Between the Flags by Ian Munro

Nigel Dawe’s Book Review:

It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a footy related book as much as this one. I’m also not sure why it took me so long to get hold of it, seeing as it was released in 2022 – but I’m so glad I did, and I would recommend it to anyone. As we close in on the prospect of another September campaign, you simply have to read it between now and then.

Whether or not you’re a fan of our Melbourne Demons, Ian Munro has written something akin to a complete and utter expose of what has collectively driven and drained, dictated and dominated, sometimes raised, and sometimes ruined, the sport of Australian Rules at both the elite and grassroots level, over many decades.

As a former news editor of the Sunday Age, press secretary to the Victorian Premier, and New York correspondent, with more than 30 years-experience in journalism, not to mention the son of a lifelong Melbourne supporter who saw the 1926 premiership win, in person. Ian’s tenacity, wit, and undying affection for a team that both challenge and make adherents ‘earn’ their loyalty through heartbreak of every kind, shines on every page.

As many would know, leading up to Melbourne’s ultimate triumph in 2021, the side was suffering from the longest running premiership drought in the league, it was 57-years since the Barassi-led Demons had lifted the silverware, and won in 1964.

As such, and as Munro makes clear from the outset: “This book is an attempt to understand what went wrong in those dark years [between flags], and why things happened that way [and also how they eventually meandered towards the Promised Land of rectification].

“Some people measure their lives in the triumphs they witness; it seemed mine was to be counted in records best forgotten… Success is never a reward to those who simply wait long enough, arriving as if willing it to happen is all that is needed. However, the opposite can be true: it is possible to test ever new depths of failure… [But] amid the darkest winters, there is always hope.”

Relatedly, in 2006, the chief sports writer of The Times, Simon Barnes wrote in his book The Meaning of Sport:

“You don’t love anything or anyone for the pain or for the pleasure: you love for the love of loving. And that is an inextricable aspect of the passionate and committed support of a football team.

“I write about what I see and what I understand, the way I see it, the way I understand it. I shall continue to write as if sport were worth the time of an intelligent person. I would see any other option as a failing of courage… There are at least three ways in which you can enjoy a sport: by doing it, by watching it, by writing about it.”

And of this three-part assertion (the last two in the least) could well have been written by Ian Munro, to suffice for the overarching intent behind what he endeavoured to do, and wonderfully did, in Between the Flags. A book which will give football fans a clear reference point, and aspiring sports writers a height to scale, for many years to come.

Copies of Ian Munro’s book: Between the Flags – Making sense of 57 years of heartache, are still available through the independent bookstore Readings, and through the club’s Demon Shop for $40.