CLASS is not arrogance. In my opinion, it is the opposite of arrogance.
When Roger Federer finally added his first French Open trophy to his already bursting cabinet, most sports fans would have been rapt.
It wasn't just that an outstanding sportsman had achieved such a major landmark. It was as much because Federer has carried himself with dignity and humility throughout his career.
Of course, I wouldn't have a clue what someone like Federer is really like in person, but the manner with which he behaves on court gives us an idea of what type of bloke he is.
Maybe that's just professionalism, but it's so much more than some of his contemporaries can manage.
Class isn't limited to elite level sport either. In every sport, at every level, there are players and clubs that hold themselves in a manner that wins respect from the opposition.
When I first arrived in Ballarat a couple of years ago, with a view to reporting on the Ballarat Football League for The Courier, I was struck by the attitude of many around the competition towards one club.
One coach told me flat out that his goal at his club was to build a culture like Redan's. Another club official confided that his own coach, frustrated at his players' lack of discipline and respect in the club room after a match,
pointed at his Redan opponents as an example of how they should behave. It's all about respect.
Even with my own dealings with the Redan Football Club, I've always been impressed by the dignity and class of its board members, officials, and players.
The Redan coaches over the time, while often among the hardest to get anything juicy from, are always at pains, to the point of paranoia, of not big-noting themselves or denigrating the opposition. It's not the Redan way, one
club official once told me. And that attitude has clearly worked.
Success breeds imitation, even if that imitation may not be deliberate.
Two clubs in particular impress me this season with the calm, confident and professional manner in which they are going about their footy.
Lake Wendouree and Redan, while great rivals, have been for my entire time involved in the BFL a mutual admiration society of sorts. Former and current presidents of those two clubs speak of each other with enormous respect.
Former Redan president Darryl Blomeley acknowledges the regard he holds Lake Wendouree's Holloway family and their contribution to the league, a sentiment that is undoubtedly shared. And, with the off-field culture developing
at Lakerland, the on-field is following.
The other club that has reinvented itself over a couple of seasons is East Point. In past seasons the Kangaroos were the glamour team of the competition, with the big names, the thumping wins throughout the season, and what
looked from the outside, a cocky attitude.
For whatever reason, though, when the big game pressure was applied, the impressive, powerful football dried up.
Enter Michael Hynes. Hynes brings his own experience from a variety of different leagues to the job of East Point coach, none of which has any direct link to Redan as far as I can tell.
But gone are a lot of the big names (with one notable exception), the look-at-me style, and the big expectations, replaced with a low-key, cool-headed approach far more like the Redan approach of two years ago than the East
Point approach back then.
It's too early to talk about flag prospects in the league with so much footy left to play. Darley, Melton South, Sunbury and, of course, the reigning premier Ballarat will still have plenty to say about it.
But recent history suggests a classy, quiet achiever like East Point or the Lakers is one to watch out for.
And, the way things have fallen in recent weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if that classy, quiet achiever yet again proves to be Redan.
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