Meet a Random Uni White!
Verse 2:
That's it, that's it, that's it, that's it!
That's it, that's it!
That's it, that's it, that's it, that's it!
That's it! That's it!
Please note that the second verse does not contain "Uni Whites" - Armin.
The Story of the Song
Ever wondered how the Uni Whites Club Song came about? Well, there have been a few rumours over the years, so let me explain what actually happened...
It all started back in 1994, I think. (It could have been 1995, but let's go with 1994). It was at the pub - The British, in North Adelaide - to be precise. We had either just finished a training session, or had just played a match. Let's go with the latter possibility - a post-match pub session.
Anyway there was a bunch of us drinking away quite happily, and after a while there were only three of us left - myself, Armin Mayer and Alex Ask. Armin had been at the club since 1992, I believe, whereas for Alex and I it was our first season at the club. We got talking about the need to have a club song. We were winning games, but no song! So, in something that can be described as little more than a bit of a piss-take, we came upon the phrase 'That's it mate!' (but said in a Greek accent, more like 'Thass it mayte, yeah yeah, thass it!'.) I should say that Alex was from a Greek background so that allowed us to be that little bit politically incorrect. And anyway, back then, political-correctness wasn't such a deal.
So, we had a catch-phrase - or a chorus in this case, or was it a verse. We were pleased with our progress. Now we just needed a verse or two, or a chorus. Humm. Being true 'club men', the only thing we could collectively think of was the name of the club - Uni Whites. Quite sad really, that three young men in full control of all their faculties couldn't actually think of anything else. So, almost by default, we had the basis of a song. We practised it, and actually liked it! We had some more beer. Armin, being something of a musician (and I use the term loosely!), came up with some sort of tune, or was it noise, no - let's go with the word 'tune'. We sang it together, reasonably quietly though for two reasons. Firstly, we didn't want to get kicked out of the pub, and secondly, we didn't want to share our findings with the world before the product was finished, for the real fear that they would be stolen!
Progress was good but we still needed the song to go for a bit longer than five seconds. So hey, when you're on to a good thing, why not stick to it? We played around with some different permutations of 'That's it - Uni Whites', and decided that subsequent verses should also be along the lines of 'That's it - Uni Whites - That's it'. We wanted to keep it simple. We wanted new kids to be able to pick it up quite easily, and for those older players to be able to remember it. We wanted to be able to sing it at any time, on any stage (as long as it was a worthy stage) with ease and without faltering. I think we achieved our goal.
Alex's ability to say those words with real greek meaning, and Armin's ability to coin a catchy tune, and my inability to really come up with anything else, all basically contributed to the formulation of the song as we know it.
Over the years, hundreds of players have sang the song. On special occasions (e.g. after winning a trophy) friends, spectators and others have also joined in. I hate to think how many opposition players have had to put up with our dolcid tones - thousands perhaps!
But, like a fine wine, the song gets better with age. Every now and then I hear slight nuances added to the reportoire. For example, just the other week someone shouted out "once more" before the last verse. And not so long ago I heard someone say 'yeah' at the conclusion of the song. This is good. The personal touch is always welcome. There have been many times when the song has been sung with gusto. As a player still, just, the best renditions occur having just played your heart out and fought to get a win by the narrowest of margins. Then it really means something.
Leo
