David Williams – acclaimed documentary theatre maker, writer and football fanatic – is the ‘smurf’.. For the uninitiated, ‘smurf’ is the nickname given to a Sydney Football Club fan.
During the 2013-14 A League football season, Williams, a long-suffering Sydney FC fan, frequented Western Sydney Wanderers’ games on their home turf in Parramatta. Kitted out in his Sydney FC sky-blue jersey, Williams-the-Smurf stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of red and black.
His presence caused bewilderment and banter, but none of the hooliganism that’s come to be associated with the game – he didn’t need to fear for his life.
Developed during Williams’ 2015 residency, Smurf in Wanderland is one man’s insightful and hilarious examination of football, tribalism, belonging and identity. It’s also a passionate defence of the fan – what it means to be a fan, the demonisation of fans and the artificial wedge that has been created between Sydney and its western suburbs.
