The emotion of today has been snowballing ever since, after speaking to the U/18s this morning, I ran out to the longest guard of honour I've seen in my life. There were Penno players, Penno supporters, all wearing specially made "Fat 44, 100 games" shirts, and opposition players from the game before ours, even the opposition we were about to play, Manly, were there.
The regular captain of our team, Boxy, told me he was stepping down so I could lead the team today, so after running out for what was to be the most enjoyable 2 hours of my life, I felt like I was contributing for the 2nd time since I had my stroke (the first being in game 99). After having an air swing trying to get a kick on my left, I ended up kicking a goal on my right. I was about 80 metres out, picked up the footy while fending off 6 blokes, just as a freak hurricane hit Ern Holmes Oval, so I ran to 70 and kicked a barrel that sailed through at post height.
I thought kicking 1 goal in my hundredth was a good result, but just as an earthquake came through at the same time the wind picked up to 70 knots an hour towards Manly's goal, I took a hanger over 12 Manly players, and despite feeling like I'd broken my leg when I landed, I burned the other 6 players with my electric pace, and from about 55 out on my wrong side, I slotted the sealer that won us the game.
If I could have sat down before I played my comeback game 4 weeks ago, I never would have dared to imagine it would have turned out so perfectly. If I put all the emotion of getting diabetes at 14 then playing AFL for the Sydney Swans, and a few years later getting bashed and having a stroke, then writing a book,. climbing Kilimanjaro, and filming 2 documentaries, I'd be really proud of my life. But after today, one of the proudest things I can say about my life is thast I'm a footballer who retired on his own terms.
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For information about Barnaby's motivational speaking, go to: http://www.barnabyhowarth.com.au/
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