SHE'S one in 200,000 — a spy behind enemy lines — and she's loving every minute of it. Meet Jane Dowling, 49, Port Power fanatic, latterly of Waurn Ponds, Geelong. It does strange things to people, football, but seldom stranger than this. Welcome inside the loneliness of the long-distance footy fan.
The Age yesterday bought lunch for the entire Geelong chapter of the Port Adelaide Victorian Supporters Club. Don't worry, Fairfax bean counters, there's only one of her.
Kitted out in all her teal splendour, Ms Dowling has met the barbs of her fellow townsfolk front on. "They've been treating me with disdain this morning," she said. "They tell me not to bother waving my flag because the result is already in the bag. I've been copping it everywhere."
For a woman who finds herself with few friends this week, she is handling it well. The life-long Port Adelaide tragic has lived in Geelong for six years. Work took her there from Adelaide and, usually, she likes the small-town feel, wonderful beaches and proximity to Melbourne for big events. But this week has been … interesting.
She's the sort of fan who goes not just to every Port game in Melbourne but also to the away fixtures in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.
A member of the cheer squad, she also arranges after-match functions for the Melbourne-based Power supporters who come down for the Port game at Skilled Stadium each year. She even took herself to last Friday's Geelong-Collingwood preliminary final "to get a look at who we would be playing the next week".
On Tuesday, for a bit of fun, she donned her Power scarf and wandered into the bistro at Skilled Stadium for lunch. The frowns she received let her know that it wasn't fun for everybody.
Yesterday she tried to do it again: she was told she wasn't welcome — and unceremoniously ejected from the Cattery.
It can't be easy being a one-eyed Power fan in the heart of Cats territory with only your teddy bear for company.
And Peter Power — that's the bear — wasn't having it easy yesterday either. Ms Dowling returned to her desk from morning tea to find Peter dangling in a noose fashioned by co-workers using her teal-and-black scarf.
She's nothing if not brave, standing on the main street of Geelong yesterday in her Power gear while passing Cats hissed and scratched. "Go back to your own town," one shouted. "But I live here," she replied. "You are nothing but a feral!"
"They keep telling me they are surprised I have my own hair and so many teeth," she says.
Imagine if Port wins on Saturday. It won't get any easier for this loneliest of fans. If it does happen, she is determined to fly her colours, in the face of a whole town's disappointment. It wouldn't be right, she says, to hide the Power gear away and keep her mouth shut.
Tonight she will drive to Melbourne to help the Power cheer squad construct a grand final banner. On Saturday she will sit with them behind the goals, a snarling fanatic.
Afterwards, she will stay the night in Melbourne, celebrating or commiserating. She will be among 20,000 of her kind, ferried from South Australia on a vast fleet of buses. It will be a rare delight for a woman who knows only too well for too much of the time the loneliness of the long-distance footy fan.
