AT 5.30 every evening at my place, it is go time. For little Jarvis, every night at this time consists of food, bath, bottle, bed.

As Jarvis sits on my knee tucking into his apple and pears, and I chuckle at his clumsy attempts with the spoon, all is well in the world and worries fade to back ground noise.

That is until we near the end of the bowl, and another has not been prepared to take its place. With an empty bowl in front of him and a half empty stomach on the inside, all hell breaks loose. His tears of anguish register a 9.6 on his little Richter scale of despair.

At a time of crisis like this, it's funny the lengths you will go to in a bid to calm the seas.

Not for the first time in my life, football has swooped in on a chandelier to save the day. As little Jarvis' bottom lip began to quiver on Tuesday night, I instinctively began to sing the Western Bulldogs theme song, bouncing him to the tune.

Not only did the lip stop shaking, but the early hint of a smile seeped through his expression. As I neared the big finale though, it became obvious that his rice cereal was still some way off. What to do, I thought?

A voice inside my head screamed, 'Keep singing! Keep singing!' So without a second thought I was straight into, We are the Power from Port ... hey! It's more than a sport ...''

By the time Jarvis' cereal made an appearance, I was nearly through the entire list of club theme songs. And I am proud to say he saved his biggest smile for the sons of the west (it had nothing to do with my extra enthusiasm).

My job as a parent is to give my son all the freedom and ability to make his own choices, all except one. My only request of my son will be that he grow up a son of the west, a Bulldog through and through.

It has a lot to do with a sense of belonging. Something as people we all crave on one level or another.

Sticking with the musical theme, I caught some highlights of a recent American Idol episode on the morning news and I was in awe of that little boy with the voice sent from God, hitting the high notes.

The judges and audience were moved to tears, and for once you got the impression they were genuine.

It took me back to my days in the school choir. Now, after my admission a couple of weeks ago that I had a weakness for romantic comedies, it can hardly come as a surprise that I sang in the school choir, can it?

A choir is not that far from football in lots of ways; a group of varied and interesting people with different skills and a common goal.

Back in high school, I loved the diversity the choir added to an after-school program that was dominated by football.

The boys and girls in the school choir were different from the kids I would kick the footy with at lunch. Both require people with different physical attributes and cater for those with varying degrees of ability.

Us boys in the choir were a long, long way from the young man seen on American Idol, but we played our part in the overall team structure the choir needed.

A choir is much like a supporter base for AFL clubs - the voices are many and varied, but they all want the same result for their beloved club.

But why do we join a choir or a football club? I believe all of us yearn for a sense that we belong to something - a cause, a song, team colours.

Often the most enjoyment I got from the school choir was not hitting the notes as much as walking to and from practice with the others, forming our own group within the school.

It wasn't segregated, but we all felt a sense of joy that we were a part of something different from the rest of the kids. Football supporters, ask themselves the same question.

Why do we sign up as a member? I would like to think it is to set yourself apart from the masses, to be part of something.

Don't misunderstand me, it's not to win - that's a bonus. The reason we should show our allegiance to a club, wear the club colours and sing the theme song is to be a part of history.

To pledge your allegiance to a clan through thick and thin.

My Bulldogs currently have a horribly low membership for 2008. Some 8000 members from 2007 have not signed up again. I realise that for a lot of people finances are strained, and these are not whom I'm referring to.

Our membership department has received a lot of feedback from people who are not signing up because the last seven games of last year were so disappointing, they just felt too let down to get on board.

I think this is an unacceptable excuse. And I don't want people signing up just because we've had a promising start to the season, either. I want people to know that when they become a member of a football club, they become part of something that sets them apart.

It becomes part of their identity. It's not about sharing success and jumping off when it fails. It's about putting your colours on, catching the tram and having people look at you and instantly know what you have a passion for.

This club has a history of survival, and you survive by sticking together. And standing behind something you feel part of.