Reclink Community Cup Is A Day Of Footy With An Admirable Cause

In 2016 the Reclink Community Cup came to Brisbane for the first time, having started in Melbourne some 20 years ago. It found a team of local musicians - the Rocking Horses - playing a game of mixed-gender Aussie Rules football against a team comprising Brisbane community radio and music media stalwarts - the Brisbane Lines - to raise money for disadvantaged members of society to pursue sporting and artistic endeavours.

Now it's back for 2017 and promises to be an even bigger and better occasion, with the game itself - taking place at Leyshon Park in Yeronga on 30 Jul - augmented by a stellar array of local bands and artists playing live on the day including Seja, Velociraptor, Good Boy and Adele Pickvance (of The Go-Betweens fame), with the whole bash broadcast live on 4ZZZ. It's an altruistic venture but also a hell of a lot of fun, as anybody who attended last year's inaugural festivities can attest.

"It's such a good cause," explains Brisbane Lines co-captain Stephen Stockwell. "Reclink's all about helping disadvantaged people get back among sport and into the community, and we help them do that by actually going out and playing sport and learning about community ourselves. We all come together and get some great friendships out of playing Community Cup, and in the process raise money for disadvantaged people to do the same thing."

"It's a great opportunity to watch a fun and exciting game of footy with amateurs on the field and it's raising money for an excellent cause in Reclink," Rocking Horses co-captain Amy Lane concurs. "It's going to be a great day of community spirit, drinking, eating, music and football! I think the spectators will be the winners."

And while musicians are usually nocturnal creatures who are often averse to daylight activities, apparently the two pursuits are not mutually exclusive. "They're both an art-form, but the drinking is a bit different," tells Xavier Poropat, Rocking Horse co-captain/coach (as well as member of too many Brisbane bands to mention). "There's no riders at footy, but musicians still clearly make good footy players. There used to be a bit of a stigma about musicians playing any type of sport - especially in the '90s indie scene, which was really anti-sport - but these days it seems more acceptable to play sport across the board. I guess at its core this is just about the community and getting involved, whether it's music, sport or just buying records."

But mainly the Community Cup is just an inherently fun day, especially for those who get to come along and barrack without raising a sweat. "It's fun to watch some amateurs kick the footy around and roll around on the ground," smiles Brisbane Lines co-skipper Lizzie Gibson. "There's some great bands that will be playing and some great entertainment with the live 4ZZZ broadcasters who will be commentating, so there's an element of live comedy. Last year all my friends and family who'd never been to a football match before came along and they loved it, they had a brilliant time."

"Plus it's really exciting to have it in Yeronga this year after being in Pine Rivers last year, and having a local game," Poropat enthuses. "I think that everybody in the local music and media community are really coming together and getting into the spirit of things.

"It's really great this year how it's grown organically and there's more players and more people involved, and more people know about the game from the inaugural event. It's just naturally growing and it's very exciting to be a part of in Brisbane after it's been going for so long interstate."

The Rocking Horses won the inaugural Brisbane Community Cup in somewhat controversial circumstances, but (for now) there's still more solidarity existing between the two teams than true rivalry. "Beforehand there was a lot of camaraderie," Stockwell reflects of the first game, "and then in the week leading up there was some really lame sledging. Then there's some more really lame sledging prior to the game and we really don't like each other for the two hours of the game, and then everyone's pretty good mates afterwards."

And as for who will win this time around, both teams are talking up their prospects. "We've got a hunger to win," Poropat enthuses. "We're having a bit of a premiership hangover and I know that Brisbane Lines have been doing really well in the training scratch matches, but we're saving our best for the big day."

"We want it more," Gibson counters. "Last year was a bit of a smashing, so this year we just want to get in there and have a win. It's a redemption tale."