“After the reception Jaydyn got from the Carlton cheersquad I take my hat off to the Carlton people - they made me melt on that football field,” Anthony says.
And yet it’s the many thousands frequenting the Lockett Stand end who are truly indebted to father and son for their inspiring contributions to an otherwise innocuous game of Auskick at the half-time break of the Carlton-Sydney encounter.
Anthony, you see, was quite literally carrying his boy in the contest - as he has done for all of Jaydyn’s Auskick matches these past five winters - because Jaydyn was born with cerebral palsy.
Now 11, Jaydyn has no strength in his core muscles and cannot keep his balance because of the wretched condition. This means he requires around the clock attention from Anthony and his wife Lisa, to whom seven year-old son Kyran is also dependent, and as Anthony says: “It is what it is and you learn to deal with it”.
It is here that Jaydyn’s lifelong love for football brought an added dimension to his existence - and in the process flicked a switch for Anthony.
“As a little fellow Jaydyn would watch footy on the telly and he’d light up when he saw the action. I remember thinking ‘Oh, I might be able to get him involved with the local footy club’ because the Benalla community is a smaller community and a lot of people knew us,” Anthony says.
“I took him along to Auskick and it just took off from there. Jaydyn started playing footy when he was five, I’ve played with him for five years now, and all the kids love playing with him.”
Through the Auskick under 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s and (now) 10s, Jaydyn has dutifully fronted for every contest. As was the case at Etihad at the weekend, he contests the centre bounces, drifts down to the front half and even chimes in for the occasional goal . . . with a little help from the old man of course.
“It’s physical work because Jaydyn’s just on 20 kilos now, which is equivalent to running with a cement bag,” Anthony, now 42, concedes. “But I’m pretty much going to keep at it until such time as I have to sit back and say ‘Okay, it’s getting too much, we might get hurt now or we might hurt others’ because he’s getting a bit bigger. But right now while it’s safe, we’ll keep at it.
Anthony and Jaydyn Espie on the MCG last year.
“If I end up going down I’m more than sure I’ll be able to save him, but I could end up hurting another kid as I go down, so I have to keep it all in perspective.”
Last Sunday morning, Anthony and Jaydyn boarded the Benalla bus, which took two and a half hours to ferry all the Auskickers to the big smoke. The bus didn’t make it home until 8.30 that night, but it was worth it for those precious ten minutes spent out there in the middle.
“When Jaydyn kicked that goal they all erupted. Did you hear the noise?” Anthony says.
“I couldn’t believe the Carlton cheersquad, who really got behind Jaydyn and said ‘Excellent job, mate’. It just made me melt, because at the end of the day all I wanted to do was show the Melbourne footy crowds just how much enjoyment he gets and that even though he can’t walk and he can’t talk, he’s playing footy.”
By Monday morning, Jaydyn, a grade five student at Benalla 31 Primary School, was the talk of the class. “At school assembly, they lined all the football players up and said ‘Oh we heard you headed down to Etihad Stadium to play football - what was the highlight of the day? and one kid piped up and said ‘Jaydyn kicked a goal’. All the kids were such good sports,” says Anthony.
Auskick Benalla’s Co-ordinator Mick Liddington, who arranged for the Espies' appearance on Etihad Stadium, says the family's story continues to inspire as it has inspired throughout the course of this remarkable father/son relationship.
“Jaydyn is wheelchair bound, but his father Anthony’s been helping him play for a number of years. The kid’s accepted it and it’s fantastic to see,” Liddington says.
“Jaydyn is a big boy now, so by the time he and Anthony leave the field Dad’s spent.”
And for those at head office, the tale truly tallies with its noble charter.
To quote Auskick Manager Stephen O’Donohue: “We’re trying to push the line that we’re opening the game to every kid”.
