Ever since its inception back in the late-‘90s, the Community Cup has gifted a beautiful duality to the people of Melbourne on an annual basis. While a glorious celebration of both football and music – with the two mix-gendered teams made up of a motley assortment of local musicians (Rockdogs) and their equally variegated counterparts from the community radio broadcasting sector (Megahertz) – the event also raised funds for the Reclink Australia organisation, who provide sporting and artistic opportunities for disadvantaged Australians all around the country.

But despite this deep altruistic vein, once game day rolls around it’s all about the footy, both teams striving to bring home both the silverware and the bragging rights for the next 12 months. With the match this year echoing the gradual relocation of Melbourne’s core music scene across the Yarra into the northern suburbs – moving from its recent home at Elsternwick Park to Collingwood’s former fortress Victoria Park, deep in the badlands of Abbotsford – neither team is taking a backward step when it comes to mental and physical preparation for the big day.

“I think we’ll win this year, I feel good about it,” states Megahertz co-captain Beth Atkinson-Quinton. “The change of ground will help – it’s at Victoria Park this year which is Northside, where we like to call the Megahertz heartland because we’ve got RRR and PBS northside. I feel good about Vic Park.

“This will be my third year [playing Community Cup]. I started two years ago and I was terrified when I first started playing because I’ve always played sport but never football. And it was this really, really wonderful experience because everyone was supportive and encouraging. I think being aware that it’s a really male-dominated space coming into it as a nervous younger woman I was really feeling that when I first started playing, but it was a wonderful experience.

“And that first year that I played, we won, and it was the most surreal experience ever: walking onto that field surrounded by thousands and thousands of people, what a unique and strange experience to have that many people come and watch as a very amateur footballer was quite incredible.”

Her direct counterpart Kate Boston Smith – now co-captain of the Rockdogs – has a particular insight into the fierce rivalry between the two teams. For many years while working in the broadcast sector she ran out for the Megahertz, but as her life situation changed – she was playing music but no longer on the radio – she jumped ship to the Rockdogs and hasn’t looked back.

“Both teams are very similar,” she explains. “They both think that the other team takes it too seriously when both of them are taking it just as seriously as each other. Everybody just wants to have a go – there are varying levels of fitness and capabilities and ages, everything from early-20s to mid-40s. So there’s a lot of aging bodies throwing themselves onto the field, but it’s all about community.

“Last night we had the joint training and the more you play the more you get to know each other, and it is fun. There can be a bit of white line fever on the day, but you need that as well. You need it. They’re similar entities, full of people not wanting to get hurt. They’re all a little fragile, a little princess-y.”

Both co-captains are new to their respective leadership groups, but both confident in what they bring to the table.

“I think relentless enthusiasm is my jam,” Boston Smith laughs. “I get called ’The Smiling Assassin’ by my teammates because I’m quite smiley and friendly but then as soon as I get on the field I’m incredibly competitive, I get white line fever! I think that comes from years of playing netball. But I think as a leader I’m not afraid to be a bit silly, and our coach DQ always talks about the sense of community and togetherness but how the most important part is having fun.”

“I’m a bit of a loudmouth so it probably wouldn’t matter if I had the badge or not, I’d probably be about the same but would try not to step on so many toes,” Atkinson-Quinton chuckles. “I feel very privileged, I look at Marie who was co-captain last year and I just love and respect these people – it’s a bit more work, but that’s okay. You just let your enthusiasm be infectious rather than annoying.”

And neither co-captain is forgetting just how important the fund-raising aspect of the celebration is in the bigger picture.

“I think that [dichotomy between the fun and serious sides] underpins what community radio is all about,” Atkinson-Quinton enthuses. “It’s about being inclusive and accessible, and I feel like Reclink have a lot of those common values so it’s just a real privilege to be able to play a game for a charity that has such like-minded values and beliefs. It’s an amazing thing all the work they do.”

“It’s about taking a moment to realise how privileged we are,” Boston Smith concurs. “We’re incredibly privileged to be able to look after ourselves, just in that very basic sense. It’s important to highlight that privilege and that capability, and having these organisations that do look after people at risk and people trying to put their lives back on track.”

So get along to Victoria Park, have a beer and pie as you enjoy Melbourne’s twin passions of footy and music and help people less lucky than you in the process: you’d be a mug to be anywhere else.

Transcending Sport

Spiderbait mainstay Kram is a fanatical long-term member of the Rockdogs, but this year is doubling up with Spiderbait also headlining the post-match festivities. It’s not the first time, however, that he’s found himself in this invidious situation.

“About 15 years ago I played in the match – it was the first time I ever played it – and then played the gig at half-time in all my footy boots and jumper and shorts, and then went back onto the field and played the second half,” he recalls. “I even won a medal that day for the team because I kicked ass and got best on ground or something. It’s a weird thing because football’s something I’m very passionate about, and a large part of a lot of country people’s creativity comes through their sport.

“In country towns, you don’t really have large access to an artistic community like you do if you’re a city kid, and you find that there’s a lot of artists on the sporting field growing up, men and women. It’s a bit like a stage in a sense, you go out and you change a little bit when you cross the line and you’re out there. I always felt that with football, some people really altered in a sense. And it’s no surprise to me that I know a lot of rocks stars who were sports stars as kids, particularly the ones from country towns.

“So I got to do this thing where I lived my two great passions on one day, and there is a meaningful end to the story because not long after that my grandfather passed away. He was a really great influence on me and he was a champion footballer in his day up in the Northern Riverina – back in the days when they only kicked dropkicks and it was really rough as guts – and he won a lot of best and fairest awards and premierships. And I remember going into the viewing at the funeral parlour, and I put my Community Cup medal in his coffin, and that’s where it is to this day.

“So for the first time now I have the opportunity to relive that moment in a sense, so I’m going to play the game – I feel it’s my duty – and we’re also going to headline the festival happening at the end of the day. There’s a chance I’m going to be a little more worse for wear than I was back then, but I’m determined to continue and never retire.”