Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling and The St Kilda Football Club

The older I get, the more I relate to Peter Cook’s lunatic alter ego Sir Arthur Greeb-Streebling and his inextricable likeness to the St Kilda Football Club.

To be a St Kilda supporter requires great loyalty, a sense of humour and a touch of madness.

Cook’s character, devised in the 60’s when he was triumphantly recording on the BBC with Dudley Moore, possesses all the hallmarks of a ‘blue-blood’, upper class failure.

The punch line is that Sir Arthur is privileged and is allowed to attempt any undertaking he wants, no matter how idiotic it may be.

It could be a restaurant that only serves two dishes involving a frog and a peach or teaching ravens to fly underwater. He sees this as perfectly feasible, as are the inevitable failures and accepting them as typical .

As a St Kilda supporter there are parallels to Sir Arthur that are too stark to avoid.

Our club’s continued under achievement, delusional goal setting, poor choices and acceptance of mediocrity have a distinct Sir Arthur flavour about them.

The following are two classic Sir Arthur sketches, Teaching Ravens to Fly Underwater and my favourite sketch of all time, The Frog and Peach which contains my favourite quote of all time, “I have LEARNED from my mistakes, and I’m sure I could repeat them EXACTLY.” It sits proudly on my desk at home.

I’ve also added a sporting sketch. A year before Cook’s untimely death in 1995, he appeared on the popular Clive Anderson talk show incredibly as four characters in one night.

This character, Alan Latchley is pretty much Sir Arthur posing as a football coach. It is hilarious and pure St Kilda FC, although I certainly don’t find our current coach amusing in the slightest.