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Briana Manente
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Tim Mc
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about

I wrote Life After Football after escaping a ‘once in a lifetime’ storm that obliterated large parts of our property in regional Victoria. I woke up around 5am to the sound of a tree hitting the roof and from the back deck I watched huge, ancient gums and blackwoods fall in rows all through the forest that had previously been such a source of calm.

It got to the point that trees were falling every other minute and I felt like I had to get out. Our driveway looked like a lumber yard, trunks and logs and broken limbs stacked high and getting higher so I packed a bag and trekked out of there.

I walked, climbed and scrambled for hours towards where I hoped I would get rescued, there was no phone reception because the towers all got taken out but I’d been able to speak to my girlfriend for maybe 90 seconds before I left and I knew she was out there somewhere in her little Barina coming to save me. I passed neighbours houses that had been entirely flattened, dodged downed power lines and watched for the constant threat of trees falling in front of me and behind me, each one potentially trapping me in place.

Eventually I got out. But what still scares me is that when I go home now I still see the downed trees and flattened houses. Our backyard looks like a bomb hit it and all my walking tracks and trails have been covered up or washed away. Home really doesn’t feel the same and it doesn’t feel like there’s anyone who’s going to help.

And that’s kind of how the world feels to me some days, we’ve all survived the storm (Covid) but our homes aren’t the same and things just don’t feel like they used to. We’ve all endured this once in a lifetime event and when you’re enduring that you don’t think about what’s next.

Now we are living in what’s next and it’s weird and unfamiliar and a lot of the safety nets we thought would be there didn’t catch us. Because nobody thinks about life after football.

lyrics

I couldn’t see a thing but I could hear destruction in the dark
Corrugated iron and timber rip and wrench my roof apart
As each tree fell it felt like the earth was trying to catch its breath
Tunnels of wind whipped through the hills and kicked the forest half to death
Everything was already falling it’s just falling faster now
The power lines frantic like cut snakes in the wind that brought them down
My shady lane was torn to shreds, a mess of dirty brown and green
I threw my bag over my head, headed where I said I’d try to be

Once in a lifetime you get days like these
There’s sure been a lot of once in a lifetimes lately

You rescued me on the main road up near the footy ground
Now I’m masked up and sanitised in a hotel in my hometown
The army established a post on Ballan-Daylesford Road
It was a couple days of hope til I knew if I still had a home
My hideout deep among the trees it had nearly flattened me
I still hear the wind whip through the clearing when I’m trying to fall asleep
The last few weeks the world felt fast what I’m learning to understand
If you tread water for so long your feet feel unstable on land

Once in a lifetime you get days like these
There’s sure been a lot of once in a lifetimes lately

Nobody thinks about life after football
Everyone swears they live in the future
I didn’t know we were moving the goalposts
Much less tearing them down forever
You told us we were invincible
You showed us you didn’t care

credits

from Life After Football (single), released October 4, 2022

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The Smith Street Band Melbourne, Australia

Our 6th album 'Life After Football' is out now

vinyl/cd/tape from artistfirst.com.au

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