Changing teams

[The Mission Man]

Good question, Mead, but a very difficult one to answer for reasons which should be self-evident. For better or worse, a lot of the cultural apparatus of the Fremantle Football Club involves being in opposition to WC. We are an alternative. A reaction, if you will. Plenty of folk, myself included, went Fremantle-ward precisely because your club smelled to us like the slops tray of Steve's pub on a Sunday morning.

It's difficult to imagine embracing that which you set up as your polar opposite.

Whereas it's easy to imagine someone finally summonsing up the gumption to dump your tawdry old football-related company for the siren call of football's tomorrow. They'd have to run the gauntlet of all these "pretty weak individual rah de rah" jibes, but if they got the courage, they could do it. Plenty of them have - as folk around here like to remind us.

Penguins mate for life and why not - they all look the same. It's not as if a spunkier young penguin is going to come along. If you started going for WC before Freo came along, then you didn't have a choice. Exercising a choice is what it's all about. If you have to dump the penguin you first shacked up with, then, how does the cliche go again?

It seems as if WC is rapidly joining Colin Wood as the team that most often says "If you used to support us, you never did."

We never have. Plus, if you get off the Freo Speedwagon, you are MAD.

 

[Au_Blue#24]

she's a witch !!

 

[Exeter]

Believe it or not, I raised this issue not as a polemic against Sera specifically, but as a comment on the mindset that supporting a team is somehow transportable.

That the person in question has gone to the Dockers is immaterial. It could just as easily be to the Saints, Lions, Bombers or any other team - and from any other team.

IMO most people respect the rusted on supporters, regardless of their club (and assuming a base level of intelligence). Equally, most serious supporters aren't really fazed by people who take a passing interest in the game or in specific teasm in general.

Its when people purport a long standing strong commitment to a team and then change to another - that does my head in.

And Ripper, thanks for the lesson on sexual politics - I'll be sure to discuss it with my wife.

 

[The Mission Man]

The difference is, of course, Exeter, that all of these clubs existed before Fremantle did. There wouldn't be too many supporters of the WCE if you couldn't change allegiance.

Most Western Australians who followed footy pre-WCE had a VFL team. Why did you chickenshyte lily-livered gutless turncoats drop them?

The same sort of thing applies to going for Freo if you used to go for the Weavils. They fit you better.

It's probably really difficult to make the change - especially if you were as vocal and involved as Sera seemed to be. I never had to make the change - Fremantle being a logical extension from East Fremantle. I never felt attracted to or represented by WC so never had to dump them like the bad meat they so obviously are.

I feel for folk who make the trek. I'm like you. I'm loyal to a fault but I can hear what's going on when people change.

Pretty much every one of you born pre-1987 had to make a change. Unless, of course, you never really followed footy before...

 

[Captain Random]

To digress somewhat, it's a different thing though, isn't it. There'd be fairly few Western Australian football supporters who could say that they really followed a team like (say) Richmond pre-1987, when you got one random VFL game a week on the box and an hour of the Winners every Sunday night. You'd see your team once every seven or eight weeks if you were lucky. You wouldn't be going to the games every week, that's for damn sure.

What you really would have had is people who would have had a liking for a particular team, because of their State or WAFL allegiances - say Geelong because Polly or Peake played for 'em, NM for the Krakouers, and so on.

Today, things are different. As opposed to 1987, we now live in an age where supporting an interstate team really means something. It's a trivial thing to turn on the telly and catch your team playing every week if you've got the cable, all games are parcelled out on the radio, and the clubs aggressively push interstate memberships as a means of keeping a club viable.

Comparing 1987 to today is like comparing chalk and cheese.

Coming back to the original topic, I personally can't fathom someone making the switch, because my supporting is too deeply ingrained. The emotional and intellectual investment is too great. I've seen too many good things and bad things. I can understand the oft-quoted "never were" saying because the only way I can rationalize such a switch is by thinking that their support of my team was just too superficial. You can cut off your index finger and live, but you can't cut out your heart.

 

[The Mission Man]

So they never really went for their VFL team (or their WAFL team, for that matter - they were left behind as well), just like people who leave the WCE never really went for them. It's all to do with what you think really means.

The heart/finger comparison is a good one (especially because it leaves out your mind). My point is that, yes, they never did really support your club. Obviously - they couldn't leave it if they really supported it. And, as equally obviously, you find that hard to believe.

You're getting confused here because you can't fathom why people aren't like you.

For thousands of people, the Fremantle Football Club (which never existed when they first married their particular penguin) suits them better. Represents them better. Appeals more to their minds, hearts, and fingers.

It's not their fault the Weavils came along first.

All the talk in the world about technological advancement says nothing about allegiance. People loved as much before pay-TV came along.

Allegiances shift. Obviously you can start talking about the quality of allegiance, but I'm sure all the members of the Perth Saints supporters club rank you folk pretty lowly in that regard. What - are you not prepared to put up with a bit of hardship in terms of not being able to see your team every second week?

I'm talking about finding a new fit. Discovering a new way - for reasons other than success. And so are you when you talk about what the WCE means to you in comparison to what the VFL teams meant.

I'll be the first to denounce you as a weakhearted scumbag if you're jumping just because the grass is greener - but if you're jumping because the new team is more you. Well...

It's hindsight that proved you didn't really support your VFL team, not new advancements in coverage. You are able to accept that - why can't someone else leave the WCE? Who's chucking stones here?

 

[ImperialPurple]

I did comment to my other half a few days ago, that I was very surprised that sera's defection was drawing no particular comment form the WC camp - either on this forum or on ours.
Why? I wondered. Do they care that little that one of their own has seen the light and crossed over? Where's the fire, the passion, the "good god what are you doing?" or the "bugger off we don't need ya"?
(That is a general - not intended as a personal thing against Sera)
Those of us who are regulars on Dockerland will remember Boxheadgreg. That guy was stripped naked and flogged in the middle of South Terrace (metaphorically speaking of course).
I am glad to see that some of you do care.

Reminds me of a joke about the naughty kid at school, who comes home and says to his mum, "I learnt a new word in spelling today". His mum is happy that he's learnt something and asks him, "what does it start with?".
"F".
"Oh dear, and how many letters does it have?"
"4"
"Oh dear... what does it end with"
"M"
"Oh that's good - what is it?"

"f u k m"

 

[Streaker]

Misssion Man is just trying to change the context to suit his argument.

You really can't compare jumping mid voyage to jumping on to the boat at the start of a voyage.

Like many supporters of both the Dockers and the Eagles switching to a new team upon formation can in no way be seen as a hanging offence.

Jumping mid voyage puts you on the same level as a bandwagoner as far as I am concerned.

 

[The Mission Man]

"Misssion Man is just trying to change the context to suit his argument"

Well, if that's the case, smartypants - what's my argument?

BoxheadGreg went back to Sowfs - and they promptly lost the next whatever hundred games. He didn't cross the floor to the Fowl. Nevertheless, he did get a bollocking, didn't he? Mainly along the lines of what we are witnessing here today - disbelief. We (and he) had struggled through eight years of absolute ineptitude and he chose that moment to bail. It mystified me.

It's a different situation. I'd shudder to think what would ensue if someone bailed to go be a WCE follower. I can't imagine it happening, but it would probably go along the lines of recognising that the person was obviously unwell to begin with. A gentle faretheewell and best wishes would, no doubt, follow.

 

[Mr Q]

Originally posted by The Mission Man
So they never really went for their VFL team (or their WAFL team, for that matter - they were left behind as well), just like people who leave the WCE never really went for them. It's all to do with what you think really means.

No, most people in WA never did actively support a VFL side. I sort of liked Essendon although I had no particular reason to. However when they played a pre-season game against my Royals I was certainly not supporting Essendon.

Originally posted by The Mission Man
The heart/finger comparison is a good one (especially because it leaves out your mind). My point is that, yes, they never did really support your club. Obviously - they couldn't leave it if they really supported it. And, as equally obviously, you find that hard to believe.

You're getting confused here because you can't fathom why people aren't like you.

I think most of us can fathom it. Nearly all WA footy followers would know at least a few people who support other teams. A majority of my friends are Dockers supporters. However we can't fathom how someone can claim to be passionate about a team and then just jump ship. It seems to me that the passion was never true if you can do that sort of thing.

Originally posted by The Mission Man
For thousands of people, the Fremantle Football Club (which never existed when they first married their particular penguin) suits them better. Represents them better. Appeals more to their minds, hearts, and fingers.

It's not their fault the Weavils came along first.

Hence why we can all handle those of our former Eagle bretheren who switched to the purple in the first couple of years of the Dockers. However its not like your purple people eaters are a new phenomenon any more, and to jump ship now is no less than someone who claimed to be a Carlton supporter jumping to Essendon.

Originally posted by The Mission Man
All the talk in the world about technological advancement says nothing about allegiance. People loved as much before pay-TV came along.

There's allegiance and then there's support. Allegiance is like a Swan Districts supporter going for Collingwood in the old VFL because the colours were the same. Support is where your footy life lives and dies by the club you love. Has nothing to do with whether you disagree with other supporters. Take me and Frodo; we're pretty much diametrically opposed on most issues other than footy, but the fact Frodo supports the same footy team as me has no effect on my support. The fact that the _Dudd supports my team has no effect.

I had an allegiance in my younger days to Essendon. I never supported them the way I support West Coast.

Originally posted by The Mission Man
Allegiances shift. Obviously you can start talking about the quality of allegiance, but I'm sure all the members of the Perth Saints supporters club rank you folk pretty lowly in that regard. What - are you not prepared to put up with a bit of hardship in terms of not being able to see your team every second week?

WTF are you going on about? If I lived next door to Subiaco Oval the quality of my allegiance would not necessarily be any more nor less than a Victorian supporter of the Eagles. I don't think my support of the Eagles is less than Ripper's support of the Dockers just because Ripper lives in Meeka. He might have to put in more effort, but that's irrelevant.

Originally posted by The Mission Man
I'm talking about finding a new fit. Discovering a new way - for reasons other than success. And so are you when you talk about what the WCE means to you in comparison to what the VFL teams meant.

I'll be the first to denounce you as a weakhearted scumbag if you're jumping just because the grass is greener - but if you're jumping because the new team is more you. Well...

If someone really wants to jump ship then good on them. However if you've in the past expressed a firm allegiance for one team then suddenly support another, surely the quality of your allegiance to the first team would have to have been pretty weak.

Originally posted by The Mission Man
It's hindsight that proved you didn't really support your VFL team, not new advancements in coverage. You are able to accept that - why can't someone else leave the WCE? Who's chucking stones here?

No people can leave. If they want to leave, I want them to leave.

 

[nearlyblonde]

Gotta say that, IMHO, Sera, if she has "gone over" can never claim to have been an Eagles supporter. However, whatever floats your boat.

Hope she can find room on the waggon that has miraculously started to fill.

What I really found breathtakingly amusing was the ever verbose Ripper`s claim that he understands the mind of woman.................yeah, riiiiight.

Even the King of unique, he who knows all, and never hesitates to share that knowledge with all and sundry, has not, as far as I can recall, made such a claim. Guess he just hasn`t got around to it yet, I`ll just wait awhile and I`m sure it will be eventually delivered.

They tell me that everything come to he who waits.

 

[Mead]

Originally posted by The Mission Man
So they never really went for their VFL team (or their WAFL team, for that matter - they were left behind as well), just like people who leave the WCE never really went for them. It's all to do with what you think really means.

The heart/finger comparison is a good one (especially because it leaves out your mind). My point is that, yes, they never did really support your club. Obviously - they couldn't leave it if they really supported it. And, as equally obviously, you find that hard to believe.

You're getting confused here because you can't fathom why people aren't like you.

For thousands of people, the Fremantle Football Club (which never existed when they first married their particular penguin) suits them better. Represents them better. Appeals more to their minds, hearts, and fingers.

It's not their fault the Weavils came along first.

All the talk in the world about technological advancement says nothing about allegiance. People loved as much before pay-TV came along.

Allegiances shift. Obviously you can start talking about the quality of allegiance, but I'm sure all the members of the Perth Saints supporters club rank you folk pretty lowly in that regard. What - are you not prepared to put up with a bit of hardship in terms of not being able to see your team every second week?

I'm talking about finding a new fit. Discovering a new way - for reasons other than success. And so are you when you talk about what the WCE means to you in comparison to what the VFL teams meant.

I'll be the first to denounce you as a weakhearted scumbag if you're jumping just because the grass is greener - but if you're jumping because the new team is more you. Well...

It's hindsight that proved you didn't really support your VFL team, not new advancements in coverage. You are able to accept that - why can't someone else leave the WCE? Who's chucking stones here?

Hmm, lets have a look at a quote from her Sera-ness.

"I’ll probably miss the Eagles in some ways… I think I will definitely miss watching Chris Judd play… and their premierships have given me great pleasure in the past… but I feel its now time to move to greener fields. I don’t know what the future holds and I may end up hating it but at the very least I would like to give it a try and if it doesn’t work out I can always go back…"

You had better get denouncing, MM.

I never had a big issue with people getting on the dockers when they started. They were a new side, an option which hadn't been there before, and fair enough, some people would find them a better fit. But that was 9 years ago. Read the above quote. Think about it. Are you really defending that attitude?

The fact is, she switched teams because she thought some people were being mean to her. She threatened to leave because she thought we'd get down on bended knee and woo her back, and when she failed to get a suitably servile response from the board, she sulked off.
If she had jumped to any other team, you would be leaping up and down in glee, frantically leafing through your thesaurus for new words for 'bandwagon', and rejoicing at the appearance of such a wonderful example of the weak minded, apathetic Eagle supporter which could confirm all your prejudices.

But its a bit tricky when she's going to your team, isn't it? You have to balance the Eagle sledging with some elaborately concocted fiction about how she's made a considered, principled decision, been washed in the blood of the purple, and will now be a passionate hardcore fan.

"...and if it doesn’t work out I can always go back."

 

[Exeter]

Originally posted by The Mission Man
The difference is, of course, Exeter, that all of these clubs existed before Fremantle did. There wouldn't be too many supporters of the WCE if you couldn't change allegiance.

Most Western Australians who followed footy pre-WCE had a VFL team. Why did you chickenshyte lily-livered gutless turncoats drop them?

The same sort of thing applies to going for Freo if you used to go for the Weavils. They fit you better.

It's probably really difficult to make the change - especially if you were as vocal and involved as Sera seemed to be. I never had to make the change - Fremantle being a logical extension from East Fremantle. I never felt attracted to or represented by WC so never had to dump them like the bad meat they so obviously are.

I feel for folk who make the trek. I'm like you. I'm loyal to a fault but I can hear what's going on when people change.

Pretty much every one of you born pre-1987 had to make a change. Unless, of course, you never really followed footy before...

Several centuries before WCE were an entity, I was, and remain a fiercely loyal, passionate and loud West Perth Cardinals supporter. The WAFL was my first love from the age of about 4 and I've never followed any other team until the Eagles were born. The first thing I did when my son was born was sing the Grand Old Flag to him while I was wheeling him back to the nursery despite the worried looks of onlookers.

Dockers fans often talk about being chosen rather than choosing to follow - that was the same for me on day 1 against Richmond at Subi. Like many people I regularly followed the VFL but was not aligned to any one club - I was waiting for a true WA entry into the comp and my only regret was that it wasn't West Perth.

We have this in common MM, for me there was no-one before the Eagles - same as it was for you with the Sharks and the Dockers.

And I think its the same for many fans of newly born clubs. At inception some will drift from other teams to support their one true team whereas others have been waiting for the real deal to come along the whole time, the one that is etched on their hearts and minds. No shame in either of those positions.

Changing teams some years down the track is a damn sight harder to fathom though. Where's the integrity in that?

 

[Captain Random]

My theory is that many Western Australians before 1987 fully and vocally supported their WAFL clubs before 1987. With exceptions, the general rule would have been that any local support of VFL sides would have logically been lesser, simply because the ability to really follow your side's fortunes in a tangible way wasn't there, especially with an attractive local alternative (ie the WAFL). So making a switch when the Eagles came along would have been a far lesser thing than switching now, when it is assumed that a local supporter of an AFL club at least watches their team's games.

(Although now I think of it, a lack of something tangible hasn't exactly hampered the longetivity of religion)

And I can see the whole "Docker in an Eagles' body" line of reasoning, but I have always wondered what the true proportion of those supporters really is. As opposed to the proportion of supporters who say that's how it was.

To be honest, I've mellowed on the issue somewhat since we debated it about this time last year. If people want to leave the Eagles and get on Freo, good luck to them. I know where I stand, and I just can't understand why someone would actively barrack for a side and then just jump off. How do you just abandon a piece of your life like that?


(PS: I went to primary school with the lead singer of Allegiance. True story)

 

[The Mission Man]

Originally posted by Mr Q
No, most people in WA never did actively support a VFL side. I sort of liked Essendon although I had no particular reason to. However when they played a pre-season game against my Royals I was certainly not supporting Essendon.

So "actively support" is different fom "support" which it appears is different again from "allegiance". You're just adding qualifiers to something whenever it suits your argument.

Allow me to rehash:

Exeter makes a blanket statement along the lines that "you can't change which team you support".

I say, "Well, a heap of you did when the Eagles came along".

Carny (and now you it seems) said, "That's because we didn't really support them"

I said, "That was only proved in retrospect - after you switched allegiance/stopped supporting/were even less active in your support"

The Perth Saints Supporters Group was mentioned because they are in the position to measure the strength of your former support for a VFL team - and to denounce you in the same way you are denouncing people who leave the WCE. They stuck by their club, despite the fact that the WCE were thrust repeatedly in their faces. I mentioned this to highlight two things - (i) that "support" isn't the absolute that Exeter imagined it to be - there are, it seems, grades of support. (ii) Carny seemed to be arguing that the proximity and immediacy of the WCE were a big part of their appeal. This in part supports my argument that circumstances change and teams "fit" better once the circumstances change but also highlights the rank silliness of a WCE supporter questioning someone's allegiance/support. To a Western Australian who is a member of a WA-based club for supporters of a Victorian team, the en masse switch to the WCE must seem like pretty weak support. Note - I said "to them".

I think most of us can fathom it. Nearly all WA footy followers would know at least a few people who support other teams. A majority of my friends are Dockers supporters. However we can't fathom how someone can claim to be passionate about a team and then just jump ship. It seems to me that the passion was never true if you can do that sort of thing.

Of course it would seem that way. We're arguing on the same side - except that at some point some of the Dockers supporters you know changed ship. Just like a lot of you WCE supporters changed ship when the WCE came along.

Which I see you now agree with:

Hence why we can all handle those of our former Eagle bretheren who switched to the purple in the first couple of years of the Dockers. However its not like your purple people eaters are a new phenomenon any more, and to jump ship now is no less than someone who claimed to be a Carlton supporter jumping to Essendon.

Is it though? Maybe it took eight years to realise you no longer felt at home but your allegiances/support/passion wouldn't let you make the switch. Maybe fear that you would be involved in some sort of witch hunt kept you back.

You people seem pretty good at making generalisations that suit you - "most people in WA never did actively support a VFL side" - but what about the obverse? You don't mention them. The people who slowly realise they actually prefer it when Freo win but don't want to let old team down. There'd be a few of them, I'd say. They are probably still foot in each camp supporters who get a bit happy when the Roos (for example) win - despite being a WCE member.

Nine and a half years is a long way from the 100-plus years Carlton and Collingwood have been hating each other's guts. It could take that long to realise you got it wrong.

There's allegiance and then there's support. Allegiance is like a Swan Districts supporter going for Collingwood in the old VFL because the colours were the same. Support is where your footy life lives and dies by the club you love. Has nothing to do with whether you disagree with other supporters. Take me and Frodo; we're pretty much diametrically opposed on most issues other than footy, but the fact Frodo supports the same footy team as me has no effect on my support. The fact that the _Dudd supports my team has no effect.

I had an allegiance in my younger days to Essendon. I never supported them the way I support West Coast.

Obviously, or you would still be supporting Essendon - refer to my earlier discussion of this following point.

WTF are you going on about? If I lived next door to Subiaco Oval the quality of my allegiance would not necessarily be any more nor less than a Victorian supporter of the Eagles. I don't think my support of the Eagles is less than Ripper's support of the Dockers just because Ripper lives in Meeka. He might have to put in more effort, but that's irrelevant.

If someone really wants to jump ship then good on them. However if you've in the past expressed a firm allegiance for one team then suddenly support another, surely the quality of your allegiance to the first team would have to have been pretty weak.

This seems prety self-evident to me. The sticking point between us is that you still can't imagine that someone doesn't really support your team. It would be pretty difficult, but we so far have accepted all along the way that it's possible to switch your support/change your allegiances/whatever you want to call it in circumstances where it's acceptable to you to do so.

[/B]No, people can leave. If they want to leave, I want them to leave. [/B]

And I wouldn't expect anything less from a real supporter.

 

[The Mission Man]

I once had the lead guitarist of Allegiance vomit near my foot. We were playing football at the time and his fitness wasn't up to snuff. The packet of Winnie Reds rolled up in his sleeve may have had something to do with it.

Mead has, curiously enough, got a decent sort of a point when it comes to defending Sera. Obviously I'm not just defending Sera but continuing an argument I have with Carny about every six months or so (it seems).

As a rule WCE supporters try and score points from the fact that a number of the Fremantle Faithful were once followers of the WCE. And why wouldn't you? Seems a fair enough sort of a thing to be doing in the off-season.

So, of course, is defending them. As I said earlier, I'm loyal to a fault. I defend mine because they're mine.

Loyalty is not, however, a virtue all of its own. It's a qualifier of virtue. People were loyal to the Third Reich. People are loyal to all sorts of unpalatable, evil garbage. You don't judge a person by their loyalty - you question what they are loyal to.

I happen to think supporting WCE is wrongheaded so switching loyalty from there makes nothing but sense to me.

Of course, if you switched loyalty from Fremantle I would attempt to metaphorically slit you from ear to ear.

 

[back pocket]

This whole argument sounds like my love life.

I supported my first wife for 10 years, got a couple of early trophies, went through some good and bad times, and then left when she started to ***** me off, with the same crap year after year after year after year after....My support is now with someone entirely different, and there's no going back....So shoot me!

 

[Exeter]

Originally posted by The Mission Man
This seems prety self-evident to me. The sticking point between us is that you still can't imagine that someone doesn't really support your team. It would be pretty difficult, but we so far have accepted all along the way that it's possible to switch your support/change your allegiances/whatever you want to call it in circumstances where it's acceptable to you to do so.


And I wouldn't expect anything less from a real supporter.

When is it acceptable to do so? In year 1 or year 10?

no problem at all with people not really supporting my team - but if one sticks one's head up and regularly proclaims support for a team and derides the opposition and then suddenly one day has a road to Damascus experience and chooses to support the opposition, then IMO it reeks of a lack of integrity.

 

[Exeter]

Originally posted by The Mission Man



Of course, if you switched loyalty from Fremantle I would attempt to metaphorically slit you from ear to ear.

And I would applaud it.

 

[GoEagles]

Who was the poster that switched sides? I must be completely blind to miss this.

 

[Clayton]

Wtf i gotta agree with Exeter big time lack of integrity right there,
damn how could anyone just stop following the blue & gold or any other team for that matter then go pick another one?

Lets just hope people like that don't jump back on when a few results go our way.

 

[The Mission Man]

So having a Damascene experience means you lack integrity. Other than what that says about St Paul, there goes the opportunity for change and growth in the Exeter household.

"When is it acceptable to do so? In year 1 or year 10?"

No, Exeter, we all left school a while ago. From what I gather, apparently it's acceptable to no longer support Essendon when you, well, no longer support them (Mr Q). Or it's acceptable to leave behind your WAFL team that you "fully and vocally supported" when the WCE get pretty big and difficult to ignore (Carny). Or maybe you aren't leaving them, maybe you're just not "fully and vocally supporting" them.

Who knows? But the switch has been made. There seems to be an integrity shortage around here, Exeter.

I haven't switched camps. Ever. I don't know what it's like or what goes on. I know that a heap of my co-religionists have. I know that a heap of WCE supporters also have - but, of course, despite what you think "support" means, there are degrees of support, and the WCE supporters didn't really support their old teams. The now-Fremantle supporters are obvious degenerates who you couldn't trust with your children. The now-WCE supporters are merely exercising a fulller or perhaps more vocal support.

Is that how it works?

 

[ImperialPurple]

Just in defence of Ms Sera, no-one seems to be focussing on this part of her post on the Freo board. It seems it wasn't a "snap" decision because she was peeved at some other WC supporters... Maybe the rest of the family just wore her down. Pretty hard to be involved with a group of people (family or friends) who all think one way, talk one way, act one way, believe one way, with out picking up some of that "way" yourself. Maybe she tried to hold out, but it got the better of her.

"I know how it looks... I know it all looks very sudden but it really isn’t. What you see of my persona on here isn’t really what I am like/what happens in real life. This is something that I have been thinking about for a while. I come from a football family, we were all West Perth supporters in the WAFL days and we all really hated the Fremantle clubs, especially East Fremantle. But now my whole family are Docker supporters and I think they will finally be happy that I join them. By the time I came back to Perth I was the only one left (Eagles supporter). They always thought I would hold out until the bitter end but now that has passed."

She could have quietly faded away and not said anything, but she goes out with her dignity in tact as she announced it for all to see. Pretty gutsy that.

Of course, I take on board what everyone else has said - of course it's easier for me to be charitable and accepting because she's turning away from what I consider to be "evil" and coming to the "good". If this were happening the other way, i would be bagging that person as the deadset loser that they would obviously be. Following the lead of Mish. But I am always happy to welcome new followers of the purple.

 

[Clayton]

hmmmm might have to give Fitroy a call see how hard real passionate fans found switching guards.

 

[Ripper]

I would think that a derby would sort out who you went for. Maybe this has been brewing since round 22 or the EF when everyone was so passionate about the team even when we lost. Only Sera would know that and it is still a gutsy effort to work out that we are more passionate penguins.