A man who went to the 'footie' match on Saturday afternoon and played eighteen holes of golf was really doing his duty by the nation.

A man who went to the 'footie' match on Saturday afternoon and played eighteen holes of golf was really doing his duty by the nation.

Fair-goes are not only for oneself, but for underdogs. Even in international sporting matches Australians have been known to switch from their own side to that of a gallant challenger. Australians love a 'battler', an underdog who is fighting the top dog, although their veneration for him is likely to pass if he comes out from under.

Only in sport? The qualification would seem meaningless to many Australians. What also is there that matters as much as sport? It is only in sport that many Australians express those approaches to life that are un-Australian if expressed in any other connection.

Australia is a lucky country run by second-rate people who share its luck.

With sport went beer drinking and gambling - until recently restricted by the wowsers, but part of that code of mateship of men, that necessity constantly to demonstrate masculine sameness, which provided one of the most flattening sources of uniformity.