A Special Club - Eugene

[sross]

No good posting one little bit - READ THE LOT


http://www.kangaroos.com.au/latestnews/newsarticle/tabid/4912/newsid/127264/default.aspx

 

[giantroo]

That is superb reading! Just gives you the shivers because it is so true and we all feel it!!

 

[Only Forwards]

Hell Yes

 

[Old Skool]

"I have sat in crowds of 100,000 but somehow, nothing matches that feeling when the North faithful sing “hearts to hearts” after a win." - Eugene Arocca

Eugene has just entered the realms of sporting literature immortality.

 

[No Bull]

Just so you all know - Euge wrote it close to the end of the season and then updated it recently. It was never meant to be published, but he showed it to me one day and I felt it was too good not to share with the supporters.

 

[Cold Gin]

I suspect that, one day in the future, then name Eugene Arocca may well become one of the most revered in the club's history.

A magnificently heart-warming read.

 

[sross]

Just so you all know - Euge wrote it close to the end of the season and then updated it recently. It was never meant to be published, but he showed it to me one day and I felt it was too good not to share with the supporters.

Thank you

 

[ThePezDispenser]

Honestly, if you're yet to donate, I can't see how you couldn't now after reading that...

Hairs on the back of neck sorta stuff.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Few more tears here too. Glad I added to the noise in 2007 and glad I donated now. Shinboner for life.

 

[Flawed Genius]

Probably about the only decent thing that Tim Lane's ever written. Boxing Kangaroo. I quite like that.

Excellent piece by Euge. What a top bloke.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Cracking piece of writing.

Euge, you quality individual, you.

 

[Canuckaroo]

Cracking piece of writing.

Euge, you quality individual, you.

Footy...individual...

[youtube]g0Q5JFHrGNk[/youtube]

Even funnier if you squint, Jacko sort of looks like Fevola with the super short hair he's sporting these days. And at this point it's not a stretch to imagine him releasing some sort of novelty single if footy doesn't work out for him again.

 

[blackshadow]

Brilliant!

 

[Ohhh Errol]

Euge inspired me, as have so many others. I feel I owe the club and all its contributors so much...

As posted on Kangaroos.com.au:

Ohhh Errol:

I barracked for North Melbourne for the first time in the nineties due to a friend's Dad gaining employment at the club. I was the first North supporter in either family tree, as far back as can be traced. I bought a jumper, went to the odd game and watched the Duck every other Friday night.

Despite the domination, my interest in footy started to wane as I found, what I thought at the time, were more important things to indulge in. It got to the point where I had no interest in the sport whatsoever.

Fast forward 10 years and I found myself being dragged to the footy to watch my new girlfriends team do battle at Etihad. "Wasn't this called Telstra dome?" I asked. The siren would sound, if we won, I was happy because my girl was happy. That was enough.

This became a little more regular, soon I was going along every single week, then we were using an away game as a good excuse to get out of town. GC, Hobart and Sydney to name a few. I started to scream at games and curse and swear if things weren't going our way. I took a little more notice of what my girl was saying, one of the more regular lines at the time was, "Oh no, 'kick it anywhere Simmo", then I'd watch as Simmo did in fact 'kick it anywhere'. I laughed, she did not.

I started to get a feel for the players, the stars and the not so much stars. I started asking about the halcyon days of the nineties, I was there, but the memories were sketchy. I wanted to fill in the gaps from the years of absence. I watched her DVD's, listened to her stories, and those of her family members, everyone of them a Kangaroo. The story began to take shape.

I had a thirst for knowledge, anything North Melbourne would absorb me for hours. After outgrowing my girlfriend's enthusiasm, I discovered BigFooty, "Wow this is fantastic, a whole world of North Melbourne." I asked questions, sometimes met with the brutally honest "search function N00b" reply. I took them up on their raw guidance. I searched all sorts of topics and read about all those years and uncovered all sorts of pasts and truths. It got to the point where my girlfriend could hardly recognise me. "What have I done? Look at you, you didn't even like footy now your obsessed by it!"

I realised something though, it wasn't football that was driving me, it was the story and plight of the NMFC. I could see a timeless tale of "against the odds" mentality, a will to survive despite being told you can not or will not. I saw qualities in North Melbourne that you only see in the most honoured and revered people in History. I fell in love with the club and all that it stood for. I felt it was an extension of my beliefs, my way of life. Equality for all, fairness and Justice. Be humble, take only what you need. Welcome all walks of life. Pride. Passion And Persistence. Never say Never, and Never Die wandering.

The North Melbourne football club has changed my life over the last four years. I have met and read about some of the most generous and courageous people. Some of the stories bring a tear to my eye. I am hooked, am North Melbourne through and through, and like Euge has made clear, it's not how long you've followed the club, it's how much you can relate to it and revere it.

I thank all before me for fighting the good fight and giving me the chance to support this great club. I thank every single one of you that buys a membership, makes a pledge or goes to games. I can not imagine my life without this club anymore. I am now part of the Blue and White Army and I will do all in my power to make sure my kids and their kids' kids, can stroll down to Arden St.,watch the boys train and reach over the fence and touch their favourite stars.

There's only one pledge I feel right in making after everything you've all done in the past to get this club where it is today, and that's the Royal Blue Pledge. I can not put a price on what this club will do for me and my family as long as we stay in North Melbourne, Where We All Belong!!!

 

[shinboner magic]

Sshhhhh Euge everyone will find out the truth.

This club is the closest thing to a family that an elite sporting club can be.

Those words and 'Oh Errol's story are just spine tingling moments that get you so revved for this great footy club.
Its more than life sometimes.

I love you North Melbourne and your all mine

 

[Scottroo]

just curious what winning a flag would mean to some of you guys and girls

i sometimes think about it, but honestly dont know what i would do if we won the flag next season (not saying we will) it would mean that much to me

 

[Shagga is all Class]

just curious what winning a flag would mean to some of you guys and girls

North is family, so you do not ever forget life or death but appreciate existence and every victory. Loss for North is just cold acceptance that we will live to fight another day. Victory lasts forever.

 

[Dan]

Great read Thanks Euge for sharing this.

 

[Flawed Genius]

Winning the flag next year would both increase and decrease my quality of life.

For starters, I have bets on. That I would win. Substantial ones.

I would use the money to buy a chariot which would then be chauffered and would take me to various nightspots. I would get blind hammered drunk and lose the chariot.

Increase, and decrease.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Thanks Euge, Heath and OE. Sometimes you read heartfelt messages and they sum up how you feel yourself (not in that way.......c'mon). Well done guys.

We're very fortunate to have you running the ship Euge. Well done with that piece.

 

[tazaa]

Every now and then before im about to go on break at work, hit the gym or go to sleep, I dont know if it happens with other folk out there- but i begin to ponder a thought.
Why do i follow North Melbourne.
Now im 21 and my uncles took me to the footy since I was four and now im hooked for life. Thats why im a shinboner.
My uncles got hooked cause a few of the NM boys used to go to the family restaurant on lygon st and my youngest uncles would chat away all things blue and white. As young 20 yearolds they were enthralled by the game and the club and by that time Dennis and Duck were coming through the ranks NM was like a magical dream about to kick off.
But yet after that reasoning it installs a frame of thinking in your head. Is it fate. Is it destiny? Why im a blue and white striper? You look at the 22million people in the country and the 5 or 6 million living in Victoria and then the 1million or so that are members of the AFL and you question, you question that your part of 30,000 that love this club.
Its that percentage, that factor, that margin your apart of. Without you the club would be weaker. You get euphoria knowing that your apart of something special. It feels good.
But your thinking wanders around how your best mate may follow Geelong or your mrs could be a Carlton fan but at the end of the day- you are a kangaroo.
Whatever reason it is you follow the club- take joy in the fact that you are apart of a club that has 30000 loyal servants in a competition of 1million members, in a state of 6 million in a country boasting 22million souls.
Individually we are nothing- but if not for the love of the North Melbourne Football Club- we wouldnt be that something special.

 

[The Other Dean]

just curious what winning a flag would mean to some of you guys and girls

For me, just below winning Tatts, and slightly above having a threesome with the mother and daughter from The Gilmore Girls.

And nice read, Euge.

 

[Kimbo]

Every now and then... i begin to ponder a thought.
Why do i follow North Melbourne?

But yet after that reasoning it installs a frame of thinking in your head. Is it fate. Is it destiny?

You don't choose North Melbourne. North Melbourne chooses you.


And, on that note, I'm very glad North Melbourne chose Eugene!

 

[Event Horizon]

You don't choose North Melbourne. North Melbourne chooses you.


And, on that note, I'm very glad North Melbourne chose Eugene!

Post of the thread so far!

 

[Ohhh Errol]

Post of the thread so far!

I guess that's the last time I spend +45 min baring my soul on the internet.