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Despite the fact that no one else in his family supports Melbourne Victory, and the fact that he is almost two decades older than the club, 33-year-old A-League hooligan, Ziggy Presbotka (33) says he is unashamedly ‘Victory till I Die’.
He says the couple hours he takes off from life as a run-of-the-mill middle-management suburban office suit each weekend is a big part of his identity.
“Every weekend, getting together with the ‘firm’ and singing Stand By Me”
“It’s just like the real thing. We could easily be confused for a two-century-old EPL side”
Like many other white middle-class Australian males under the age of 40 – Ziggy’s young adulthood was greatly affected by the 2005 British-American independent drama film, Green Street Hooligans, which is based around about football hooliganism in the United Kingdom.
He says the film’s portrayal of unnecessary violence between frustrated young men on the basis of soccer rivalries was a real eye-opener from him.
“It’s about standing your ground. All the other clubs have firms. It’s just like in England”
“You’d almost expect Elijah wood to be there!”
“Sure we fight a bit. But it’s all healthy rivalry. The families and stuff that are watching know that”
This comes after Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC supporters generated a fair bit of social media traction over the weekend for burning of jerseys, and threatening to look like they might actually do something.
Graffiti was also plastered across the Moore Park bridge by fans, and plenty of flares were let off like the game was being played in Northern Italy or something.
Ziggy says that like a lot of flare-throwing A-league supporters, his die-hard love for Australian-standard soccer stems from a boyhood love of David Beckham – but he denies that his violent subculture is purely a result of cultural frustrations for people who couldn’t cut it in contact sport or cricket.
“I never liked rugby or Aussie rules… It’s just not for me.”
“Football is the world game. It should be our national sport…”
The interview was then cut short as Mr. Presbotka’s launched into a ten-minute rant about how we shouldn’t call it soccer, which was followed by statistics about how fast soccer is growing in Australia.
