Each Time I'm Reminded of It, I Feel As Though I Need Therapy': Australian Football, Tragedies and the Question of Catharsis (Essay‪)‬

We wouldn't think anything of tragedy if we did not have a deeply ingrained sense of order already there to be affronted. Tragedy in life, as art ... exposes by violation our mostly unconscious assumptions about how the world should be; and how often we take it for granted that it is as it should be (a world, say, without our death already in it). Adam Phillips (2) 'Ask any Western Bulldogs supporter at random the worst moment of their footy life and the answer will almost certainly be: The Loss. Western Bulldogs vs Adelaide [Crows], Preliminary Final, September 20, 1997 ... The losing spin of the roulette wheel on which Bulldogs people had invested everything.' (3) So began Marty Gleeson in late 2007 for a piece titled 'Ten years of torment: 1997 ... from drought-breaker to heart-breaker' for the summer edition of Inside Football.