“Best Day of My Life”: The Champ’s Classy Gesture
In Australia, perhaps the best example of winning with class we’ve seen all year.
It was a parent’s worst nightmare. Dale and Lindy Moorfoot scanned the stands of GMHBA Stadium outside of Melbourne, Australia, and they couldn’t find their son, Sam. A few minutes earlier, their hometown Geelong Cats had won the Australian Football League grand final, and Sam, who is 29 years old and has Down’s syndrome, said, “I’m going down to the fence.”
Now, it appeared as if Sam had been swept up in the celebration. He was nowhere to be seen. Dale and Lindy looked and looked and then, finally—wait, could that be? They saw Sam standing on the field with a medal around his neck, a trophy in his arms, and the entire team celebrating around him. Not long after that, Lindy’s phone rang.
Joel Selwood, the Cats’ captain and club legend who had scored just minutes earlier, spoke on the other line. He wanted Lindy to know that her son was safe. “I’ll drop him back in Geelong later,” the player said. And hours later, after the celebration had slowed, that’s exactly what he did.
Aussie Rules football is closer to rugby than American football, and down under, it’s the most popular sport there is, boasting the fifth highest attendance of any domestic sports league in the world. Selwood is one of the sport’s biggest stars. He played his entire 15-year career at Geelong, where he earned a reputation as one of the toughest players in a sport known for grit. All season, rumors swirled that Selwood would retire, which made last week’s final a particularly enduring sports story: a legend going out on top.
After the game ended, Selwood wasted no time in sharing the glory. He walked around the perimeter of the stadium and then found Sam, picked him up over the barrier, and made sure he could be on the field with the team. Geelong player Jeremy Cameron took his medal off of his neck and put it on Sam.
Because after all, Sam was part of the team.
For the last seven years, Sam has been the club’s water boy. In the week leading up to this final game, Sam was there at every practice, taking ice baths with the rest of the team. Whenever somebody asked—and even when they didn’t—Sam would remind the players just how important this win would be.
“I consider him like family,” Selwood said of Sam. “He has my back and I have his.”
Sam echoed those comments. “He treats me like a brother and always looks out for me,” he said.
Sam continued, “There isn’t one player at Geelong that isn’t kind and supportive. They are all my mates.”
With Selwood looking out for him, Sam made the rounds. He had his picture taken. He shook hands. Gave hugs. He even stopped by the TV set for an interview.
Sam looked at the camera and explained how he was feeling. “Best day of my life,” he said.
Turns out, his parents had nothing to worry about, after all.
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