Winds of change through Collingwood may shift long-held fan perceptions too | Collingwood

“Toothless” and “feral” are the two most common reactions I get when I disclose my support for the Collingwood Football Club. Coaches and players come and go, but perceptions – largely set by supporters – endure for generations. What defines a club’s identity are not the names who run on the field, nor the annual marketing slogans designed to entice membership sales. It is the qualities that supporters believe bind them into a single tribe.

“When you start supporting a football club, you don’t support it because of the trophies, or a player, or history, you support it because you found yourself somewhere there; found a place where you belong,” said the Dutch football great, Dennis Bergkamp.

Australian rules football exists in parallel orbits – the sport itself, dissected and analysed in a cacophonic weekly media cycle, and the fans, indulging in tribal rivalries,…