Hello!
Thanks for stopping by - Enjoy! - Larger A/N at the end.
DISCLAIMER - Twilight is owned by Stephanie Meyer. Not me!
Being an elite AFL footballer can be one of the most brutal and punishing professions in the world. Not just in terms of your body and the strength and athleticism that comes with it but the pressure.
The pressure is intense. Go higher. Faster. Harder. Stronger. More. Win. Win. Win. At any cost. If not, your head could possibly be on the table.
Or in my case on the front page of Melbourne's highest circulating newspaper – the Herald Sun. With the headline DONE AND DUSTED splashed across the top of it.
Being drafted to the St. Kilda Football Club in 2004 with pick number two in the National Draft, the pressure was there from day dot. Four years later, at the age of twenty-two, all of the pressure seems to have burnt me out.
At 22, I, Edward Cullen am out of form, most probably seriously injured and on the verge of being dumped from a team and club that I once had a burning and infinite passion for.
From the beginning of the 2008 season, the St. Kilda Saints had won the pre season cup, we were set to have a premiership season we were proud of and hopefully win our club its first premiership since 1966.
By the time we got around to Round 7 and we were still without a win and on the bottom of the ladder, fingers were beginning to be pointed.
The coach was safe – Ross Lyon was doing everything in his absolute power to get us – the team that he has nurtured from the ground up - to live up to the incredibly high expectations set from the fans and most of all the media. But the man could only do so much once his team was out on the ground.
The players were the ones to blame. A football club was only as strong as the twenty-two men that ran out onto the field to represent it.
Facing an undefeated Geelong outfit – a team that would eventually go on to lose only two games during the 2008 season – one being the Grand Final – our boys gave all that we possibly could.
For a team facing many injuries, form issues and the fact that our captain was out of the team due to a suspension that was everything we could. But ultimately it wasn't enough.
And now we were no chance of playing finals footy. Getting to September was the one goal all 16 football clubs had and our chance was over before it had even really begun.
And I, the once bright and shinning star of one of the most exciting young teams in the League could not even get a game.
The three games that I had managed so far in 2008 were woeful. I had been suffering from Osteitis Pubis - a non infectious inflammation of the pubis symphysis causing varying degrees of lower abdominal, groinal and pelvic pain caused by excessive athletic activities - something that could possibly be kept under control with the help of pain killers and a steady stream of physiotherapy. This had ultimately affected my game and I was dropped from the team for not performing to the fullest of my ability.
Suffering a debilitating injury that forced me from training and into rest and relaxation was not something that was capable of my character. To sit back and watch week by week as my mates, my teammates got pounded, not just by their opposition, but by the fans and most of all the media caused the competitive man in me to shrivel up and want to hide away for ever.
The picture of me on the front page of the Herald Sun pretty much summed up the way I was feeling right now. Dejected, humiliated and broken.
It showed me in my team suit, standing on the sidelines, looking on as my teammates walked off the ground after a one hundred and twenty-eight point loss to the Geelong Cats. The electronic scoreboard of the MCG, clearly visible behind me. They say a picture says a thousand words - This one indeed said it all.
The blame was being pushed onto me. My form and inability to be playing even in the reserves – due to my injury – being a huge topic in the article on the inside of the newspaper.
The finger was being pointed solely at me now – Why isn't Cullen playing? He is clearly one of the Saints star players. If he was playing they would be winning. Injury cloud hovers over Cullen – Every question being asked but no answers being given.
The coaching staff of the footy club choosing not to comment on my inability to play a full football match due to my fitness – or lack thereof. Their faith in my ability was waning and I could tell. They had no hopes of me regaining my fitness to play any more games in season 2008 – They had ultimately given up on me too.
Maybe I was not cut out to play this game. Maybe my body could not handle it – just like my brother who had to retire at age 25 due to a career ending knee injury. Maybe this game was going to destroy me and set me on a downward spiral instead of sending me other road to the Holy Grail – The Premiership Cup.
All this thinking about it had me ready to throw in the towel. No one believed in me – I was drowning in my own self doubt. Something that had been nagging at me since my Osteitis Pubis flared up yet again.
Maybe I should just head to University full time – instead of the 1 class a semester I was currently completing – and finish off my degree and start my planned post-football career of Law sooner than thought – just like my brother Emmett.
I couldn't believe I was thinking like this. I was just about ready to give up. My passion and love of this game was diminishing. I was a goddamn best and fairest winner for this club. I had an All-Australian under my belt. I had even managed to become the youngest captain in the AFL at the age of twenty-one – when it was stripped from me after a year of captaincy under the rotation policy in place at the Saints.
At twenty-two years of age – four years into my career – the pressure of the wonderful game of Australian Rules Football had finally gotten to me. I had had enough.
Hope that whet your appetite!
This story could be confusing for those people who are not at all up to scratch with Australian Rules Football. I shall post a Glossary at the end of every chapter to keep people up to speed!
This story is VERY loosely based on AFL footballer Luke Ball's journey through the AFL system. Google him. You will not be disappointed aesthetically.
The chapters will be longer – This is just an introduction. I hope people will hang in there with me.
It will indeed be All Human and it will be mainly an Edward/Bella. I have decided to upload a Photobucket Account so that people can see the places and people that I am describing. The link is on my Profile.
On to the Glossary for the first Chapter –
AFL – Australian Football League
Melbourne – City in the Southern Part of Australia – Home of Australian football
Herald Sun –Melbourne Newspaper
St. Kilda football Club – nicknamed The Saints, is an AFL club based in Melbourne
National Draft - the annual draftof new unsigned players by AFL teams that participate in the main competition of that sport
Out of form – Not playing very well
Pre season – The competition held before the beginning of the Premiership season
Grand Final - Championship Game
MCG –Melbourne Cricket Ground
If there are any more confusing words, let me know and I shall add them to the glossary next chapter.
I will post the next chapter sometime next week!
Please leave me some love!
-E xo