BY DAN

My dude Hobbes once said life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. He was famous for basically believing when push comes to shove, people look out for themselves at the expense of all else.

I like to believe humans are more community minded than that, and nothing has provided me with more belief of that than the good people that follow the Canberra Raiders.

Here’s an example. In the lead up to the sale of tickets to the preliminary final, the boys and I started to get a little worried that we might not get tickets.

See, I’m a non-ticketed member. Living in Melbourne means that I don’t get to many games outside of the annual pilgrimage to AAMI. Sure I get back occasionally, but mostly my fandom doesn’t require a full membership.

Before this season I’d never had to worry about that. Yet here we were, the boys and I just days before tickets going on sale having to strategise. Suddenly the idea of getting access to tickets a full 3 hours after thousands of other rabid fans created a problem.

Our problem was solved by Pete and Lauren.

Pete and Lauren are full members. They are good people. They organised tickets for us and some other Raiders fans.

Oh and did I mention they did this while organising their wedding which took place the night after the preliminary final? Talk about community minded.

Just absolutely stand up people.

Congratulations on the wedding guys, the pictures I’ve seen looked wonderful.

The story of Pete and Lauren is the example that mattered most to me, but I’ve heard of a bunch of similar stories, including people buying platinum tickets for the grand final for fans they know only through social media. People organising accomodation; people helping people with the best places to stay around Homebush for the grand final or in Canberra for the preliminary final. Sue Washington has been renowned for years to take her Raidermobile to cheer up anyone who needs it.

Just because Raiders.

This isn’t the team, who do more than their share of community work. This is the fans, looking out for each other where they can. There’s more I’ve missed and I love every story, so if you’ve got one put it below or tell me.

Writing this blog has allowed us to make friends across the internet, some of who we’ve met, some of who we hope to meet. It’s also allowed us to reconnect friends from the past. It’s a privileged position to be in. In a society that is increasingly fragmented, we’ve found ourselves a small part of a nifty little Raiders community. A group of people that we share the ups and downs (and buy tickets apparently). It’s all a bit nice if you ask me.

Hobbes said life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short but I never really agreed with that. The reason for that is the people that you surround yourself with.

So shouts to all the Petes and Laurens out there. You’re the people that make this world a bit better. We should all aspire to be like you.

Go Raiders!