Albo then donned a Hawthorn football scarf and walked into the players’ changing room after the Hawks’ victory in the opening week final to celebrate, getting free media coverage while he was there.
The Premier is apparently a staunch Hawks supporter, according to his office, but that didn’t faze Richmond great Nathan Brown, who criticised Albo for trying to use the Hawks’ win for political gain.
“I feel like the Prime Minister, who went into the Hawthorn rooms for his own good. It makes me sick,” Brown thundered.
‘Anthony Albanese has had a look at the polls and he thinks Peter Dutton is close, he’s in front… there’s a gap. He thinks I have to look like an ordinary man. I’m going to go to the Hawthorn rooms.’
It wasn’t long before social media revealed Albo was wearing all manner of scarves from different AFL teams – Collingwood, Swans and Carlton – there could be more.
Speaking at a Collingwood event attended by Albo wearing a Magpies scarf, he said: “I’m a Hawthorn fan but today I’m really happy to be part of this great event here in Collingwood.”
The “Albo in every sense” narrative quickly came to light, spread by the Prime Minister’s traditional critics.
So are these criticisms fair and reasonable and is Albo really a die-hard Hawks fan as his team of image consultants claim?
Anthony Albanese walked into the Hawthorn changing room at the weekend wearing the team scarf. He’s a Hawks fan, but clearly not a die-hard fan…
I must admit I hadn’t realised the Prime Minister was supporting the Hawks. Maybe I should have. I’m not a stalker, just a political commentator. I don’t follow his every move.
Now that I’ve looked into it, it’s true that he is a long-time Hawks fan and this isn’t the first time he’s attended a game and celebrated with the team afterwards.
I’m not sure I could call him a die-hard fan, though.
Die-hard Hawks fans wouldn’t wear another team’s colors, unless they were forced to do so after losing a bet on the outcome of a game, for example.
In Melbourne, football is like a religion and team loyalty is sacrosanct. So while Albo may be a Hawks supporter, he’s clearly not a die-hard fan, that’s for sure.
I’m not a fan: here’s the Prime Minister in his Collingwood scarf in September last year…
…and here she is in her Sydney Swans outfit in April…
…but back in a Hawks scarf for a photo shoot in February
And it’s hard to disagree that politics were at least part of the equation when he walked into the theaters afterward and appeared in a few photographs cheering on his winning team.
However, the Prime Minister is not the first politician to do this with politics in mind. Scott Morrison invented his love of rugby league to fit his political narrative of being a man of the people. He also invented the nickname “ScoMo”.
At least Albo has always been Albo.
It’s worth noting that South Sydney was playing its final NRL game of the season on the same night Hawthorn played its first AFL final. The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a team Albo is known to support. A die-hard fan, at that.
But he was at the Hawks game, rather than cheering on his beloved South Sydney in their home derby against the Roosters.
Souths have had a miserable year to forget in the NRL, and are now mired in a white-glove controversy courtesy of star player Latrell Mitchell.
These are not parallels that fit with the Prime Minister’s current policy, that is for sure.
Perhaps a difficult political environment has turned the Prime Minister into a staunch supporter of the Southern Party when circumstances permit, if there is such a thing.
Perhaps that’s unfair: he’s probably lost a lot of Souths’ home games this year, even since they’ve been languishing at the bottom of the table.
At the end of the day, if Albo is privileged enough to access the Hawks’ locker room after the game, good luck to him. One of the perks of being prime minister. If he can get some free political coverage while doing it, so much the better, his minders would say.
He is not the first politician to do so and he certainly will not be the last.
And Brown is not exactly an impartial observer who mocks the Prime Minister for what he did. Brown appears on camera promoting Sportsbet’s betting products, and with Albo looking to clamp down on some of the things they do, perhaps that was a factor motivating his critical remarks.
Ironically, the prime minister has recently come under increasing criticism from the media for not going far enough in his crackdown on gambling, which underscores the competitive tensions that political leaders are routinely subjected to.
Another reason why politics really is a fool’s game.
So where does all this leave us?
In my opinion, Albo is simply another politician who seeks to achieve some glory reflected in a winning sports team, which he also supports when he is not away wearing the colors of another team because at those moments it is politically convenient for him to do so.
Meanwhile, go Hawks!