Discussion Coping with “Sainthood”

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Jan 10, 2011
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I reflected on this a while back. I attended the 66 Grand Final (lucky for me) a few days shy of my 10th birthday. Go back to 1913 when the rules stopped us winning our first flag. If you attended those games as a 10 year old.....guess what? You would have been about my age now at the 66 GF. There must have been some older people there that great day in 1966 that had been spectators in 1913. Hope you are all still with me!!:D

Anyway....all is still possible. No wonder old people were crying in 66 when we won. They had waited a long time for the 1913 revenge. Must have been sweet. I was young and thought it was going to happen every year!

I look forward to all that crying again....and you will enjoy it Jiggster....even through those tears.
I was 4 and apparently at the game. You are lucky you remember. My first gf I remember was 71. Bloody bob keddie.
 
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I was 4 and apparently at the game. You are lucky you remember. My first gf I remember was 71. Bloody bob keddie.
I remember it so well. Mostly to to do with my Dad who took me and has been gone 10 years now. Precious stuff.
 
If as many claim that richo is a terrible coach then surely if he replaced we are just certain of playing finals next year. I also love the club but luckily follow my local club who did win the flag last year. That helps.
I saw the perfect season last year. Didn't lose a game. Also won all three grades. Seniors, reserves and Colts.

I've seen probably 11 grand finals since 1995. For I think 6 flags. I've had it amazingly good. Got to see the magic of liam ryan taking 3 hangers a game for two years.

Subi are pound for pound the best club you could ever hope for. They have a very high standard and great culture. The supporters are wonderful. The club even better.
 

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Jan 10, 2011
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I saw the perfect season last year. Didn't lose a game. Also won all three grades. Seniors, reserves and Colts.

I've seen probably 11 grand finals since 1995. For I think 6 flags. I've had it amazingly good. Got to see the magic of liam ryan taking 3 hangers a game for two years.

Subi are pound for pound the best club you could ever hope for. They have a very high standard and great culture. The supporters are wonderful. The club even better.
Yep you are lucky to have another club. I have 2 A’s well but mine is a local club. I don’t follow anyone in the vfl. I just want the saints to improve as they will just hope it is soon.
 
Yep you are lucky to have another club. I have 2 A’s well but mine is a local club. I don’t follow anyone in the vfl. I just want the saints to improve as they will just hope it is soon.
Local is good. I think you feel closer to it which makes it more rewarding. It's funny. I shouldn't be a saint. Twist of fate stuff.

My fondest memories are going into the old club rooms at subi oval.

I just wish my adopted saints would get their s**t together finally like subi has.

I've got time but I seriously feel for the older fans. They deserve to taste the ultimate.
 
luckily I follow Melbourne Victory and have seen a few premierships!
Not quite the same as the saints winning one though. I've only been a member for a few years.
Anyway....all is still possible. No wonder old people were crying in 66 when we won. They had waited a long time for the 1913 revenge. Must have been sweet. I was young and thought it was going to happen every year!
My Great great grandma started flashing her nickers when we won.
 

LiterallyNobody

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I love the saints but I harbour a pretty dark secret I’ve been trying to hide on here coz I know how many people on this forum would be disgusted but I actually support two teams. St Kilda has always and will always be my favourite - nothing could ever change that - but I am pretty much an honorary Carlton supporter as well.

For those of you still here, (I imagine 96% of you have stopped reading and placed me on ignore - fair enough) let me explain. The simplistic view is I only like them because my partner is a Carlton supporter but that’s not exactly true.

I grew up in a family half St Kilda and half Carlton so Carlton has always been my second favourite team. This meets with mixed reactions from “how can you have a second favourite team?” To “how can they be your second favourite team?”

But it’s just how I’ve always been. Before St Kilda was any good I lived vicariously through Carlton. Lapping yo their 1995 flag and commiserating in 1993 and 99 gf. (The prelim was ace though!)

The last few years I’ve been going to almost every Carlton game with my partner (she hasn’t missed a Melbourne game since she was 5 years old) and while I haven’t seen too many wins for them in that respect I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s intersting to get a feel for a different supporter group - completely different dynamics between the two.

I still love my saints and watch every game (except the China game though that appears to be no great loss ;)) but I’m a bit different (well a lot actually) than everyone else here who could never like another club as much as St Kilda and I don’t love Carlton like I do the saints but I definitely have an affinity for them.

Last year was interesting. I only saw one Carlton win - the game against Essendon and as much as I enjoyed it, I was so jealous because it was at a time we were at our worst and couldn’t win our way out of a paper bag.

If we ever do win the flag (hopefully soon for jigster’s sake) I am sure I will enjoy it more than anything - whereas if Carlton won the flag, even though I’d be wrapped up in the emotion of it, it would just be another hollow feeling of “why can’t this be my team?”

Anyway going to hide under a rock and probably never post on this board again now.
 
I love your optimism mate I prefer to be realistic. ( regarding winning the flag )


I have mates who follow the Dogs, Tigers and Melbourne. Bullies and Tigers mates were the most pessimistic club hating individuals you'd find. Like hate every player on their list because they were all spud types. My Richmond mates were still bagging the club a few weeks out from finals, bagging them on GF day for the embarrassment they were going to be inflicted with etc.

Footy has a funny way of turning around quickly just as you feel like all hope is dashed. I remember in 2008 we got knocked out of the finals by Hawthorn and I was sure we'd missed our window and we went on the next few years to dominate. My Melbourne mates didn't want to book holidays in September this year because they thought they were playing of for a premiership.

Basically you can't accurately predict where you'll end up in a few years.
 

LiterallyNobody

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I also follow the renegades so at least I got one premiership this year ;)
 

LiterallyNobody

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I have mates who follow the Dogs, Tigers and Melbourne. Bullies and Tigers mates were the most pessimistic club hating individuals you'd find. Like hate every player on their list because they were all spud types. My Richmond mates were still bagging the club a few weeks out from finals, bagging them on GF day for the embarrassment they were going to be inflicted with etc.

Footy has a funny way of turning around quickly just as you feel like all hope is dashed. I remember in 2008 we got knocked out of the finals by Hawthorn and I was sure we'd missed our window and we went on the next few years to dominate. My Melbourne mates didn't want to book holidays in September this year because they thought they were playing of for a premiership.

Basically you can't accurately predict where you'll end up in a few years.
It's funny - after the 2008 finals, I felt we'd overachieved and were lucky to be where we were and consequently got found out.

Happy to be proven wrong I guess.
 

st_trav_ofWA

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ok sorry in advance if this offends but what a woe is me thread this is ... wowsers
lets break it down all of us for some reason support this club those reasons would be vast and varried amongst us but one think im almost 100% certain is there wouldnt be one of us on here who support the Saints because of our success .. you just dont become a Saints supporter because of that .. for a big part that what sets us apart from the rest is the fact that our support of our club remains deeply ingrained in us that we keep coming back year after year ...
the managment of the club the coach of the club the players in the club revolve in and out as the years go one (fun exercise count how many coaches you have been through supporting this club as in indication of how things change) but the constant is The Club .. we play a sport where every year one team wins it all out of 18 teams it comes to one winning team, in our history we have been that team once.. the comp isnt a even pecking ground we dont see the cycle of every team having their day coming around every 18 years from even the very start of the sport its been a case of the "haves" beating the "have nots" occasionally we have a team come from the have nots to stun the comp and win but for the most part it doesnt work that way ...

of course we all want to win a flag but should our support of the club be tied into the success of the club ? i follow my club because i love my club .. i want us to win but when they dont i still love my club.. the notion of teaching the club a lesson by not following them because they are losing or because they have a poor managment in place or the team isnt up to it ect ect i really dont get... its still my club.. i dont have to agree with who is running my club i dont have to like the way the team is being run but they will still always be my club . im a believer in when things are at its shittest thats when the club (not the admin not the players not the board) need its supporters the most.. eras will come eras will go but our club remains the constant but when supporters jump off for need of success for the team the fear i have is for the existance of the club..
im sure Fitzroy supporters never envisioned a day where their club wouldnt exist until it didnt .. for me im content to watch my club put out a team each week (win or lose)..

frustration is understandable but we sign up to support the team the club provide us with a team to support thats the obligation.. success is the goal but its also the goal or 17 other teams
 

LiterallyNobody

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The way I see it - you don't pick a football team, it picks you. You fall in love with them, much as you fall in love with a prospective partner and your heart wants what it wants - can't do anything about that. You don't have to understand WHY I love St Kilda; you just need to understand that I do.

And frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Give me the downs and the pitfalls just as much as the highs and the successes. We also have the best club motto - Strength Through Loyalty - if that's not the best advert for supporting St Kilda, I don't know what is.
 

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ok sorry in advance if this offends but what a woe is me thread this is ... wowsers
lets break it down all of us for some reason support this club those reasons would be vast and varried amongst us but one think im almost 100% certain is there wouldnt be one of us on here who support the Saints because of our success .. you just dont become a Saints supporter because of that .. for a big part that what sets us apart from the rest is the fact that our support of our club remains deeply ingrained in us that we keep coming back year after year ...
the managment of the club the coach of the club the players in the club revolve in and out as the years go one (fun exercise count how many coaches you have been through supporting this club as in indication of how things change) but the constant is The Club .. we play a sport where every year one team wins it all out of 18 teams it comes to one winning team, in our history we have been that team once.. the comp isnt a even pecking ground we dont see the cycle of every team having their day coming around every 18 years from even the very start of the sport its been a case of the "haves" beating the "have nots" occasionally we have a team come from the have nots to stun the comp and win but for the most part it doesnt work that way ...

of course we all want to win a flag but should our support of the club be tied into the success of the club ? i follow my club because i love my club .. i want us to win but when they dont i still love my club.. the notion of teaching the club a lesson by not following them because they are losing or because they have a poor managment in place or the team isnt up to it ect ect i really dont get... its still my club.. i dont have to agree with who is running my club i dont have to like the way the team is being run but they will still always be my club . im a believer in when things are at its shittest thats when the club (not the admin not the players not the board) need its supporters the most.. eras will come eras will go but our club remains the constant but when supporters jump off for need of success for the team the fear i have is for the existance of the club..
im sure Fitzroy supporters never envisioned a day where their club wouldnt exist until it didnt .. for me im content to watch my club put out a team each week (win or lose)..

frustration is understandable but we sign up to support the team the club provide us with a team to support thats the obligation.. success is the goal but its also the goal or 17 other teams

out of interest why did you become a saints fan?
 
Must say I rate soccer as highly as curling.
I fail to see the attraction in the latter 🤔

2586qkg.gif
 

LiterallyNobody

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st_trav_ofWA

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out of interest why did you become a saints fan?
a few factors came into play... my father when he came from india was dragged to his first AFL game that happend to be one a win for the saints so he supported them while the family lived in Melbourne , in the late 70's the family moved to WA and a few years later i was born .. like most people in that era my dad jumped on the WCE bandwagon when they entered the comp but still held a soft spot for the saints i wasnt really into footy as a younger bloke but still went to the games whe we got given free tickets from contacts my dad had in the very early days of sports travel i started to get more interested in footy around the time of Nicky Winmar making his stand and although not indig myself i could relate to what he was standing for as i too had faced some pretty horrible racisim at the junior level of my chosen sport so he was a hero to me, in the eearly 90 i also happened to meet Stewie Loewe in an airport lounge and he was really fantastic talking to me when he prob just wanted to be left alone waiting for his flight... come the 90's the idea of freo did get me especially when the talk of the Dockers going hard for Loewe and Harvey from the saints .. of course history will show Freo went hard for every man and his dog but ended up with two parts of stuff all so i went back to the saints just in time to cop the agony of the Crows flag .. in my teens i was more focused on being a rock star and chasing girls to worry bout footy that much so as much as i supported the saints it wasnt an obsession..
it became an obsession in the 2000's when i wanted to get a poster signed by the team so i followed them to the airport after the game in Subi, at the airport i saw a bloke struggling with all the luggage so i helped him out by lugging bags from the team truck to the check in counter that started a 10 year stint as the clubs man in perth to help with the logisitics of the perth games, that gave me some experiances that i hold very dear and some behind the curtain stories that maybe one day ill share when there is no chance of scandal :) somewhere in that period i got invited to come to a meeting about the Western Saints as the group was falling apart after the retirment of the founding president 12 years later im in my 3rd term as president of the Western Saints and to say this club is a part of me would be a huge understatment..
we havent had the ultimate highs yet but i look to my support of this club in only the fondest of ways even through the sackings the spoons, the 100 point floggings .. its my club it always will be
 

LiterallyNobody

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ive got a bet going with the Secretary of the Western Saints on if our boys will win our second flag before the AFLW saints team win their first ... looking at the team our AFLW team are putting together i think im on a loss here :)
Awesome - will be good to see at least one red white n black team win the flag ;)
 
a few factors came into play... my father when he came from india was dragged to his first AFL game that happend to be one a win for the saints so he supported them while the family lived in Melbourne , in the late 70's the family moved to WA and a few years later i was born .. like most people in that era my dad jumped on the WCE bandwagon when they entered the comp but still held a soft spot for the saints i wasnt really into footy as a younger bloke but still went to the games whe we got given free tickets from contacts my dad had in the very early days of sports travel i started to get more interested in footy around the time of Nicky Winmar making his stand and although not indig myself i could relate to what he was standing for as i too had faced some pretty horrible racisim at the junior level of my chosen sport so he was a hero to me, in the eearly 90 i also happened to meet Stewie Loewe in an airport lounge and he was really fantastic talking to me when he prob just wanted to be left alone waiting for his flight... come the 90's the idea of freo did get me especially when the talk of the Dockers going hard for Loewe and Harvey from the saints .. of course history will show Freo went hard for every man and his dog but ended up with two parts of stuff all so i went back to the saints just in time to cop the agony of the Crows flag .. in my teens i was more focused on being a rock star and chasing girls to worry bout footy that much so as much as i supported the saints it wasnt an obsession..
it became an obsession in the 2000's when i wanted to get a poster signed by the team so i followed them to the airport after the game in Subi, at the airport i saw a bloke struggling with all the luggage so i helped him out by lugging bags from the team truck to the check in counter that started a 10 year stint as the clubs man in perth to help with the logisitics of the perth games, that gave me some experiances that i hold very dear and some behind the curtain stories that maybe one day ill share when there is no chance of scandal :) somewhere in that period i got invited to come to a meeting about the Western Saints as the group was falling apart after the retirment of the founding president 12 years later im in my 3rd term as president of the Western Saints and to say this club is a part of me would be a huge understatment..
we havent had the ultimate highs yet but i look to my support of this club in only the fondest of ways even through the sackings the spoons, the 100 point floggings .. its my club it always will be

that's a pretty awesome way to end up a saint!

do you think in this modern era you would still get the chance meeting that grew into something larger. whom ever the saints staff member was that let you help out loading the truck was awesome!
 
a few factors came into play... my father when he came from india was dragged to his first AFL game that happend to be one a win for the saints so he supported them while the family lived in Melbourne , in the late 70's the family moved to WA and a few years later i was born .. like most people in that era my dad jumped on the WCE bandwagon when they entered the comp but still held a soft spot for the saints i wasnt really into footy as a younger bloke but still went to the games whe we got given free tickets from contacts my dad had in the very early days of sports travel i started to get more interested in footy around the time of Nicky Winmar making his stand and although not indig myself i could relate to what he was standing for as i too had faced some pretty horrible racisim at the junior level of my chosen sport so he was a hero to me, in the eearly 90 i also happened to meet Stewie Loewe in an airport lounge and he was really fantastic talking to me when he prob just wanted to be left alone waiting for his flight... come the 90's the idea of freo did get me especially when the talk of the Dockers going hard for Loewe and Harvey from the saints .. of course history will show Freo went hard for every man and his dog but ended up with two parts of stuff all so i went back to the saints just in time to cop the agony of the Crows flag .. in my teens i was more focused on being a rock star and chasing girls to worry bout footy that much so as much as i supported the saints it wasnt an obsession..
it became an obsession in the 2000's when i wanted to get a poster signed by the team so i followed them to the airport after the game in Subi, at the airport i saw a bloke struggling with all the luggage so i helped him out by lugging bags from the team truck to the check in counter that started a 10 year stint as the clubs man in perth to help with the logisitics of the perth games, that gave me some experiances that i hold very dear and some behind the curtain stories that maybe one day ill share when there is no chance of scandal :) somewhere in that period i got invited to come to a meeting about the Western Saints as the group was falling apart after the retirment of the founding president 12 years later im in my 3rd term as president of the Western Saints and to say this club is a part of me would be a huge understatment..
we havent had the ultimate highs yet but i look to my support of this club in only the fondest of ways even through the sackings the spoons, the 100 point floggings .. its my club it always will be
Wonderful story mate.

Not about win/loss records at St.Kilda. If it was we'd have no supporters. It's about the fantastic players we've had, the characters we've had, and the loyal commitment of the fans. Trevor Barker is a perfect example of what being a St.Kilda person is all about. If people want premiership after premiership they should go and support one of the more successful clubs instead.

Sad to hear about your father. Much like your old man my dad copped plenty of racism in the 70's too, being a part of the large contingent of Greeks and Italians that migrated to Australia in the sixties. People like Winmar thankfully started to change that, especially in football where it was seemingly much more common. Aside from being indoctrinated to the Saints from birth, it was Winmar who made me nag my dad to go and watch games at Waverley.

My late father shaking cans outside Linton St to help the club financially in its darkest years. Standing on beer cans to get a better view in the pouring mud soaked Moorabbin just to see Plugger kick a bag. Supporting this club is heartfelt to a lot of people and some take supporting this football club for granted. It hurts to see them cop unjust criticism from both media and so called supporters, and if it wasn't for supporters like yourself or players like Trevor Barker we wouldn't even have the privilege of still being able to discuss the Saints.
 

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