Barracking

It's the sort of mindset in which you don't take in the words of praise, only the boss's criticism and the barrackings of the crowd.

The only really unique aspect of Australian barracking is its idiom, the distinctive language and humour involved.

I had by then explained to him my custom of occasionally listening to Australian Rules Football on our shortwave radio of a Saturday afternoon; how, despite my barracking for Essendon, I thought a player from Geelong, Gary Ablett, the best I had ever seen.

‘So to me barracking for the footy I identified with my father, although nobody barracked for Essendon.’