My Mum, Margaret, is a passionate woman; passionate and vocal. She loves sport, and she loves her family, and so the two combined was always going to result in some rather embarrassed teenaged boys.
I’ve played a lot of footy in my time, and Mum and Dad came to pretty much all of my junior games. While Dad is very quiet, and wouldn’t say anything, with Mum there I’d be pretty confident that anyone within 50 metres of her would have been aware that there was a guy out there playing named Greg. I’d also be pretty confident that they would know it was me.
When you are young that kind of thing is embarrassing, but when you are older, or have children of your own, remembering that kind of support is heart-warming. The two of them being there is enough, but as there should be no person on this planet more on your side than your mum, my mum has left me in absolutely no doubt that that is true of our relationship.