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[Originally published in the February Issue, 18th of February 2026]
As sports fans, there comes a point where we have to justify our love for the colours we bear every week.
Whilst at a gathering, in a group chat, or over a drink, people will often tell me that they “don’t get” why I care so much about the teams I support, for they view it as a waste of time, an emotionally demanding and costly venture that instead could’ve been spent on something else. As a supporter of the Dolphins, you hear this a lot especially.
They’re a new team, and for that, are never the choice if you’re chasing guaranteed success, never the team to bandwagon. But for me, that’s the whole point. Supporting them shows it isn’t about trophies or wanting to catch the trend, it’s choosing a set of colours and sticking with them for a lifetime. When I explain this, I often realise I’m not defending my team, but rather the idea that it’s okay to care deeply about something I don’t control, nor knows that I exist.
But what surprises people the most is how much that care gives back to me.
The Dolphins gave me a community of people that loved this team and sport even more than I did. They took me under their wing during a time in my life where I had no sense of being a part of a community. My favourite memory was watching the Dolphins beat our fiercest rivals, the Brisbane Broncos, at Suncorp Stadium for the first time, an elation I haven’t felt since.
Your sports team gives you a sense of belonging that’s extremely hard to replicate elsewhere. Game days feel communal and united, even when you’re just watching from home. Wins cause celebration, and every loss feels equally grieved and processed. In a world where most of our interactions with media are filtered through algorithms and social bubbles, sports teams provide one of the most important psychological concepts to humans, a third space. This third space unites communities under a set of colours, which in turn sets them up to thrive and fight against an increasingly metropolis and corporate world. An evident example of this is the American Football team, the Green Bay Packers.
Green Bay is the smallest sports market in American professional sport, with the city only having 105,000 people whilst being located in a cold environment not suitable for most sports, making it a smaller sports market than small Australian cities like Townsville or Darwin. But even with these restrictions, the Green Bay Packers are now a team worth $9.49B dollars (AUD) which is 100% owned by the fans, whilst selling out a 81,000 seater stadium every weekend when the football is on. In a league like the NFL, which is dominated by corporate takeovers, shady business practices, and pricing fans out of their own team, one small city was able to rally their team towards four superbowls, the pinnacle of the sport.
A story more inspiring is the story of Wimbledon FC. In Wimbledon, yes that Wimbledon, there was a Soccer club that represented the community through and through. They were a team filled with battlers, fighters, and lovers, who whilst not rich, fought their way to the top and to a FA Cup win in 1988. So it came as a shock to the entire city when their team was bought and subsequently moved to an entirely different city called Milton Keynes. For a short while, the city lost their soul, the one thing other than a once a year tennis tournament that truly represented the community. But this city would not die without fighting. In a small Pub called The Fox and Grapes, the main organisers of the protest against relocation decided that their last option in keeping Wimbledon alive was to build a Wimbledon club from scratch.
The club started in the 9th division of English football and had to share a stadium with other clubs until 2020. But in that time, they got promoted six times in just 13 seasons, an English record, and in 2024 they got their ultimate revenge by beating their old counterparts 3-0 in a match that would help them get a promotion to the third tier of English football, whilst Milton Keynes stayed in the fourth division. Soccer yet again is a sport characterised by increasing corporate take-overs, shady business practices, and pricing out their own fans. But it’s clubs and communities like Wimbledon that showcase how sports teams can be worth so much for a community and an individual like myself.
In my wardrobe alongside my Dolphins shirt, I have a Packers jersey and a Wimbledon hoodie. I wear these during times in my life when I feel demoralised and burnout, because they remind me that giving your effort and emotion to something can reward you plentifully even if they don’t win every week. That’s why I cheer.
Sources:
https://www.forbes.com/teams/green-bay-packers
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