One of the endearing memories that has stayed with this white man over the years from his childhood has been the never-ending search for collector football cards. You see before Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and all those other Japanese card game creations. the only humble card that swappped hands in playgrounds everywhere were Scanlen's VFL (Victorian Football League) cards. I can still smell the bubblegum sticks that lay hidden in every pack. I can still recall the excitement of holding an unopened packet and trembling with anticipation as the packet was ripped apart and the cards laid bare for inspection. I remember fondly the unbridled joy of negotiating a great swap with some other kid under an oak tree that was a Camberwell South Primary School landmark. I remember the care taken in arranging all my cards into team order and placing them in photo albums for easy display. And finally I also remember my poor Dad exercising what must have been the patience of Job by running this white boy around to various milk bars searching out undiscovered footy card treasure!
And I find the wheel turning...One of this white man's real simple joys in life is to see his two sons fervently collecting cards. Not just footy cards though; the market for collector cards these days is broadly diverse to the point of being ridiculous. Kim and Luc love their AFL cards for sure, along with their NRL rugby league cards, Australian Cricket cards, WWE cards, Naruto cards, One Piece cards, Ben 10 cards, Marvel cards and the list goes on... I now sit back and laugh inside when I see my eldest son Kim immaculately, yet pedantically arranging his cards in their albums, going to great lengths to get the sequences correct and taking so much pride in his completed collections. Honestly it makes his dad feel 10 years old again! And so, this white man concludes that collecting cards must be genetic - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking by it!
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